Stamp Prices And Covid

My 2 cents - on the classic worldwide side, bidding for country collections certainly is more competitive these last 12 months, although it's still not too hard to find good lots (for resale or collecting). On the online store side, prices for classic worldwide stamps/sets have increased a bit, but not too much on Hipstamp/Delcampe over the last year (no longer use ebay, so can't comment there).

Will certainly be interesting to see whether the uptick in the hobby continues as the world moves out of pandemic mode.

For 19th cent US material on ebay, my bids that would easily have won a year ago now routinely do not.

I would be interested in hearing what has gone on with sales at the APS Stampstore. Detailed info isn't readily available.

I've never used ebay; items in my specialty areas historically are either overpriced or damaged. DelCampe and HipStamp seem poorly organized. At least I don't want to spend hours sifting through page after page; and the search functions for me have not worked well.

I bid - well above estimate - on three large lots of cigarette cards yesterday, and was at least 25% off on each of them. In stamps, I've had a little more success with individual country lots - I don't even bother with larger, mixed lots anymore, as I wasn't getting anywhere near the hammer price.

I realise that my view is a very limited one and I have a yes and no answer to the original question.

I buy nearly all the stamps I collect - mint Canada KG6 - via online auctions sites. I get the impression that Buy It Now prices being asked have increased somewhat BUT when the same items are offered as a auction the prices bid are considerably lower than the BIN and I do not think they have risen much at all over the last year.

In short the gap between BIN and auction seems to be increasing and many BIN lots do not seem to sell.

AQ

I've been buying graded MNH Federal Duck stamps over the past year. I'm about 80% complete now with XF-90 and higher and have averaged 53% of PSE SMQ published values for my purchases.

Just this week I won an RW8, MNH graded 95, SMQ value $550, paid $300. I'm not sure how to interpret this... maybe folks just aren't interested in duck stamps?

I believe the biggest increases are not found in the higher price stamps and the stuff investors are looking for . We are seeing a huge increase in the packet , mixture and country collection lots ,sort of saying this Covid lockdown has brought out the kitchen table philatelist . That is why these huge bulk lots at public auction are getting the best prices for the sellers .

Caspian, only from my perspective federal ducks stamps can generally be found for a lot less than Scott compared to regular issues. I'd assume demand (or lack thereof) being the case, but that's just what I found when I put together my set.

Andyrich: Yes, totally agree for non-graded/non-certified duck stamps. They can usually be bought for 1/3 or less than Scott value, but obviously with the inherent risk of buying stamps with undisclosed issues/defects. Guess my thought was graded were more 'safe' in regards to value and not having to worry about reperf/regum or hinged. Some dealer asking prices are beyond SMQ, but obviously are not selling.

I've bought quite a few graded ducks from a very well known dealer and been surprised at how low they were willing to go on offers I sent.