Evaluating Collections

Sigh...an order-of-magnitude more that I can drop on stamps.

A consignor to Noble Spirit, rather than the dealer itself, may have dictated the price here. There's a long history of owners, widows, executors or lawyers asking selling agents to open with a price that is unrealistic. It happens in real estate all the time.

That might be ok for individual stamps or sets that are in good condition, but not for a lot like this. NS only got this big because they started on ebay very early, not because they are good.

This seems to be a rule within the stamp collecting community but sometimes it's hard to watch. I used to buy box lots and would occasionally purchase estate material. Sometimes I'd find stamps on the original sales pages. I've sold stamp from the big retail company for an average 7% of the purchase price. I'm sure the owner trusted the retail company because they advertise a lot but that sure didn't help his estate. Isn't over paying for a collection just as bad as buying misdescribed material? The results are the same!

How people spend their money is interesting. One person will wonder why someone would spend $1000 on stamps but see nothing wrong with going to Las Vegas to blow a lot of money at travel, tables, food, and shows.

Kelleher has some nice stuff but if you read the terms of sale you will find that they charge a 20% buyers premium. Not to my liking. But this may be the norm. So your $2000 dollar bid suddenly becomes $2400. A bit steep in my estimation. JMO. Wolf-==-

The Kelleher buyer's fee is within the normal range these days for mainline philatelic auction companies. They also effectively lower their buyer's fee from 20% to 18% with prompt payment.

Standard actually, ranging from 15% to 22% these days. Some also charge an additional 3% for using credit cards, which can push it as high as 25%.

No biggie. Just factor the fees into your max cost and work backwards to get to your top bid.

Kelliher also rewards bidders that pay within 15 days a 2% discount regardless of payment method, so instead of charging 3% for a CC they give a 2% discount. That's a pretty good deal.

I recently won a lot at Kelleher for $30. The commission was $6 and postage was $8. I paid the same day as the invoice. There was no charge or credit to the original invoice.

From there terms and conditions;



They don't offer it on Michael Rogers Auctions, I've received it for the last 2 Collections auctions.

I assume you were making a point given the fact the discount was only $.60.

I was noting I did not get a discount. I checked what was actually charged in the initial invoice. The $6 hammer fee should cover it.

the $8 s$30 lot is deadly - I got hit with a similar charge by Kelleher on a $40 lot and I said buh-bye

eyeonwall - Yes ouch. This has ended my under $100 bidding with them.