Grump! I Threw Out A Stamp

I bought on ebay, from a guy in London, two German stamps. When the envelope arrived, it was covered with tape, such that there was no way to use a letter opener. I had to cut with a knife.

Inside were several blank sheets of letter sized paper, also sealed with tape. after again some cutting, I found on sheet that had a glassine envelope stapled to it. I tore that off and threw to paper away.

The next day, when I looked in the envelope, there was only one stamp. I sent the seller a note. He replied that the second stamp was there, stapled to another sheet of paper. Really, I thought the Brits had more sense than that!

I've looked through the garbage, a cold job. I'll look again tomorrow, when it is supposed to be a bit warmer, but I don't have much hope.

I don't know what to do. If I accuse him of being a dumbbell, he can say the same to me for not looking more carefully. Fortunately, the stamps were not all that expensive.

Don

It seems like you did not check to see the contents in the envelope straight away. Which I find very different to me.

So there is some options.

1. Possible no 2nd stamp arrived in mail.
2. Send a not received claim.
3. Do not get frozen looking for a stamp that might not be there.
4. Forget about your missing stamp and move on.

All The Best.kg5

Something else you can do: Never buy from that seller again. And let him know why.

These tape monkeys are all over the place out there. Some parts of the world are worse about this than others, I have never had that sort of thing happen from a UK vendor, usually it's Eastern Europe. Australian sellers are some of the worst in the world slapping tape all over their mailings.

I've bought books from ebay sellers in Armenia, and they even tape over the stamps on the parcel, rendering them totally unsalvageable for any philatelic purpose.

And after you reach a glassine envelope under all that paper and tape, you find it taped shut! Then I picture someone taping the flap of the glassine down..??.??..If that flap some how comes open in that letter, we've got trouble! Oh well, made me laugh Stamps 1962 "These tape monkeys are all over the place out there".

Yes 'tape monkeys' gave me my morning giggle.

Sometimes it takes the art of a surgeon to extract the contents of some mailings.

Sometimes its not so bad getting one of these taped up mailings if the contents come housed in a paper weight envelope. Try however getting into a Priority envelope sealed with strapping tape on both ends. I got one of those monsters yesterday. In an envelope you can hold it up to light and determine where to safely cut into it to reach the contents. In my case I had to guess, cut and hope.

I got the term I used earlier from a thread earlier about 'Marker monkeys', postal people who deface stamps. Seemed fitting.

then there are the people who jst slip the stamp in an envelope, with no other protection and mail it. I've gotten both extremes.

Yes, we've seen them all. Overtaping is the worst.

Jack Kelley