Scott No Longer Allowing Access To Legacy Digital Catalogues

Somewhere they got to call it quits for listing new issues and understand prices have not changed in 12 years for all those new issues .

I don't know about calling it quits, but perhaps a publication cadence less frequent then annual.

If they were either rotate the volumes (e.g., 2 per year on a 3-year cycle) or split the catalogues into geographic regions ala Michel, or based upon decades, again going to a non-annual cycle, that would become more viable IMO.

Also, the more content that gets included and needs to be updated EVERY YEAR, the greater labor bandwidth required for the same return: not sustainable in the long run.

Of course any radical change to the composition of the catalogues would be met with resistance, both from the publisher and the audience. Old people don't like change.

REV ---- I am posting here is what I would like to see .

As posted above a catalog series that I would like to see is the Classic 1840 to 1940 continued ,then a 1941 to 1970 printed catalog . Then Scott could add more sub-listings and spend staff time on a more indepth catalog and drop all the new listings for recent issues . With two catalogs they can issue one alternate each year instead of the yearly catalog of each .

Annual updates means annual sales.

No catalogue for the last 55 years (1971-2026), that will really help attract new collectors.

The bottom line for this topic is that this digital product was sold with a lie. The law can say what it wants but they lied when they sold the product.

Imagine buying a hard copy set of Scott catalogs and three years after the purchase two men show up at your door and take them away. You would be livid and file a police report. In this case we shrug and accept it. Bad business.

"REV ---- I am posting here is what I would like to see .

As posted above a catalog series that I would like to see is the Classic 1840 to 1940 continued ,then a 1941 to 1970 printed catalog . Then Scott could add more sub-listings and spend staff time on a more indepth catalog and drop all the new listings for recent issues . With two catalogs they can issue one alternate each year instead of the yearly catalog of each ." - This would make Scott money and this would have made Amos money. Unfortunately, the powers that be running things can't see what the people want. I would also buy this catalog. Other examples are 50 year old pages selling for way more than they should on ebay all because Amos discontinued pages that they can just print from a digital copy.

The future is digital. Scott should provide options for which part of their world catalog collectors want or need. Because almost no one needs the entire world catalog. Here are some ways Scott could provide the parts of the catalog that collectors would actually buy:
By country, (with or without colonies, territories, occupations, etc.), geographic region, continent
By year, decade, era, century
By topic
By type (commemorative, definitive, airmail, postage due, etc.)

If you wanted, for example, only Switzerland definitives for the years 1936 to 1971, that should be possible.

Of course, it is assumed that Scott has their world catalog in one database with appropriate tags.

Is there a single major catalogue provider that offers ALL of those options simultaneously the way you propose?

The complexity involved from a pricing and marketing perspective would be over the top.

It would be overkill for the majority of collectors and would muddy the waters for the novice to intermediate collector, e.g., "I didn't know that X and Y weren't included in Package Z. I want my money back!"

While the expert/experienced collector likely knows exactly what they need, most collectors do not, and learn by *exploring* the catalogue.


IMO the solution doesn't need overwhelming amounts of complexity or options... it just needs to be incrementally better than it currently is.

1. Make individual countries purchasable with a cost pro-rated based upon the included page count compared to the volume costs.

2. Offer geographic region bundles that are discounted.

3. Make the base cost for digital significantly LESS (not nominally) than the printed volume costs. Remove the barrier to adoption for casual/beginning collectors.

Start with that, then explore more complex options after you've had a chance to gauge revenue shifts.

Simple answer ------- Scott isn't doing anything that buyers want . Their whole mind set is two generations behind .

They want you to buy product that was in demand in the 1930's to the 1950's .
I can print a album page for 10 cents that they want over a dollar for .
I can buy a nice binder for $10.00 that they want $65.00 for .
The catalogs are printed and have pricing that is close to 20 years old and have zero research behind because they close that department many years ago .


What do I see now .------People are starting with old Scott Internationals and cutting down the pages to fit 3 ring binders . Punching new three holes These binders hold up better than than those monster Blue Binders. Then they print Steiner Pages as needed . Reducing weight and space .

In a webinar, Jay stated that the conversion of the database to a new database will allow more options.

See the BESG video. This was after the sale.

https://bestudygroup.org/2025/12/14...vember-2025/

I am talking to you, yes, you.

What flies in the face of many, many posters here on the SCF, is Jays explanation for his process, steps and experiences from non-collector to collector. So you start with Mystic (oh, God, not Mystic) and eventually own the publishing rights to Linn's and the Scott Catalogs. What idiots deal with Mystic, seems to be the SCF members theme.

Sorry, but at my stamp club meetings, I see Mystic catalogues and Mystic Albums in use.

Edited to clarify:

"My" clubs included members of all exhibit award levels up to and including winning the C of C.

"Here are some ways Scott could provide the parts of the catalog that collectors would actually buy:
By country, (with or without colonies, territories, occupations, etc.), geographic region, continent
By year, decade, era, century
By topic
By type (commemorative, definitive, airmail, postage due, etc.)"

They do currently offer online catalogs for
British Commonwealth
France and the French Colonies
Germany and Related Areas
Portugal and the Portugeuse Colonies

Things like topic or commem or defin isn't going to happen simply because tags would have to be added to every stamp or set so that they could be extracted to the category of interest. Too much work. And some people would still whine that some stamps were excluded or included that they don't agree with.

Well Well Well the Scott owners should read this thread. Most of you could run the company better including Amos. You know what else the stamp auctionnetwork and/or ebay and could also get together with Scott to generate actual prices for stamps. I would also get rid of the min price for a stamp. A cheap stamp is worth 1 penny or less.

Agreed, but to buy one cheap stamp from ebay, it will cost the buyer about $1 or so. Catalog is only 25 cents which is set as the cost to sell one common stamp.

Remember, when you buy most stamps you are NOT paying for the stamp, you are paying for the time and labor to provide the stamp to you plus the added expenses of picking up or delivery of the purchase.