What Is A Reasonable Percentage Of Cat Value To Sell USA Stamps ?

Hello all ~ I am back into the hobby after a long period away having to work for a living ~ still trying to sell off a shed full of stamps

I am ploughing through several USA stamps - generally 19th Century. What is a good guide price in percentage terms to sell these off please (either Scotts or Gibbons)

I appreciate that it will depend on centreing, (English spelling LOL) postmark etc, but just looking for what buyers / collectors think is fair and reasonable

Many thanks All

David

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Common material does well to fetch 20%, less common and desirable material maybe twice that. Anything above 50-60% needs to be pretty special.

"Centring" is the English spelling, old prune.

If you're using Gibbons, 10% is the norm for most foreign material, unless of higher quality.

Hi GeoffHa

Appears we are both wrong https://www.collinsdictionary.com/d...sh/centering

Still, would rather talk stamps than my Inglish wot eyes rite if dats OK ?

Bionicbelly

I think you're misreading the definition!

This is the proverbial question of how long is a piece of string. There are too many things to factor in to say that any given percentage is what a stamp value is.

Well that piece of string definately has two ends and hopefully the buyer and seller can meet somewhere between, if at all. As a collector "It is the art of the deal, and not the amount that counts."

Mike

Ah the string analogy - that always gets me tied in knots.


I have always based my selling price at c 20% cat. Perhaps add a bit if a scarcer and good quality and reduce it a bit (or a lot) if not so good - of course if the quality is really bad it will not sell even if it is free (i.e a stamp worth zero will still cost a fair sum to ship.


Only I noticed on some auction sites where prices are selling at wildly varying prices, I am not refering to the silly prices being asked by some for a common stamp that the seller thinks is valuable becase it is old but stamps that are actually selling (i.e with bids)
Now some of these are caused by the seller selecting Their price from say the Gibbobs World Catalogue, which provides a basic listing only. However, there can be variations to a stamp that increases its value considerably or the stamp may have a flaw or similar which the non expert seller has not spotted but the buyers have. However, ignorig these the selling prices are varying from 5% to near 50% from what I have seen
(and I am comparing what appears to be reasonable quality presentations - not ripped, damaged or cut examples which interestingly still gets a bid or two in some instances - though I find those somewhat suspect and worthy of scrutiny by the auction site)


So I was just pitching the question to see what others thought. All my lots give the buyer the opportunity to make an offer if they think I am over priced so hopefully we find the right landing point _ I am not looking to maximise "profits" I am not a dealer per se, but do want to raise a fair and resonable sum to reinvest - besides clearing out 60 years of accumulation to keep the wife happy (it's cheaper than a divorce she tells me)


Many thanks for your input guys


Do you know, studying auction behaviour and habits could a new hobby in it's own right ?

Bioinicbelly

Price relative to catalog value depends on centering, appearance, condition and demand. Highly graded stamps may sell at multiples of catalog value while damaged stamps may command only a small fraction.

Some of what we now see on ebay is a legacy of dealers who sold stamps at a fixed percentage of catalog. Buyers happily stamps worth more than the fraction asked leaving the rest in inventory hidden from the marketplace. As old dealer stocks were exposed on ebay, it became apparent that the marketplace was glutted with inferior stamps worth only a fraction of catalog.

Classic stamps in very fine condition without defects as specified in the Scott catalog are sometimes difficult to find. The valuing guide in the Scott United States Specialized catalog or the PSE Stamp Market Quarterly should provide some insight. While it is possible to buy stamps on ebay and other sites at a small fraction of catalog value, buyers get what they pay for and sometimes less.

If you are going to spend substantial money on classic stamps, why not insist only on graded stamps?

Certicated stamps, perhaps - many people rightly regard grading as a pernicious activity.

Pernicious? If anything it protects the customer from unscrupulous overgrading by dealers.

GeoffHa is absolutely correct.

Any comparison of those who use computers to quibble over stamp centering, and people who are qualified and recognized to judge whether or not a stamp is genuine and undamaged is ridiculous.

I'll payed that!

Generally for selling stamps I know other ebay sellers are my competition. So if out of 10 sellers that have any given good stamp I know this is what the buyers get to choose from when they are buying. That makes where my pricing is how good my selling position is with that given stamp. So if I am the cheapest or if I am the dearest will basically determine my selling potential or position.

Sure if a buyer knows I have the best packaging and use the latest issue stamps for mailing this also comes into play.

So you are going to do heaps better looking at your competition on ebay than a stamp forum. Have never got a stamp price from SCF. Not wanting to be rude if you get what I mean.

Anywhere from 1% to 100,000% of catalogue value is reasonable, depending on the item.

(In other words, there is no magical "correct" percentage.)