How To Ruin A $400 Set Of Stamps By Poor Packaging

I bid on and won a really fresh set of Russia Scott 666-77 MNH, catalog value $402. These are extremely difficult to find anymore with white fresh paper and gum. Really hard to find. I paid $155 which I consider a very good deal for these.

So how do you turn a gold bar into a turd? You ship mint stamps on one of those cheapo black PAPER approval cards instead of a plastic Safe type card. And make sure that you wrap the paper approval card in tissue paper and stick that into a paper envelope. Oh, and don't use any vapor barrier material at all in any way shape or form. Let all of that paper absorb the moisture in the air and BINGO, you have a train wreck. The entire set is firmly stuck to the paper card. Pretty much useless. No, let me correct that, they are useless. And this is how hard to find items go up in value. Idiots whittle away their population.

I need to throw up.

I am so sorry Rogdcam :(

Thank you for the thought Mrita. The more I think about it the more amazed I am that these stamps which were issued in 1938 managed to make it 84 years unscathed until they met a low IQ ebay seller who literally wanted to save $1 on supplies. Wow!

That is a sad story. What a pity.

While the internet era has ushered in much greater access and new ways for us to interact with the hobby, it has also introduced tens of thousands wannabe dealers and others with little or no practical retail business experience. In my opinion, being a good packer/shipper is a significant part of being an online seller. Processes such as packing but also staying current with USPS/FedEx/UPS delays or issues are extra efforts that good quality sellers make.
Don

My worst experience along these lines never got to this stage. I'd spotted a copy of an Eileen Gray daybed, which retail for four figures, on ebay. Seller lived quite near, and was ready to deliver. I had it in mind to go up to £500. The item then vanished, then reappeared, with a note from the vendor that he'd decided to open up the cushion to establish if it were real leather (anyone bidding would have known it was). In doing so, he'd damaged the zip and the material, but, as consolation, he mentioned that we now knew that it was real leather, and that it could be repaired. Doh! I think he got £100 for it.

Today I took my mail from the mailbox; a single envelope that was so wet it looked liked it had been sitting in a bucket of water for a week. The address had smeared and the stamps on the enveloped were almost completely soaked off. When delivered, the weather was clear, cold and dry; it had snowed the night before.

The good news is the stamps inside were in a glassine envelope and somehow manage to survive. In my neighborhood poor Post Office
service is not the exception but the norm !!!

Extremely good reason why my packaging is spot-on where it is a $4 sale or $400 sale and includes a great recent stamp for mailing with most orders.

This is what bring repeat buyers. Simple as that!

Ugh - that's a real horror show - sorry to hear it!

I've got to return a $100+ purchase. It was well packed when it was sent to me, but I can tell it was damaged prior to shipping (it is a coil roll that shows evidence of being squished resulting in creases that the seller should have seen & described).

Eyeonwall - I feel for you. Best of luck.

I am having a difficult time with my seller. He refuses to accept what happened and so this will be done the hard way (for him). Besides which he cannot write anything understandable or form a cogent thought. I am tired of this horse manure. It is why I left ebay in the first place and will be doing so again. Too many amateurs and even the so-called professionals are a hit or miss proposition.

Not long ago, against my better judgement, I purchased a set of Russian souvenir sheets from Momen. MNH was the description and the scans appeared to back that up. They arrived and one had two hinge marks, another had fingerprints in the gum and the third one had some gum missing. The scans were played with to hide these things. Of course Momen never responded until he was forced to and offered me a discount and blah, blah, blah.

I am over it all. I will stick with dealers like Loral and real auction houses.

Like Regency?

As I have gone back and digitized many decades of philatelic publications one thing stands out, deception, misrepresentation, and fraud have always been a part of the hobby. I think it is baked in as part of the human condition.
Does a venue make a difference? Perhaps. Maybe it is just easier now (via online) to 'experience' a greater number of humans.
Don

LOL!!!

Regency was a problem but statistically I have far, far better luck with traditional outlets.

LOL, if you leave every organization because of a few bad eggs, you will soon be all alone. What an incredible overreaction!

Someone care to share what Regency is to a newbie?

John - You do see that your reaction IS an incredible overreaction. No?

I left ebay for years and have had a great time in all things philatelic. Never ended up alone. What a silly thing to say.

To each their own.

PS: There are quite a bit more than a few bad eggs on ebay if you are being truthful.