Quote:
But the sad truth is ego and a blind confirmation bias often overrules common sense. In another forum, there is a person who pushed back the other day saying they support the seller in this thread and have gotten plenty great deals. Sigh.
Don,
The problem you are encountering is that not EVERYTHING Anthony's offers is bogus or overpriced (although the latter 99% of the time), so you will inevitably encounter people that are satisfied with Anthony's, and they have every right to be.
Just because Anthony's sells a lot of bogus items doesn't make the satisfied customers wrong, assuming that what they bought was what it was presented as.
As with Apfelbaum, Langs, and other repeat offenders, *IF* you stumble across something outside of their knowledge sphere, or when they are trying to blow out inventory, deals can be found.
I've made purchases from Anthony's... although I only think I've purchased from them 2 or 3 times in 15 years.
From a post I made here in 2016, edited slightly as some things in
ebay listings have changed:
Quote:If there ever was an example of Caveat Emptor...
Anthony's appear to be somewhat morally/ethically challenged at times... they come from the Bill Langs and Apfelbaum, Inc. school of stamp dealing.
They frequently overstate the catalog value of bulk lots and collections, some more so than others, and some laughably so.
Secondly, they are very poor about responding to inquiries in a timely fashion, instead encouraging you to call in by phone, presumably so they can make the sale circumventing
ebay's fees.
They have a tendency to only show small portions of large lots, hoping your imagination will "fill in the blanks" to get to their stated catalog value.
The only times I have ever purchased from them has been when what I see on screen makes the lot worthwhile, or more accurately: worth a gamble.
Case in point:
Just last week I made the first purchase from them in well over 5 years (might be closer to 10). It was a 4-binder dealer stock of classic Sweden, supposedly $9,000 in Scott. I collect used Sweden for the socked-on-the-nose cancels, so this was in my wheelhouse.
The amount of material shown was a very small amount compared to what 4 sales binders would hold. What was pictured showed some promise, but my assumption (not just with Anthony's but ANY bulk lot from any source not viewed firsthand) is that major key items will be faulty. Then it becomes a question of what percentage of Scott you are willing to pay for the whole vs. what you think you can pull out and/or flip.
When they first listed the lot it was priced close to $1,000. They inched it lower over time until it got to it's current point of $666. Then after a period of time they listed it with a 30% off sale, dropping it to $466. That would be just over 5% of Scott *IF* their stated total was accurate.
Closer, but still too much of a gamble, IMO. However, they left the Best Offer option intact even during the sale. I made an offer of $250 to see if it would be autodeclined. It wasn't and they came back with a counter of $350. That said to me that they were motivated to move the lot, so I countered again with $300. Sold.
Upon arrival, I inventoried the lot to see how far off the estimate was. Some of the prices in pictures were clearly overinflated (much Scandinavian material has taken a serious tumble over the last decade). That said, many of the earlier items had actually increased since the lot had been catalogued.
When I was done and tallied everything up, the catalog value actually slightly exceeded their estimate, at roughly $9,600. Yes, there is quite a bit of faulty material, but at roughly 3.1% of current Scott, it's hard to go wrong.
So at the end of the day, I say be VERY cautious when evaluating their offerings, but if you are patient and scrutinize things, deals can be had.
Now, is that a ringing endorsement? I certainly hope not, but the truth is that if you are exceedingly careful, you can get a good deal from them once a decade or so. That said, I would never buy a single stamp from them that required any kind of expertise to accurately identify.
More importantly, I would NEVER encourage a novice collector to buy from them.
Posted 01/21/2018 11:34 am
