Anthony's Llc Dismal PF Report Card = Follow Up To 10/23/17 Discussion

Notice it is submitted value. NOT "retail value". The only time a "retail value" is used is when it is an auction realization for that specific item.

Hmm... submitted value. So if I submit a stamp that I think is worth $1000 and it turns out to be only a $10 stamp, then the PF cert still costs submitted value? And what value do you submit? What I value a stamp at is not necessarily what someone else will value it at.

There again, you are at a loss on what the cert will cost. Cannot send payment with the stamp because the cost cannot be determined. That is the problem that I see. That is why I have not sent the stamp I want in for cert. Value depends on the grade they give sometimes. Maybe I should enclose a signed, blank check and let them fill in the numbers.

I really want to know how he determines the value on his stamps to submit for certification, what they charge him, and how he makes a payment if he does not know the cost. He has probably done this 100 times or more so he should know the ins and outs of it.

If it's only worth $10 then it is clearly NOT what it was submitted as, and you would be charged the minimum fee. Again, if you send in a stamp that normally sells for $500 (that was not just purchased at an auction for some ridiculous price) and ask for a grade, what they grade it will not affect the cost as far as I have ever heard or seen. The reason it is set up this way is because so many items turn out to NOT be what they were submitted as, and the price often comes down. Of course if you submit a $5000 stamp as worth $500, they will catch that too.

I have heard of this happening before. Disgusting that it is still happening.

yea, ebay did that to me kinda, on a non-stamp item. Since I had made a claim, they would not allow me to leave negative feedback.

Wise choice. No one should spend real money on anything they are not properly educated on (either learn the material or at least the sellers).

Like many threads, this one has gotten a little off-topic. It started as a concern about buying on ebay with reference to one vendor, Anthony's. I think many great points have been made in this discussion, including the conversation about the merits of expertization. But getting back to the root discussion, I think we all need to take an assertive and proactive role in policing ebay, and bringing habitual offenders like Anthony's to ebay's attention. I know that this may seem like a futile, uphill climb at times. But, if we just say *** Edited by Staff | The bad word filter is in place for a reason. Bypassing the filter and making the intended word obvious anyway is completely unacceptable. *** it, and throw in the towel, companies like Anthony's will continue to prosper at the expense of our hobby.

In the for-what-it-is-worth department, I have personally turned in Anthony's over 20 times to ebay for selling misattributed stamps. I am firmly convinced that if we bond together against corrupt companies like these, eventually we will get ebay's attention. Several of you have accurately pointed out that Anthony's is one of ebay's larger volume sellers.

I too am a top-rated ebay seller and sell millions of dollars of coins on their venue annually, so I would like to believe that my concerns also merit some consideration. In conjunction with the rest of you who have expressed your concerns, I am certain that eventually we can make a difference. If you value ebay as a philatelic marketplace, stay the course, even if it seems like at times that it is falling on deaf ears. The alternative is to concede ebay as a viable philatelic marketplace and move elsewhere to expose our hobby. Personally, I believe that this would be a mistake.

Should we (or do we) have a thread highlighting ebay sellers that our members have had several good experiences?

I've bought stamps off so many ebay sellers and could happily recommend many of them.

Exactly how did you "turn in" Anthony's to ebay? Please cite a person contact or any kind of email or response to your "turn in." If you are using "report item" you are sending to a black hole.

jaxom, real quickly so as not to continue this expertization discussion at the expense of the more important subject (Anthony's) of this thread:
If I am submitting to the PF I use the SVG value (yellow pages in middle) from the Scott U. S. Specialized for the grade (or approximate grade in my estimation if the existing cert is not graded) as the retail value(or as some have suggested is a better term, the submitted value). I enclose a check according to my calculations. They have never differed with my assessment.
If I am submitting to PSE or PSAG I just use the current Scott catalog value (non-yellow pages). I list my credit card info on the form and they calculate the total and charge me.
The PF is the gold standard for classic U. S. expertization and I don't mind paying a little more for their opinion on certain stamps.

I would love to see a "Certify Stamp" button on ebay stamp listings which are over a certain value. Use BIN or win an auction and the cost is added to your invoice. The seller sends the stamp to the PF or another organization with a bar code identifier printed out like an address label/invoice would be. It is understood that if the stamp does not pass muster a refund will be issued to the buyer and the stamp is shipped back to the seller. Who pays for a failed cert would need some study. If the stamp passes it goes directly back to the buyer. There are issues with this besides it adding complexity. Parameters would need to be set for cases where a small crease is noted but was not described. For me the beauty of it is that sellers would need to honestly describe and identify their product even though it is optional because they would not know who would pull the trigger at any given time on getting a cert. the way it stands now the Anthony's of the World just push things out the door and if the buyer sends it to PF and the results are bad the entire thing is really dealt with in a cingular fashion. Just the threat of that option being clearly available right up front to whomever is buying/bidding would drive away the scammers/fraudsters. Pie in the sky for sure and needs a lot of fleshing out and will never happen but I like it. Sellers would have to sign on and I believe the good ones would not mind or even welcome it and the bad ones would fade away quickly. OK, start calling me crazy.