What To Do With Higher Value Duplicates

After deciding to consign my good stuff to an auction house, and giving away my common stuff on this forum (more giveaways to come), I'm trying to figure out what to do with a few hundred random midrange duplicates/souvenir sheets, etc. (no complete sets of anything) that could bring a few bucks. Rather than have the auction house throw them in together with other stuff for an accumulation lot, I'd like to get some entertainment value trying to sell them myself. Since I've never been a seller on ebay, HipStamps, etc. (just a buyer on ebay with a few hundred feedbacks), I figure I'm not going to get much exposure (or trust) from buyers looking to more seasoned sellers for this type of stuff (catalog value $20 to $100). This is decent stuff - all VF MNH with some certs.

Is it worth a shot, or would it just languish forever in auction/BIN purgatory? Any other suggestions for how to have some fun disposing of this stuff? Thank you again for your assistance.

If not a member, join the American Philatelic Society and sell your stamps through them.
They have on-line shop and mail approval service.

Yes - I am an APS member and have bought a few things from their shop. So I will consider that route for convenience sake since it wouldn't require as much ongoing work as the stuff sells (if it does). Given how much stuff they have on hand and my personal experience with buying there, I have visions of sending it all in and having it sit there forever. Maybe that'll be no different than ebay or HipStamps, but at least the stuff will be out of my house.

As a followup, for those of you who are looking for items in this range, where do you go to find what you're looking for, other than a dealer? And how likely would it be that you would bid on or order an item from someone with little feedback - is there an value level beyond which you wouldn't take the risk of dealing with a newer seller?

I usually look on ebay to find mid range items or to complete sets. I wouldn't let lack of feedback inhibit you from selling there as I consider ebay feedback to be rather meaningless and find most people to be honest. I'm not a dealer but I occasionally put stuff on ebay at a fixed price (around 40% of catalog value)and just keep it there until it sells. It can be a slow process but eventually works out.

I try to get rid of swaps on ebay. Things always sell, but you may need to start at reasonable prices to generate interest - I'd say 10% of Gibbons is more than I'd usually get. If you have those clear, double-sided stock-sheets, they're good for displaying both sides of mint (as opposed to unmounted mint) or used stamps, which gives buyers a bit more confidence. I think it's quite fun as a retirement interest, so enjoy!

ebay makes it pretty easy to sell items on. You should check it out and give it a try. The low starting price will invariably get you some bids. Or set your price as a buy it now/accepts offers. I just bought an item from a seller that way. You can also link us to your site if you like.

You can also list items here on SCF. It is lower cost (free) than ebay and has less hoops to jump through.
Don

I use Hipstamp for this purpose for "mid-range" dups, fixed price listing around 20% of Scott CV works okay. Depends on your patience of course, if you want to clear them faster auction on ebay would be better.

Pretty sure that ebay buyers could care less if you had 100 or 1000 sales. If good images accompany the items and if priced right they will sell.

I'm interest in anything you may have from the period 1847 - 1925, mint, unused, or used, hinges not a problem, VF centering.

I would like to see some of your stamps too Oracle. :)

Without reservation I would recommend selling your stamps on ebay, not because it's the easiest or even the most lucrative but because selling on ebay is a valuable skill. If you take good scans, sell at auction with a low starting price (99c) and offer fair shipping you will sell your material for a fair return and gain valuable experience.

For years I bought and sold to build my collection and after I retired my wife and I made it into a business. ebay has supplemented our retirement for over 10 years and enabled me to sell an unwanted dining room set and a junky old pontoon boat and have many adventures.

I'm a Scott Intl #1 guy (Ken, I missed out on 2 of your lots tonight :(), and buy albums, collections and box lots. I recently bought a couple of lots from Dutch Country, one of them was for 5 Red Boxes, and didn't really know what to expect. I sell on Hip and at our local show every year, so I was looking to stock up a little.

Something in one of those boxes wasn't described, and they would have removed the items if they saw it.....kudos for me though. I paid only a few hundred dollars for the lot, and there was a pile of glassines less than an inch thick. All British classics, high CV, different plates and I'm sure the dealer had one time bought someone's specialized collection.

For the British collectors, just wondering your thoughts here:




Am I better off selling this off on my own, or is this specialized enough for an auction lot? Sell at a US Auction, or British?

Just looking for a little advice. Realizing that $13K in CV is not going to bring back any large amount of that number. Am I looking at 10% or less or 20+?

Thanks for looking.....Ray

Stamporama is another method to sell stamps. There are no listing fees and a lot less overhead than ebay on options.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I am tempted to try ebay to see what it's like as a seller. As I mentioned, I'm in this for the entertainment factor as well as making a few bucks (not profit, just cashing in). My wife and I have other stuff around the house besides stamps that might be interesting to list on ebay also just to see what happens to gain more experience.

Having said that, I don't feel like essentially giving away stamps that I paid more than a few dollars for. What have folks experienced who have followed the strategy of listing, say, a $100 stamp in truly VF MNH condition with no faults for a very low auction price like a few bucks? If the market for that stamp is really only 10-20% of catalog, I guess I should be OK with it, but I'm still predicting that I would be ticked off if the stamp ends up going for a song. I have this impression, perhaps misguided, of ebay being a place for bargain hunters assuming the worst about sellers and the real condition of stamps.

I have done a few searches on ebay for sold items, similar to what I have to sell, to see what a reasonable expectation might be, but the results are either few, all over the place re price sold, or both. So I'm still contemplating . . .

I'm not sure that ebay is full of scavengers scouring the seabed, but there is a lot of choice there, so individuals selling may have trouble getting the healTheir prices. Dip your toe in with some of the lesser material before you risk the better stuff.