Has Anyone Encountered This When Looking To Add To Your Collection

I'm looking to add to my collection. So, I have been. He king ebay, craigslist, and the local swap meet. There was a post on Craigslist that for some reason caught me eye. I looked at it and they were looking to sell fdc. They claimed on ebay that they were selling for almost 300 for the set but they wanted 175, making it seem like a steal. Seemed high to me. I check ebay since I use to sell a lot and buy some on there. The sold auctions were going for 25 to 50 bucks plus maybe 15 for shipping. Pays to. Heck around and have an idea of WHT things are going for.

.10¢ a cover is about the correct value. Knowledge is the way to go.

Some basic knowledge does go a long way. If I'm not sure what to pay I pass, even if I want it.

There's someone who has a book of US stamps at the local swap meet that I wanna get. It's full of stamps. He is asking 50 for it but might
Ght let it go for $35. I would say there's a couple hundred stamps. I would say most are 10 to 25 cent stamps and the album itself has some value.

How would you estimate the value if you are not able to value the stamps by the guide.

IRELAND ----Your doing it the right way, waste your money on buying junk and overpaying for stamps that you can get cheaper elsewhere . Don't feel bad ,it will be a learning experience and enjoy the education . Believe me it is the best way to learn .My only advice is once you get burned and get a education don't give up because you will learn and become a better collector after the first few bumps .

on the one from craigslist I didn't get it cause I know it was not a good deal. On the other, Im debating cause at 35 its more of a fair price and valued correctly if I can get it for 35 200 maybe 250 stamps at 10 to 25 cents each.

It's not the quantity but the quality, unless you get a cheaper price for those 200 or so space fillers. Good luck Ireland !

Ireland, you could do yourself good and become an APS member. As such you can start receiving their circuits, and they are usually full of reasonable priced stamps!

Peter

I will look into it.,with where I'm located, Good stamp shows are,such a drive and most everything on Craigslist is way over priced. As with ebay, you can find some good deals if you catch it right. I collect for fun.

The problem with people that don't know about stamps is that they tend to greatly over estimate their value, stamp collections seem to have a mystique for the uninformed. If you buy an album with 200 stamps you will be getting very common stamps that are only worth 1c-2c/stamp. For stamps to command a 10c/stamp value you should be looking at collection of at least 10,000 stamps. There are exception of course but in most cases that holds.

Here are a couple collections I found on ebay that will give you more value;

http://www.ebay.com/itm/30217022489...RK:MEBIDX:IT

http://www.ebay.com/itm/17243957687...RK:MEBIDX:IT

The 2nd collection seems to have a lot of stamps. If you search ebay for a couple weeks you will probably find even better values.

A couple weeks ago I bought a 1939 WW collection with 20,000 stamps for $600 or 3c/stamp but that was a lucky find.

Good luck!

I admit I don't know a huge amount about collecting, but I'm learning and going in search of basic knowledge. Will I ever get to where some are that are in this forum, probably not. I know for sure I will keep learning and asking questions when I'm not sure. In the long run I will be better off for it I'm sure.