New Popup US Stamp Tool

I just rolled out a new feature on Stamp Smarter. It is a pop-up US stamp catalog and is accessed from the menu as shown here



From anywhere in the site, when you click on this menu item a popup window displays the catalog screen as shown here.



There is a section for Commemoratives/Definitives and Back of Book (currently Airmail, Special Delivery). The popup window shows the image, Scott number, Description, Denomination, Color, Variety, Date Issued, Perforation, and Printer for each stamp. user can look-up by Scott number, year, or description.

I think it works well as a popup since users can access the catalog info from any screen on the site.

Any feedback or suggestions welcome.
Don
APS #094826

Hi Don,

I think it's excellent, along with everything else on StampSmarter. I do have a few suggestions to make, although I am not sure if they are feasible.

Firstly, would it be possible to make it so you can only choose from Scott numbers that "exist", for example there is no Scott #50, even though you can choose "50" in the "Select Scott Number" section of the popup.

Secondly, the "Select Scott Number" option is missing some major stamps, such as the #279B and 634A. It would be nice if stamps with Scott #s like those were possible to look up, and it would be simply awesome if you made it advanced enough to even show minor varieties such as the #279Bc and the #634b.

Thirdly, would it be okay to give the Scott catalog value of each stamp (mint and used)? That would definitely be a big time saver.

Keep it up, I am excited whenever a new feature is added to StampSmarter.

Hi themachine99!




Done




Done




This is not allowed under the contract I have with Amos/Scott; the values are their IP (intellectual property) and they reserve rights to them.

Thanks for feedback!
Don

Would any other agency allow you to put in their stamp price? Or can you just put in an estimated or suggested price. Maybe even a price range such as A=1 to 5¢; B=6-10¢; z=>5,000.

Price is typically just a reference point. Even Scott's prices are just a reference point, rarely the absolute price.

PS: Just tried the pop up out ... excellent!

This is really great Don. Would love to see it done for Canada one day...

This kind of value indicator works quite well, I think

http://catalogue.klaseboer.com/vol2/html/cuba_.htm

Edit: scarcity and value, I should have said.

Values are tricky; note how Amos/Scott does value in their US specialized catalogs. While a single catalog value is used in primary catalog they include a more detailed value guide based upon condition. And once you get into condition levels, it get even more complicated since condition grades can be dependent upon the particular issue. For example, centering on pre-electric eye stamps vs. post-electric eye stamps. Things also get dicey when trying to assign value to rare stamps which don't come to market often.

No matter how you slice this issue developing all new values would be a substantial amount of work (i.e a career); this is beyond what I can do by myself.

Using values generated by other puboishers is likely to require hefty costs. Unless someone is willing to foot a bill; websites like this forum and Stamp Smarter rely upon help and goodwill of hobbyists. While this offsets some of the development and hosting costs it does not allow for the payment of the kind of fees for using third party's IP.

Possible Solution #1 - I could do is add a link for each stamp which takes the user to ebay's 'sold' listings for that stamp. User would then be able to quickly research the 'sold' listings, their conditions, and better understand the most recent market values.

Possible Solution #2 - Would be to use 'crowd sourcing' for valuation. In other words, we develop and publish a way for the community to add value data for each stamp. Folks would be able to add their opinion on stamp values. By averaging all these values, and if we had enough opinions, we should be able to list a good approximate estimate. Big issue with this is in getting enough participation. Another potential issue is that some may maliciously try to influence and move the values for self-serving purposes.

If anyone has any opinions or ideas on how to efficiently and effectively deal with stamp valuing I would love to hear them.
Don

Hello Don,

The revisions to the popup tool are spectacular. It's really coming along! However I did notice a couple things:

1) As I was browsing through some stamps, I noticed that the 279Bd issue date reads "6/1/2000". There may be other incorrect dates, as I only looked at a few stamps and 279Bd happened to be one of them.

2) I noticed that the only variety of 634 listed is a 634d, there is no 634A or 634b. (Although 634b may be too obscure to list?)

Other than that, it's an amazing tool; I'm very impressed!


As for values, I like both solutions you mentioned. ebay would be the most accurate, and you wouldn't have to continually update the prices as stamp values change. The second solution sounds interesting, and I would gladly offer to help out.

Have a great weekend!

I applaud the work done for this tool and wish we had one for Canada. A world pop-up seems impossible to me. Thanks 51studebaker !

Hey Don,
I was thinking about a link to ebay right before I read that you suggested that might be a way to show pricing. Wonderful idea and thank you so much for doing this!
Ray

Thanks guys. I have the Canadian code done but have not yet started scanning my modest Canadian collection (large amount of work). Does anyone have or know of Canadian images they would be wiling to share?
Don

I've updated the tool to include a link for each stamp to the ' ebay 'sold' listings. I debated whether I should link them sorted as 'lowest first' or 'highest first'.

The challenge here is, of course, the fact that ebay searches return false positives because users write incorrect/odd listing titles. So if you search for 'sold listings' that contain 'C4' and sort with lowest first then you get some listings which are not for the C4 stamp. If I sort them as 'highest first' then we encourage the misconception that all copies are worth very high prices.

I decided to go with lowest first sort, users may have to scroll down a few pages on some stamps to start to see a good selection of the correct 'sold' listings.

In last few days the back of book data has also been appended. This tool and the plate block tool now contains all airmails, special delivery, postage dues (core data, plate numbers, and images). Official, newspaper, parcel post, and revenues should be added in the next week or two.
Don

Don, I have many Canadian scans and am willing to submit them, and scan anything else I have. Just let me know the scanning criteria.

Great!
You can email them to me, 150 dpi works but 300 dpi better, any file format is ok.
Don

The tool is now updated; it splits out 'Back of Book' stamps into categories such as Airmail, Special Delivery, Postage Dues, Ducks, Revenues, Parcel Post, and Offices in China. Users can search on each section as follows;



BeeSee has offered to assist with providing images for a Canadian tool just like this. I have the new Canadian database in place and am in-progress with coding the web pages. If anyone else has any Canadian stamp images they would be willing to contribute to this commercial-free effort, please let me know. I would like to get this rolled out in the next few weeks. Any format, we can make most any image work.

Don

Don,

This is really a neat tool, even though I don't really collect stamps any more.

One thought which occurred to me when playing with it though, was would it be feasible/desirable/possible to add a scroll arrow (or a NEXT and PREVIOUS button) to allow one to simply move forward to the next catalog number stamp or back to the previous one, without going up to the drop-down list and entering or looking up the next number. It would be especially useful for us old guys who can't remember the catalog number of every stamp but can get sort of close....

Mike