How To Sell Cheap Items Like Modern Plate Blocks And FDCs

I generally use cardboard mailers and first class package rates with shipping when I sell. This obviously restricts what I can sell and I am starting to accumulate lots of nice cheaper material. I have tons of plate blocks and FDCs that are clean and probably sellable, but for only a buck or two or less in many cases.

Any suggestions on 1) which marketplace to use for this kind of material and 2) what do people collect these days? Are FDCs and plate blocks from the 1950s to 1980s selling? Is it even worth the effort?

Thanks in advance.

I sold several lots of French FDCs from the 1950s onwards on ebay. Made them up into lots of 100 and got what I paid for them, viz. £10 per lot, or 10p each.

You can put a plate block of 6 or 4 in a brown kraft envelope with a cardstock sandwich and mail it letter rate if it is less than 6-1/8 inches high x 11-1/2 inches long x 1/4 inch thick. It can't be too rigid. That will save a lot on postage. offering a low cost shipping option is good practice for cheap items. I just bought a plate block last night for a thematic page I'm making that was 1.45 and had free shipping on ebay. (the 1971 Historic preservation block of 4) You're not going to get rich selling this sort of thing but some folks will try and add additional things to make it more worthwhile for you.

I am buying MNH plate blocks and they are lower the face value under 37 cents per stamp and buying them at 1/2 of face . I use them as postage ,I use about $20.00 a week .

You could open a store front on Rodeo Drive Beverly Hills, but that like many other suggestions, would not be too cost effective.

Yeah. Not exactly a high demand area. Someone put a lot of work into some of these albums. I'll figure something out.

No, not a high demand area of collecting anymore. But they still sell if done right even if you won't make much money from them.

I'd sell with a low shipping fee, first of all, and in bulk lots if possible. You mention "albums" so then why not sell them as entire albums? Either that or as small groups -- by time period, subject matter, or issue. It's a lot easier to buy a group of covers or blocks you need all at once even if one or two of them you don't need.

The hard part with lots of small lots is the time spent -- listing them and then mailing many small lots. I'm glad there are dealers that do that when I need a particular item or two, but I wouldn't want to do that myself much.

Risney,

Sell them through the APS Stamp Store:
Batch them, send them to APS, they post them online and sell them.
APS processes payments, insures and ships them, and pays you.