Best Way To Sell A Large Collection

Hello, I was wondering if there's any way of selling my entire collection instead of having to sell them individually. I doubt I have any of significant value, maybe a handful of ones that might have some value to them but way more time then it's worth for me doing all the research to figure it out. Anyone have any experience with how they did it or best way to do it? It started by inheriting a pretty large collection to ending up with alot more but seems to me that it had alot more hype then actually worth collecting and thought since I love collecting coins I'd enjoy this too. Honestly I'd rather just sell the entire collection of probably 1000+ stamps and be done with it for good because find no interest in stamp collecting but would be great to get something out of it and it go to someone that enjoys it. Just seems impossible to know a fair price for each side to get a good deal and being able to sell all of them. Don't have the knowledge about them and put alot of time trying to learn but it's just too much when have no interest in it.

Use the forum search engine and you will find an ENORMOUS amount of discussions on this topic. It is one of top topics on the site with over a hundred threads addressing your questions.

Take some pictures and put it on ebay with a 99-cent start. Post the link to the auction here. Keep in mind that at two cents per stamp, you should not expect more than about $20 for adequately-described stamps. For a pig-in-a-poke auction, "1000 all different" I might not expect more than a few dollars.

Agreed. 1,000 stamps isn't a large collection - take some pictures for ebay that highlight the ones you consider better, and don't expect much.

https://goscf.com/t/82628

Has anything changed? If not, above suggestions may be your best option.

A Scott International album with a thousand stamps typically goes for around a hundred bucks. Loose stamps or stockbooks will be much less.

1000+ was just lowest guess cuz really no clue how many I have now. Have a book with a good chunk of it filled, some full sheets, most of them loose just too many to look up and sell individually. Planned to take photos of what is there and try to atleast limit it down to age range and etc. Wasn't expecting much from it just wanted it to go to someone that might enjoy it. Just wanted others that have either done it this way or bought some like this to share any helpful info they might have about it. I can't tell the difference in some that have multiple Scott numbers to be able to list them all. I know alot of them are from around the 1920-1940s president ones

And to NSK, that was just a small portion of them but yes that is some of the loose ones. I have a couple boxes full besides those but that era is where alot of them come from.

One other possible alternative to consider.

In the old thread at the link, it looks like you may have had a topical lot (animals). That might be another way to break down the collection into smaller lots. You might even discover that some of the loose stamps are already broken down into topical lots.

I don't purchase topical lots, so maybe someone else can add some marketing ideas?

In discussing sales strategies, most collectors would probably not view a collection as "large" unless it had maybe 50,000 or more stamps in it. Even if the collection is 2000 or so stamps, it would be viewed as a small collection unless it were focused on a single country.

Based on your previous posts, comments, and pictures, I wouldn't think you would get more than $20 for the whole lot. I think donating to a local organization would be your best bet. If there was truly something valuable in there, it would have been pointed out by the previous owner. Thanks for your contributions to this forum.

What you have posted has little value.

Keep in mind that if you post that on ebay and only state "there is more," what potential buyers will read is "there is more that is such garbage. I am not posting it." If there is more that is interesting, show it. Because, prospective buyers will assume all else is not worth anything.

Picking out thematic lots as suggested may help you earn a little more. If you have ten times $10 worth for 10 collectors, you should not expect any single bidder to bid more than the $ 10 that is interesting to that seller for the whole lot. So, reaching out to more than one buyer may yield more.

I don't recall ever posting very much on here before except just a handful of certain ones maybe. None of the previous owners could have pointed any out to me because when I got them it was because they passed away or they were left behind at places. My job deals with residential/commercial properties so have actually found quite a bit that got left behind or etc. But like I mentioned, I doubt I have any that are super valuable and not expecting to get alot off it.

So far I've started with taking photos of any that were put in the album I was passed down and making a brief list of all in it. Then just going to try sorting and seperating all the loose ones.

One question that comes to mind for collectors that I have is, should I leave the ones stuck on envelopes or etc how they are or better to soak them off first? I assume if the cancel or envelope has something that makes it more important should be left as is but ones that have been cut around stamp and left on, what is best thing to do?

As a general rule, do not remove stamps from covers or other postal items. It, only, can add value when they remain on entire. The buyer can always decide to soak the stamp. You even might put them in a separate postal history lot.




That, exactly, is why it is difficult to give you any but a highly general reply. But will that reply be a good one?

No that is what I'm looking for mostly is just a general idea of things to do/not do when I go to try selling them. I mean, I can share photos if it helps but like I've mentioned, not as much looking for value because doubt Ill find the needle in the haystack if there is one because I just don't have the knowledge of what exactly to look for. I was told awhile back that unless they were on envelopes with important words or etc on them to soak them off first so I'm glad to know that's not the case. Saves me a bunch of time lol. It's just so hit and miss trying to look them up cause it'll say it's worth something on one page, and opposite the next so I don't want to make 50 million posts trying to figure it out. I don't mind doing a few of ones that seem different or etc but have alot that just thought had unique stamps over them or etc