Feedback Requested On A No Reserve Auction Listing (Us #24 VF Mint)

*** For someone just running into this thread, please also refer to 'Suggestions for dealing with "problem dealers"' by revenuecollector.

I've read several threads about ebay and other sites, and the questionable ethics of the dealers and/or sellers. I recently came across this listing, and wanted to get your valuable input regarding the following:

1. Listed condition
2. The use of catalog value
3. The wording used on the listing name
4. Comments on description
5. General thoughts



FYI, I did put in a bid for a max of $400. My intention is to get enough feedback on this listing and once I start listing my own items, do what the majority thinks is right, and eliminate those that most folks would dislike. I would hate to ever find myself mentioned on one of these threads or being listed on StampSmarter.

Who is the seller?

Seller: MalackStamps (4503)

https://www.hipstamp.com/listing/us...day/21231409

Is there a certificate with it? Why would someone bid as much as $1,500 for a stamp without a cert to verify what stamp it is and what alterations may have been made. May still be worth it, but I would need a higher comfort level.

I did not want to list the seller to avoid any existing bias (which we all have.)

I don't particularly like this type of listing - but I'm a data-oriented person. To me, the image should speak by itself (front and back), and any faults (or in this case regumming) should be part of the header - not buried in the description.

I'd prefer listings like this:

US|Sc28|$60,000|M|Regummed|Famous People

Basically,
Country Name|Cat # (Mi/YT/SG/Sc/etc)|Catalog Value for F/VF|Faults, Certificates, etc|Topics

I'd reserve the next-to-last field for faults and/or notations. The last field for folks searching for specific topics.

I don't need the seller to tell me how fine it is, or if it's rare, or how it may have BOARDWALK MARGINS (I see this a lot.) I also would not want to influence (or deceive) the buyer by my subjective evaluation of a stamp as Superb, XF, or even Average. Something about a beer holder?

I really don't like seeing things like WOW! ***LOOK*** AWESOME! on listings. I do like information that is relevant to the subject depicted, or a link to an article, and so on. For example, a Mexican Revolutionary stamp could link to some article on Wikipedia. Then again, I DO understand that this is a business, and I suppose all that extra stuff would count as marketing, and perhaps some sellers are driven by sales and volume and not customized listings. The difference between a stamp peddler and a stamp dealer, I suppose. I would expect my full-service, full-time dealer to have perhaps higher prices, but business volume may dictate that shortcuts are taken, and eye-catching descriptions be created.

Caveat emptor? There IS after all a picture and a description.

You folks think this is a VF stamp? Although the seller IS disclosing the fact that it COULD be regummed, do y'all think it's still OK to list it as MVLH?

Understood but asking for input/opinions and withholding information is bad form here. If people are to invest their time in replying, they deserve to have all the information at hand.

Also note that sometimes when people withhold information, others will stop replying their posts.

We also spend a LOT of time trying to get folks to work on learning the seller as much as the stamps. Buying online from anonymous sellers, especially with higher value stamps, can be a crap shoot. It is as important to learn who you are buying from as is it what you are buying.
Don

Acknowledged. My intention was to get the first impression based on what was listed, not on a previously conceived notion of the seller if any - I also did not want to initially share my feelings on the subject to, once again, not taint any honest feedback someone not familiar with the seller might have. Basically, I didn't want to ask leading questions or phrase my query in a manner that would influence the feedback. May be I'm overthinking it. Appreciate the advice.

It appears to be a HipStamp listing by the format but I can't locate it

Bidding has ended on this item

A potentially $60,000 catalog value stamp being offered with no cert? RUN AWAY!

This seller is one of the high-profile sellers that engages in extreme puffery on all their listings and tends to extremely overprice run-of-the-mill material.

Not likely to be what it is purported to be.

From Siegel Auction Galleries:

5c Red Brown (28). Original gum, deep rich color, centered to bottom right, light diagonal crease
FINE APPEARANCE. THE 1857 5-CENT RED BROWN IS AN EXTREMELY RARE STAMP WITH ORIGINAL GUM.

