A New Level Of Absurdity. A 2 Cent Washington "Red Line" That Doesn't Even Have Washington On It.

This ebay item 232523958929 adds to the folly of the super "rare" red line stamps. Several that I see today don't even have a red line and are asking thousands of dollars. I'm thinking of taking one out of my stockbook and listing it as super super rare and asking a penny, just to show ebay readers what the value of these should be. I also love the ones that say good sound condition when all or most of the perfs are cut off, corners are missing, stains, etc exist.

ebay is a farce. I left the circus quite a while ago. Supporting it by buying or selling only enables. It seems though that a lot of folks think that it would be a horrible thing for stamp collecting if ebay pulled the plug on listing stamps. It would be great if there were more philatelic only sites for buying and selling that actually cared about their reputation. Everytime I slam ebay on here I get hit for being too "negative". There is no charm to ebay if you love stamps and want to see the hobby thrive. How many newbies buy misidentified, fake and repaired stamps that will find out at some point and be disgusted enough to just stop collecting. The folks that turn a dollar selling on ebay defend it because they are making money. Understandable. They just do not need to express false outrage that ebay is misunderstood. ebay is perfectly understood as the wild west of flea market selling and no amount of fancy logos and earrings on the pig will change that fact.

Imagine what the ebay hucksters would ask for this stamp with red TWO lines ... and on cover too! What a bargain I got for a mere 80 cents.

Yes, but it's not a "Washington" 2¢ Red Line.....therefore worthless!

I buy cover lots all the time and those red cut lines appear very frequently, like 1 or 2 out of every 10 stamps.

One of the few instances where a red line is really rare on a U.S. stamp is for the 583a early rotary press booklet pane. These red lines are common for flat plate stamps in that they were used as guide lines to divide stamp sheets into panes during the perforating process with perforator center knife cutting wheels resulting in straight edges. Since rotary press stamps used a different perforator that did not result in straight edges, this line was unnecessary. See lot 1296 at
https://siegelauctions.com/lots.php...1&page_no=23

That stamp was listed on ebay at a Buy It Now price of $250 by someone in "Cave Junction, Oregon" with no other sales of anything. It did not sell. Needless to say, this seller is hardly likely to be a stamp dealer of any kind. More likely, it's some clown who "heard" that red line stamps are more valuable and so decided to try to sell one he had found which he believed was "rare". It's not rare. The whole thing is completely silly and does not even begin to fall into the category of "stamp dealers" trying to cheat anyone. It falls into the category of thousands of other products listed on ebay as "rare" simply because the sellers thinks they're rare. If you own one of something, it may be rare to you, but if it's an old sock, believe me, no one is going to want it. I'd ban use of the word "rare" from ebay entirely.

But to denounce ebay because some sad sack seller listed a ridiculous stamp at a price that's too high seems a bit much. It's a free marketplace in which anyone, no matter how foolish they are, can try to sell things. ebay is more like a flea market than a store, and flea markets are filled with ridiculous junk. It doesn't form some kind of stamp dealer conspiracy. Red line stamps are a phony product and any halfway informed collector knows that.

If you have some basic knowledge of the stamps you are buying, and that would include use of a catalogue, and if you buy from a reputable dealer (a member of the APS and other organizations who has been around a long time, etc, etc), ebay is as good a place to buy stamps as any other. But you need some knowledge and need to be careful.

You might as well denounce "stamp shops" because of a few dealers overcharge for stamps. The problem may be related to ebay not policing its stamp sales, but it doesn't see that as its job -- for good or ill. It's a neutral marketplace, and it has no interest in hiring a panel of stamp experts to constantly monitor sales for authenticity. That would involve thousands of sales of stamps, an immense number that could not possibly be policed carefully.

I do think ebay should (and perhaps they do) remove dealers who repeatedly sell bad products. That's just common sense. They might employ one (1) stamp expert at least part time to offer opinions of the legitimacy of stamp products, especially the ones questioned by purchasers. This would help point out the bad guys. Beyond that, though, they're not going to hire a dozen stamp experts to scour the listings. There's no way they will do anything like that. If they did, they'd also have to do the same for coins, baseball cards, autographs, automobiles, artwork, jewelry and watches, and on and on ad infinitum.

I also fault ebay's rating system which is absurd. It's either 5 stars or you're in trouble. Ratings means a gradation of evaluations. If ratings were more legitimate, dealers might be more careful. I suspect a lot of buyers don't even bother to rate their purchases because you feel you have to give a five or nothing.

Collectors need to know what they're doing, too. Dealers who will not accept returns should be avoided. If you spend a great deal of money with a dealer, you need to get your stamps authenticated immediately after you purchase them. Even better, do your homework before you buy, and buy only from the most reputable, long-established dealers. And return anything that isn't up to the most convincing standards. And, last, post your doubts about dealers here or elsewhere if they're based on legitimate concerns.

Denouncing ebay is pointless since it's a marketplace with thousands of sellers. You can bookmark the sellers you follow and buy from regularly and ignore everyone else.