Is All This Ebay Sellers Stuff That Rare?

I just can't believe the bidding going on in this sellers lots week after week. I see these stamps he lists called rare but I sell them all the time. Have a look at his lots and some of the cv he mentions in his titles. I would be interested in various opinions on some of his listings. His Zeppelin covers seem to get top dollar. His penny black stamp cut into pattern at top through the word postage. Is it still worth $1200? Is it my imagination or is he over using the word rare? Why is a German common Zeppelin cover a top rarity? Thoughts? I am just trying to understand how he gets such high bidding on items that don't appear to be that rare. Here is a link to one of his items please take a look and see what you think

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1861-GREAT-...AOSwqYBWmRs-

Well personally I think he has some pretty nice stuff, though most of it isn't in my wheelhouse. But I do think the word RARE is much overused on ebay. And he's certainly cornered the market.

Michael Pollan famously more/less said: "Never buy a food product that comes with a health claim".

(An example, if you need one, would be cookies labeled 'fat-free' ... they might be, but you won't be.)

ikeyPikey said: "Never buy a collectible that comes with an investment claim".

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

I looked at a few of his sold items and I noticed they are "private Listings". Private feed back and private listings make me suspicious and I block bidders with private feedback when I can and wouldn't bid in a private listing, but that just me.

I couldn't agree more. Just got in an argument the other day in a metal detecting facebook group. Guy dug up a 1921 D Mercury dime and everyone is telling the guy it's rare. Yes, it's a low mintage, but I could spend 30 minutes on ebay and have 300 of them delivered to my door in three days. Hardly rare.

He definitely overuses the word rare. That said, he starts everything at $0.99 and the marketplace determines the actual value. If they go for moon money, that means there were at least TWO bidiots willing to pay the piper (possible shilling notwithstanding).

As a buyer, I tend to ignore all of the following words:

rare
scarce
superb
pristine
valuable
desirable
quality
demand
XF
unique

Admittedly as a seller, I do *occasionally* use superlatives in my listing titles when I feel it is warranted, but there is a whole kettle of sellers that just randomly throw those words into EVERY listing.

My favorite is an idiot revenue seller that I shall not name, that tacks on the words "SUPERB & PRISTINE" on EVERY single listing title, even extremely faulty itsems. I find that both annoying and insulting. It gives the rest of us a bad name.

The first thing I learned after returning back into the hobby was that the seller's classification of a stamp's condition was far different than mine! In other words, Mint VF MIGHT qualify as a FINE stamp.

Jack Kelley

Stamp dealers have solved the age-old mysteries of alchemy. All of the stamps that are VG and F when buying are magically transformed into VF and XF at selling time.

re.

As a buyer, I tend to ignore all of the following words:

rare
scarce
superb
pristine
valuable
desirable
quality
demand
XF
unique

and some even use " WOW ", the original poster is a prime example,

Pagoda

And the oldie but goodie: LQQK!

How about his cv stated in this listing of $7425 is it correct? How rare is this one?

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1860-ITA...381518970225

MAJOR RARITY WOW !! VERY RARE AND SUPER HIGH VALUE

VVLH is one of my favorites. This very very likely means very very lightly hinged.

I'm thinking that the seller didn't even know it was hinged until he examined it with his scanning electron microscope.

I never trust anyone with private buyers. You get into a bidding war in these auctions and every bid you place gets bumped up right away by unknowns. I would imagine it is easy enough to have friends etc bid up prices. Buying on ebay scares me unless it is small purchases.

Maybe he has a shill bidder or two? I just can't see why someones prepared to go so high on many of his listings when you can get similar on buy it now or from other sellers for a lot less. He had a Zeppelin cover at over $200 on there the other day these you can buy every day of the week at $40 or less.

If they do understand how that item is rare, he/she would set a appropriate starting price. I've never seen a 0.99$ start in Feldman

Not true. You cannot apply the same mechanics to ebay and live auction houses. Completely different methods.