The perforated 5c Type I stamps in any shade of Red Brown are very rare in unused or original-gum condition. In the past 14 years we have offered over 200,000 auction lots. During that time, we have sold only five other Scott 28 singles with original gum and the block of four in the Whitman sale. Of the other singles, only two were completely sound (one from the Whitman collection, one in our 2014 Rarities sale). A search of the records at The Philatelic Foundation for sound copies found only these other two. In our opinion, the Scott Catalogue value for Scott 28 with original gum is too low. The number of original-gum Scott 28 singles falls somewhere between the numbers for the Brick Red (Scott 27) and the Indian Red (Scott 28A), which catalogue $80,000.00 and $175,000.00, respectively.

Thanks all.

If I were to adopt a byline for my store it would be this (inspired by revenuecollector)

"Always avoiding extreme puffery."

My experience with this seller is that he is generally honest, but very very high priced. This stamp seems a bit out of character for him - regummed, some visible flaws etc. Did he say anything about any faults in the description? I can't see it since it ended.

I disagree strongly with the person who said he'd like to see all faults described in the title of the lot. I have two reasons I disagree with that. 1) the title is essentially your advertisement. There's competition and you want people to click on your item. I agree that extra things like Wow! or Huge! don't need to be there, but for me the title should be something that helps bring attention to the lot. 2) Faults sometimes need more than a few characters to describe. I like to be very detailed in my description. So if it is "small thin near the hinge area and a tiny perf crease upper right" - I want to have that whole phrase as part of the description. Anyone who buys a stamp without reading the description is making a mistake. What drives me crazy is all the dealers who just say "see scans for condition" - yuck - so much that can be hidden that way. Anyway - my two cents.

@rlsny

I should clarify. When I said this:




I meant that in my case, my description would say something like:

US|Sc28|$60,000|M|Regummed,Faults|Famous People

Then proceed to list the faults in detail in the description. Once again, caveat emptor. I saw a stamp (screenshot attached, HipStamp#21232362) advertised as used. It was a US Official, but the word FACSIMILE was barely visible along the top ribbon. As you can see from the listing below, there's only so many characters initially displayed in the description, then you'd have to click more. Once you did click more, you'd see at the very end that the stamp was marked as FACSIMILE. To me, that should have been upfront in the headline. I contacted the seller, and she told me buyers should look at the images closely, and should read the whole description. Although I agree with that, I would consider it borderline unethical, though. A used facsimile?

Not to belabor the point, but whether I choose to go to McDonald's or Morton's, I would expect good service, good food, good customer service (perhaps in an ideal world.) If a collector chooses to buy a stamp on an auction site, the expectation should NOT be that they're going to be ripped off (alas, based on the threads I've perused, that seems to be the case.)

What is my point in all this? Once I launch, I don't want to become fodder for any board. I think a dealer's reputation is important, regardless of the volume they move or the type of stamp they sell (for newbies or specialized collectors.) I have made purchases that I've regretted, kicked myself for not asking more questions or requesting more information. In some cases, I've reached out to the dealer and resolved the matter quickly; in other cases, I voted with my feet.

Anyway, appreciate your patience and your feedback. I'm sure some of these things have been previously discussed ad nauseam, but I couldn't properly formulate my query to return any threads that contained all this info.

"Buyers should look at the images closely" That seller should look at her stated catalog value closely. $3000? What happens when the high bidder pays up (the bids are already at $120 +), receives the stamp and sees "facsimile" on its face. That assumes that they don't just stick it in their album. Of course, buyers should ask themselves why a $3000 item is starting at virtually nothing and why they scored it for pennies on the dollar.

Anyway, I have been reading your posts and plans and it sounds as if you plan on running an operation that has a high ethical bar. Hats off to you.

No "borderline" about it. Not having facsimile in the title and referencing the catalog value of the real stamp, while only mentioning facsimile in the last sentence of the listing is definitely unethical, in my opinion.

The bidders driving it to $120 must be completely clueless, as these facsimiles are $5-10 items.

P.S. This is one of the reasons I *HATE* the Hipstamp page item layout: you have to hunt for information because everything is on separate tabs and truncated with "Read More" links. If someone didn't take the time to click "Read more" they would never see the mention that the stamp is a facsimile... which is what I'm assuming happened with one or more of the bidders (or there is shilling going on; there's no reason this listing should have gotten anywhere near this high). There's no single view that allows you to get all the information about the item. As much as I dislike many aspects of ebay's page layout, it is leaps and bounds better than Hipstamp.

The Hipstamp site design is an abomination. It's too much of a PITA to shop there, let alone sell there. The vast majority of listings there are autosynced from ebay anyway.