High Prices At Ebay These Days?

Hello,

for some weeks now I see many auctions at ebay which end at very high prices. Not the fake stamps, but just normal old stock albums.

like this for example:
https://www.ebay.de/itm/Briefmarken...372516086111

where are the 570 USD in this album?
most stamps are damaged or probably.

this is one example, I saw several like this the last weeks. Is there a general new interest in those auctions, also in the USA, or is this something specific to Europe and Germany?

I buy a lot of my stock for my website - kgvistamps.com on ebay.
I specialize in British Colonies, so my answer will be skewed from that perspective.

To answer your question, prices currently do seem higher than before on ebay.
My theory is that buying always gets a little more aggressive during the time period from October until about March each year.
I find stamps almost being given away during the summer months and the same relative stamps being fought over during the winter months.

If you are bidding, keep your head and decide what you are willing to pay, and walk away if the price seems out of your range.
Most things appear a number of times, so you can always catch the next one. Good luck with your bids.

The same seems true for traditional auction houses as well. Fall/Winter strong, Spring/Summer weaker.

Note that 3 bidders raised their own bids without competition on the lot mentioned. Smells like shill bidding to me. Someone else did jump back in at about 500 euros but one of the possible shills tried to push it further and perhaps got stuck with the lot, I'm guessing. 50 euros would be more like it, if that.

Later scans repeat the first scan so one might be bidding against someone who thought there were double the stamps in the lot despite a count of 82 stamps given. I might then throw in a sniper bid and walk away and not ever go back to rebid; it's not worth the time. Collectors like the seller without stamp experience thinking they could get a "steal". I've found more problems with sellers who could be realistic about prices in their specialty area but think all old stamps are great expensive rarities.

thank you all again for your answers.
here another expensive ebay auction:
https://www.ebay.de/itm/USA-WERTVOL...332948093979

would you spend 1700 USD (or more) for stamps without certificate and knowledge about their faults? Many don't look sound.

he has abother auction not that expensive, but same question: how much do you spend in general for auctions of many stamps where you don't know the condition?
https://www.ebay.de/itm/USA-Gutes-L...AOSwwZxcIn0w

I would spend maybe 500 USD for the first and 100 USD for the second auction. Probably not a chance to win such an auction.

I don't think those bidders raised their bids on their own. When someone bids less then the previous bidders maximum, e-bay shows the first bidder "raising" their bid. It doesn't show the unsuccessful bidder.

Depends. Is your intention to keep them and put them in your collection, or is it your intention to break them up and resell them?
At this point, I'd say both collections are priced in the range I would expect them to go for.

stamperix,
The overall philosophy I use when buying collections without being able to closely examine condition is to expect all of them to have minor faults. Then I consider what I can sell a stamp with a minor fault at, and then I "value" the collection based on that. Then if you're going to break it up and resell it, you have to then deduct your time, the cost of listing, the cost of PayPal % taken from the sale, the cost of shipping and time to package for shipping. Do it right, and you can do well (I have done very well in the past with this, even lived for a year and a half just "trading" (buying/selling) on ebay. Buy collections, break them up, sell the individuals. You have to be patient, and you have to know what you're doing. But doing it will MAKE you get to know what you are doing.

thank you.
the first ended at 2900 USD, which is quite much, even for someone who wants to resell. ebay prices for US stamps are really strong at the moment, and I wonder if this for example is an experienced buyer or just somebody who has the money and thinks he will find a treasure there.

IMO there is a lot of irrational exuberance on ebay when it comes to group lots. In another post I reported getting about 35% of Scott on collections on pages with some countries going for much higher. Occasionally I find a nice set of stamps or a good single and will sell it. I rarely get more than 20% of Scott and sometimes only 10%, this isn't logical but it seems to happen regularly.

Why do people care about Scott percent as a general statement. The discount should be associated with quality. Where those diverge, is how you should rate the deal. Prepare to pay 100% or more for the best, and below 10% when damage and repairs enter the scene.

I get that buying lots of stamps and collections is fun and a great way to get material serendipitously, but as far as valuations are concerned, unless you are inspecting the back of every stamp, assume borkage under everything. Happy surprises happen, but don't expect it.

stamperix, the 2nd auction might not be too highly priced if you look at everything that's in it.

If you go to the body of the listing, there's a lot more pictures to look through. I can see where it might have been worthwhile to bid on that one, with the idea of adding to a collection, not necessarily for resale.

As for prices going up on ebay (and at auction house sales), it seems to be moving upwards. I'm routinely outbid on items nowadays which I've never had much trouble picking up in the past.

thanks for the other answers, I agree with all of you. Actually those are very interesting auctions. If we talk about the second one (2900 USD), I really would like to have it on my desk. I only wondered how much other experienced collectors would pay for such a lot on ebay?

As long as I do not know anything about the condition (and hidden better stamps) I would never pay more than 1000 USD for such a lot, in this case perhaps 500 USD. Of course it depends on how rich you are :).