Losts Several Lots With Nystamps

I had bid on several lots with nystamps. I was bidding against two id's that only seem to buy from nystamps. I made one bid. Always seem to lose with a last second bid. These are all small lots (all identified) so CV value is clear.

Is anybody thinking shill?

Jack

If he is never getting the lot, what is the point of the shill bidding? Unless it is to keep lot from going under a certain minimum. Sort of a reserve.

I never had the impression that nystamps used shill bidding. If they do it is on such a low level that it seems hardly worth it. I've won many lots from them for under $7.

NY stamps has a large following, deserved or not. It normally takes a pretty aggressive bid to win one of their large lots. It's usually a futile treasure hunt. These groups have already been picked over for anything of value. The several that I have won have always been a disappointment.

I've been outbid on their auctions many times, but occasionally I do win. I won one last month and paid about $10.50, shipping included, which was less than a third of catalog.

From what you describe, it doesn't seem like evidence of "shill" bidding. For one thing, who uses shill bidding on small value lots? What is there to gain? You describe losing out to last second bidders. That happens to me and everyone else. That the other two bidders appear to bid only (mainly?) on lots from NY Stamps proves nothing. I bid on lots from a small number of dealers on ebay most of the time, too. .I imagine some others may do that, as well. It's human nature to buy from dealers you trust.

There's a little too much anxiety here at times aimed at dealers who are alleged to rely on nefarious practices. It's true that a very small number operate by questionable practices. But most do not. And NY Stamps, in my experience is not a bad one. Most dealers on ebay and elsewhere are legitimate. All I can offer is my experience. I've been buying from ebay for 10-15 years, including from NY Stamps, and never had a single stamp-related problem. Your experience may be different, of course. You bid, and you lost. It happens to me about 90% of the time! I'm cheap is why. There's nothing nefarious about it.

I agree that NY Stamps probably does not use shill bidding, but the shear volume of mis-described and stamps with conditions issues is overwhelming. And to top it off, their own terms and conditions clearly states "stamps could be expertly restored, regum, or repaired". I have recorded over 100 NY Stamps listings where the 'repairs' were absolute abortions and were never called out in the listing beyond their general blanket statement. In my opinion, this is damaging to the hobby. It also leads to conspiracy thinking, if a seller is willing to stoop to highly questionable listings, then folks assume other bad things.

If folks the who read this forum learn nothing else I hope they learn how to determine quality stamp sellers.
Don

I think they have modified their MO, due in part to chatboard talk (the board "down under" too). I still think they shill to simulate bidder interest early in the auction, but don't bid near the end. It is hard to tell the real bids from shills when auctions start at a penny.

I find lengthy discussion about this or that ebay seller's honesty frustrating and depressing. Let me say upfront I've been buying on ebay for more than fifteen years and in that time I've found very few sellers who were anything other than helpful and pleasant and who gave great service. Of course there are rip off merchants - there are in every walk of life but please lets not go round looking for them

I regularly buy from a seller who has actually been absolutely slated on a very long and tedious thread on "the board down under" and have always found their lots to be exactly as described and to go for what I expect them to go for. Pages and pages of my collection have been filled with stuff I was very pleased to buy from them, because I go to stamp fairs and look at what other people on ebay are offering and the same material is going for far more money

Of course there are chancers, my particular dislike are the guys who charge a fortune for postage and when the packet arrives it's sent for a fraction of that with stamps that have obviously either been used before or are unwanted mint stock. And there are the odd people out there who make a pile of garbage look like a really good deal.

But there are also 99% of people I've dealt with who want you to be happy and after your repeat business and I regularly buy from them when I find them. Without going to the trouble of giving you backs and fronts and several pictures of the same cheap stamps quite a lot of sellers give good clear pictures of everything you're going to get. I bid cheap, and I use an app so my bid is put on at the last minute. I win about half my "cheeky bids" and some of what arrives is very pleasing.

The other day I got a couple of lovely albums of French stamps for a song - not loads of stamps, and those that were there are mainly mid-period and pretty common but somebody had lovingly made pages by hand and they look so great I'm going to keep them and try to fill in the spaces. To buy one of the albums new would have cost more than I paid for these two albums and a whole load of off paper kiloware from the same seller.

The images weren't great - half a dozen or so for two albums - but I put in a cheeky bid and got lucky. Isn't that part of the reason we use ebay, because sometimes you get lucky? And sometimes you get outbid and that's all part of it too and there's no great conspiracy most of the time.

Sorry, I've gone on a bit. Rant over!

This is one of their auctions that ended yesterday:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/nystamps-T...p=true&rt=nc





Its an Eastern Rumelia #15, CV $0.40.

NYStamps knows their description is dead wrong - they've been told & yet have continued to sell E. Rumelia #15s as Turkey #66s. For years...

Of course the buyer - with 4900 positive feedback, and a string of purchases of Turkey & Greece - should also know better!!

I agree with Drew's first paragraph

Yes!
All auction start at a penny and how do they make a buck? Their pictures of placed stamps at angles and shapes are hard to follow-I have bid and won several auctions--interesting.

I have bid on a number of lots posted to ebay by NYStamps and have had pretty good success in terms of the material and how they handled any problems. I always buy individual stamps or small groups, never collections. I have lost a lot of my bids, but generally my goal is to find the lots that are being ignored by other bidders and get them at a good price, so I am not bidding aggressively.

I buy British Colony stamps for either my collection or for resale. Most dealers in the U.S. know very little about these stamps so I don't expect them to be experts just to show the stamp and allow me to inspect the back so I can see the hinging, marks and other factors for myself. I do expect them to be able to provide the Scott Catalog number and based on that I can determine the watermark and perforation of the issue.

So at least for individual British Colony issues, I feel that they do a reasonable job of displaying the stamp, and determining the Scott catalog number. I have won a number of below market bids from them, so I don't think they are using shills at least for the stamps in this area.

I advise other collectors I know to avoid NYStamps (and a small subset of other ebay stamp sellers). I had a disagreement with them a few years ago regarding an item I bought, and am now no longer allowed to bid on their items. I consider that a very good thing. YMMV.

Hurry! This fantastic stamp is going under market value. https://www.ebay.com/itm/382454093173?rmvSB=true

Who would not be proud to drop $700+ on a wonderful example like this?
Don