It's Totally Weird To Me

Canada postage - even the better high value stuff - often sells at well below face. This is a sad fact, especially for dealers (like me) who from time to time become over stocked with very good quality material - but not able to even get back original investment. And many, like me, are unwilling to give it away. We'll wait - maybe the tide will turn.

Then - I see things like ebay.ca item 312094615553. He offers a back view like it was a certified rarity!!

The 4 cent walrus from 1954 - about as rare as air - no good for postage - valued at, maybe, 1 cent on a good day - offered by a "top rated seller" (5224 sales) for $US .99 plus 2.00 shipping to Canada. US$2.99!!

C'mon folks......is anyone actually going for this?

P.T. Barnum had something to say about that!

So whats your point ?.

Are you saying you will supply collectors single mint stamp for 1c plus postage ?.

How much would you charge for this stamp. Including your time for scanning both sides, listing, posting ect.

If the seller had any brains, he'd understand that people don't really care about his time when he's asking a ridiculous price, and /or ridiculous shipping cost for one measly, essentially worthless stamp. If he scanned a stock card or sheet of cheap stuff, perhaps he might get a few views, or maybe even an occasional sale

I agree that it is weird, and it is probably the single biggest reason I have cut back on ebay searches. There is just too much of this kind of stuff to try to wade through.

dynamode. The point was obvious.

Really. So do you mean.

1; How dare someone list their property on ebay for 99c and then have the nerve to charge postage.
2; How dare ebay allow this seller to list this overpriced item.
3; Collectors must be really stupid to buy stamps on ebay.

I can totally understand, and appreciate, when someone finds a bad/crooked seller and reports it here. But what has this seller done wrong ?. Why are you picking on them in public ?.

I avoid buying individual stamps with very low catalog values on ebay, because the seller's price + shipping is usually going to be more (often several to many times more) than catalog value. For things like that I'll usually just wait for the bourse at a stamp show. Case in point: I'm working on filling gaps in the U.S. Fourth Bureau Issue right now, and I need to upgrade to a nicely centered MNH copy of Scott #551, which catalogs at 50 cents. That's the cost of mailing it right there, even without the seller getting anything as compensation for the stamp, time, or trouble. Consequently, every ebay listing for an individual copy of this stamp starts at more than I'm willing to pay for it. If someone else is willing to pay such a price, it makes no difference to me.

"Picking on" someone with over five thousand sales! Ha ha ha.

I think the point being made by CanadaStamps was missed as well.

But I will add...

Well, the seller must be doing something "right" because the seller has a consistent record of selling common or near-face/face value items for well above face value (and that's not even factoring in the shipping). Which just goes to prove that Mystic is not the only one able to do that.

Needless to say, many collectors have "other" sources from which they can acquire their stamps. But obviously, some collectors prefer Mystic and that ebay seller!

Well, as previously discussed in numeral threads, low CV stamps may be hard to find and when you do they may go for multiples of CV. The best way to get them is wait for a collection lot that contains such stamps. Everyone has their own way of finding needed items. Good luck on your search. Wolf-==-

And apparently they are happy with the service they receive. Some people are more than willing to pay extra for quality service (and if they have no other convenient source). That is not to say that others who sell at lower prices have poorer quality service. Some people just aren't willing to shop around if they find great quality service, even if it is at a substantial premium.

I know one gas station near my old neighborhood. For over 4 decades, they have consistently had gas prices 10%-25% higher than anything within a 5 mile radius! Yet every time I drive by there's almost always someone pumping gas. It's certainly outlasted all the other gas stations within a 1 mile radius (either out of business or frequently switching owners/brands). I have to say I'm impressed with the fierce customer loyalty that owner has won over.

I don't sell anything on ebay any more. By the time ebay hit me with listing and selling fees and PayPal fees etc. I still had shipping to pay for if I offered free shipping. Not to mention packaging costs. On a lot of things I sold I ended up paying more to sell it than I made from the purchaser. I usually just throw away stuff of low value and not of interest to me a lot less headache and I save some money to buy things I want.

The auction and approval books features over on StampoRama (www.stamporama.com) are better for selling or buying low-catalog common stamps than ebay and are mainly used for that purpose.

APS circuit books are a great choice for finding single stamps, if that option is available to you.

Quite another couple examples of cheap stamps going for multiples of CV.

This set cat at around $16 in my 2015 Scott
https://www.ebay.com/itm/SWITZERLAN....m1438.l2649

And this one, get ready, cats around $4.40. Wow!!
https://www.ebay.com/itm/SWITZERLAN....m1438.l2649

Wolf-==-

My Take from the other side of the coin.

I do not want to buy anymore collections for 1 or 2 common stamps. I have enough stuff to go through as it is.

Living in Canada, postage costs are absurd to try to resell many things that could be disposed of in the US.

I don't want to get involved in circuit books to find a few common stamps because mailing them to the next person can be more expensive than the stamps you get out of them.

I have no dealers within 2 hours of where I live to buy things from and they will charge the same or more or say it is not worthwhile to sell cheap items.

Same situation with shows. Travel time and expense will also have to be considered.

Many collectors do not have the luxury of being in a major center so do what they think is the most economical from their perspective, not from others who are not in that position.

Each person has to look at not just the price of the stamp, but also what it would cost to get that stamp by other means.