Apfelbaum, Inc. ----->

Anybody ever hear of this place?

http://www.apfelbauminc.com/sell-yo...Web+Clicks+2

Any experiences? Any thoughts?

-IBFS

*** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. ***

I can not offer any experience with them. I read most of
what was there! It seems to be leading to me! Like a
fishermen's hook. Beware! I will look forward to other
opinion's.

APFELBAUM ,yes heard a lot about them . I was 20 years old and started making a little extra money for stamps . I went to my local stamp club ,the Ogden Hills Stamp Club in Chicago one night in 1969. I asked about this firm being the only member under 40 years of age . The word I got from four or five members was to stay away from this firm .
I got to meet one of the owners at Greg Manning Auctions and spend time talking to him in the 1990's ,his attitude was one that I decided its better not to make a new friend and sat elsewhere in the room .
Then the price fixing at other auctions hit the news . That keep me at a negative opinion of the firm .

I have had good luck buying from them. Mostly, I have bought Israel collections. The last one I bought was a collection of Israel sheets. I think I paid $1500 for it, and I have sold the sheets I didn't need for well over $3000. I even found some hard to find phosphor error sheets in the collection, although they weren't identified, and were likely just there by chance, as it seemed the original seller just bought one of each sheet as new issues. Most of the sheets were in the $10-$20 range. It seems you cn get large quantity at a very good price, assuming you are not looking for the high value items.

I dealt with Apfelbaum years ago. I bought a lot of nice USA stamps from them including #1 and #2. I felt I got very good prices. At that time, there was no ebay. Their auction was a phone auction. I really enjoyed it. I never had a problem with them or with the stamps they sent.

Like any other online seller, you need to be cautious when buying. I have had some good luck with them, and some not so good. I did buy an item one time that had an undescribed pinhole and returned it, and was promptly refunded.

The OP showed a "Buy your stamps" ad. I would caution people to get a couple other offers before selling their stamps to any of the Big stamp companies. I think the big companies make little offers.

I saw that as well. I doubt I will ever sell my collection. My wife will probably throw it away when I die. The only thing she knows about it is that it takes up a lot of space. I thought of leaving it to my brother, he would figure out something to make the most money from it. lol

JAXOM100 ---You should write out a plan on how to sell your collection and what is in it that a family member
should know .Give a copy to your wife and a copy to your brother . There are many sad stories for families that have sold a collection after someone in the family died.

What is meant by the abbreviation "OP"?


-IBFS

Original Poster

Got it. Thanks.


-IBFS

IKEY I strongly agree with your advice. I live in Florida where there are lots of OLD people like me. I it so sad to see a spouse come into the stamp club looking for help with their deceased spouse's collection. They don't know anything about it but know s/he spent a lot of time on it and they just want a fair deal. I think every collector should have a plan for this eventuality.

Apfelbaum is one of the best dealers- to stay far away from. I won't rehash what's been already posted about their business practices. The company is currently headed by the grandson of the founder, he was at one time on the APS board but later got expelled because of all the rigging on their auctions. I can attest to that. I was top bidder on two lots in an auction there some years ago but the lots went to someone else. No one at the company could tell me why.

The founder, Earl Apfelbaum had a sterling reputation. Sadly his grand kids have run it into the ground.