Apfelbaum, Inc. ----->

Apfelbaum can be a difficult company to deal with if you have issues with a purchase. I have a friend who is banned from bidding with them because he was able to determined some of the stamps he bought had fake overprints.

Which should tell anyone all they need to know. A company bans someone from bidding out of spite because they made a mistake and that person pointed it out? They ought to have given him a voucher.

I have had no issues with returning auction lots to Apfelbaum and talked to Missy on one occasion about it.

She was also very helpful to me when I wanted to make a purchase, but needed to make a few installment payments.

I've returned 2 lots in the past year when I found non-disclosed faults.

I would always beware of any purchase from any dealer or auction house. I would not buy unless I knew my subject matter well, and the seller had a return policy I could be comfortable with.

No problems with Apfelbaum. I'll continue to buy from them. Prices are excellent and if you are looking to resell, you can make money on their lots.
Ray

I would have no reason to be concerned with the firm, I have bought a few times without issue. If you are sceptical, use your credit card or paypal until you have reached a position of trust.

How does a credit card or their return policy help if there is a history of "auction house funny business"? Out of 100 typical hobbyists, how many truly have the years of experience and knowledge needed to successfully buy based on an auction catalog description or a few images on ebay? Banking on returns takes time, consumes resources, and has other risks. If I were using a seller where I had to often rely upon their return policy I would consider change.

Buying online is never as good as buying in person (where you can inspect the stamp/collection in hand). There are two ways to overcome this fact; first is to buy from a seller who you know to be reputable/trustworthy and second is to arm yourself with years of experience and knowledge.

This forum touches hobbyists with many levels of experience and knowledge. When we discuss topics like these my fear is that the buying opinions of highly experienced hobbyists are taken as gospel by those hobbyists who are not. A fellow like Ray or Clark, for example, can easily navigate the questionable sellers or the lower quality material floating around. But for less experienced collectors it is much more of a crap shoot. I think this particular vendor epitomizes this, perhaps good for an experienced buyer but less so for a typical hobbyist.
Don

quote:

How does a credit card or their return policy help if there is a history of "auction house funny business"? Out of 100 typical hobbyists, how many truly have the years of experience and knowledge needed to successfully buy based on an auction catalog description or a few images on ebay? Banking on returns takes time, consumes resources, and has other risks. If I were using a seller where I had to often rely upon their return policy I would consider change.

If you pay by credit card, you can claim through Visa, Mastercard or Discover. They will accept your version of events first. There is a problem with auction houses in that you don't know if you are buying their stock or that of genuine vendors. Jusat make sure you allow for the added cost of the buying fees when making your final bid. If you bid $500 for an item and you are happy the final cost represents acceptable value, it doesn't really matter if the vendor is bidding against you, it will happen more often than you will know.

Buying online is never as good as buying in person (where you can inspect the stamp/collection in hand). There are two ways to overcome this fact; first is to buy from a seller who you know to be reputable/trustworthy and second is to arm yourself with years of experience and knowledge.

Don't talk in absolutes. Buying from a seller less educated than you, whether online or in person creates the greatest opportunity for a knowledgable buyer.

This forum touches hobbyists with many levels of experience and knowledge. When we discuss topics like these my fear is that the buying opinions of highly experienced hobbyists are taken as gospel by those hobbyists who are not. A fellow like Ray or Clark, for example, can easily navigate the questionable sellers or the lower quality material floating around. But for less experienced collectors it is much more of a crap shoot. I think this particular vendor epitomizes this, perhaps good for an experienced buyer but less so for a typical hobbyist.
Don

Don, I respect your opinion, you have contributed here for a long time. If you want to spend $10 or $50 here and there, so what? Typical hobby activity, whether scrapbooking, golfing or collecting stamps. If you want to spend $1,000 per month, do some homework first.

quote

That is the purpose of this chat room ,it gives you the homework to understand the experiences of other collectors, I did my homework back in 1969 when asking experience collectors about Apfelbaum , as posted above it is better to stay away from the firm .

Apfelbaum: Avoid like the plague.

'Nuff said.

Floortrader - I take exception to your statement: "I did my homework back in 1969 when asking experience collectors about Apfelbaum"

In point of fact, Earl Apfelbaum was still running the show (till Aug/Sep 1969) and the operation was 100% up to the best standard of the era. I worked for Earl in 1968 and 1969 until the day Earl retired. At the time my co-workers included Les La Calamito (eventually with Harmer's NYC), Brian Green and Trish Kaufmann (leading CSA dealers), Lazaro Goldentahl and several other great philatelists.

Richard, I haven't had the pleasure, and haven't been a contributor, but know Philamercury well and thank you for what you provide for philately. As for your statement: "Buying from a seller less educated than you, whether online or in person creates the greatest opportunity for a knowledgable buyer."...couldn't agree with you more..

As I posted on the US classics forum, just scored my first ever Type IA 2 weeks ago when it was ID'd as a IIIA. Knowledge is definitely powerful in this hobby! Thanks for posting!

Ray

Ray - that does not sound like anything I said ... But thanks for kind comment.

I think collectors who are concerned with financial aspects of collecting would be well served buying only top quality items from the dealers who are the most knowledgable in the area they collect. Forget bargains. A great item that you over
pay for at a Siegel sale is exactly the item that will yield the best return on investment.

Sorry, I quoted the poster before your post!

Thanks!

Actually, 2 posts before...

RICHARD F. ---It was 1971 not 1969 ,1969 I was still in Denver going to college . The grain markets took off in 1971-1972 ,that is when I started buying at stamp auctions . Sorry about the dates ,that whole period gets fuzzy due to " making life better thru chemistry".

Aren't we lucky to have some brain cells left?