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What we collect!
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General Philatelic/Gen. Discussion : Any success by buying albums on Ebay?

 

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bigcreekdad
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03 Apr 2017
01:16:47pm
I'm new here, but have been in and out of stamp collecting for 60 years. About 10 years ago I started selling stamps from my collection on the old Bidstart. After a couple years, I drifted away from this, and closed my "store".

Recently, I've thought about getting back into both collecting and selling. I quite enjoyed the selling as you had to really look at some stamps to accurately identify them and get a Scott's (that's what I used) value to set a price. I never did so much looking at watermarks, perforation, and coloration (colors can drive you mad).

I've looked around on Ebay at stamps for sale and see several albums in boxes. Not sophisticated collections I'm thinking, and likely nothing of great value, but I was curious if anyone had ever had any decent finds in such purchases.
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Sarge

03 Apr 2017
01:57:27pm
re: Any success by buying albums on Ebay?

Welcome to SOR. I do from time to time. My luck is usually with large lots or lots the seller states that the items are unsorted or not identified. Take your time to study the scans or photos for the listing you find yourself looking at. I tend to shy away from sellers that don't respond to questions or they refuse to give a photo or scan of the back of the item or items listed. I hope this helps.

Jeremy

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philb
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03 Apr 2017
03:18:35pm

Auctions
re: Any success by buying albums on Ebay?

I have purchased a couple of single country collections on eBay and did ok with them. When you bid on the worldwide albums you soon see the same old stamps over and over again and not the higher values. Just my experience !

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51Studebaker
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Dialysis, damned if you do...dead if you don't

03 Apr 2017
03:20:15pm
re: Any success by buying albums on Ebay?

I use a simple formula to ensure that I never get ripped-off when buying bigger lots and collections on eBay. I forget any stated values, I assume that there will be fakes, forgeries, and stamps with condition issues. Instead, I calculate the ‘fun quotient’ for myself. In other words, I estimate how many hours of enjoyment I will glean from working on the new material. I target a ‘fun quotient’ of $10 per hour or better (lower).
Don

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Snick1946
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APS Life Member

03 Apr 2017
10:32:40pm
re: Any success by buying albums on Ebay?

I assume the OP is asking about purchasing collections in albums, or would it be purchasing used albums?

If the latter I would not suggest it. Although one can sometimes get a nice pre owned album in many cases you are getting something customized by the last owner. Numbers written in, extra mounts, etc. I won't even mention if the last owner was a smoker.

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AntoniusRa
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The truth is within and only you can reveal it

03 Apr 2017
10:41:49pm
re: Any success by buying albums on Ebay?

The most important thing is to know what you are looking at and how long it takes you to process it. Your looking for the best deal you can find and the more experience you have
the easier it will be. There are so many items on Ebay that you need to be able to qualify them quickly so as to not waste time. If you see a couple things that turn you off then move on to the next. I have a very good knowledge of the value of most stamps of the world so I can process them quite quickly but of course it takes a lot of time to get there. It's best to concentrate on countries that you are well familiar with when buying to sell.
I search to add items to my collection and also to sell off better stamps to help pay for the stamps I need. I first check for stamp I need for my collection and catalog them.
I then decide what I would pay for those stamps and that is often what I bid. Secondly I look for better stamps catalog for more than $5. If there is a lot of this material that is easy to sell with a relatively short turn around, I'll consider that regarding the bid.
This works good for me, of course there are many other factors which ill influence your bid, every lot is different.
You should know what the things you are selling before you buy them and sell quickly enough to cover your investment. You also need to paying around 5%.
Buy good stuff real cheap, that everybody wants, and you'll have no problems.

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angore
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Al
Collector, Moderator

04 Apr 2017
11:19:20am
re: Any success by buying albums on Ebay?

I was looking at some old albums and some often have pages of key stamps either removed or a page removed (sometimes clearly ripped out).

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BenFranklin1902
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Tom in Exton, PA

04 Apr 2017
01:02:09pm
re: Any success by buying albums on Ebay?

Within the past year I bid on a lot that included a Scott Minuteman album from the mid 1970s.The seller had mentioned that most 1940 to the end around 1978, stamps were mint and included a face value number.. which was more than I paid for the entire lot. The lot included a few other things, and I was focusing on a glassine envelope full of Farley center pairs, blocks and such. Anyway, I was amazed that I got this entire lot super cheap.

The Minuteman album and it looked exactly like the one I had as a kid. The scans showed page after page of mint stamps in mounts. Typical holes in the collection like the $5 definitives and many of the se-tenent blocks.

I get the album in the mail and I was delighted, when I did a quick flip through the pages. Then the day came when I knew the album contained a stamp that I needed for my own USA collection. I reach into a mount to extract it and immediately saw it was very hinged... so I do a quick check through the mounts and find that ALL of the stamps are either hinged or have no gum at all. It literally looked like someone had been collecting for ten years and had transferred all the stamps from album to album and only on the last transfer had discovered clear mounts!

So instantly I discovered that the entire album was a bust. Still I had gotten my value from the Farleys alone, that were worth more than my bid!

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angore
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Al
Collector, Moderator

05 Apr 2017
09:06:01am
re: Any success by buying albums on Ebay?

When buying albums, you do need to find out how the stamps are attached. There are some nice collections out there but as said the stamps cannot be removed from pages without soaking again. A quick email to the seller will usually clear it up.

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"Stamp Collecting is a many splendored thing"
        

 

Author/Postings
Members Picture
bigcreekdad

03 Apr 2017
01:16:47pm

I'm new here, but have been in and out of stamp collecting for 60 years. About 10 years ago I started selling stamps from my collection on the old Bidstart. After a couple years, I drifted away from this, and closed my "store".

Recently, I've thought about getting back into both collecting and selling. I quite enjoyed the selling as you had to really look at some stamps to accurately identify them and get a Scott's (that's what I used) value to set a price. I never did so much looking at watermarks, perforation, and coloration (colors can drive you mad).

I've looked around on Ebay at stamps for sale and see several albums in boxes. Not sophisticated collections I'm thinking, and likely nothing of great value, but I was curious if anyone had ever had any decent finds in such purchases.

Like
Login to Like
this post

www.hipstamp.com/sto ...
Sarge

03 Apr 2017
01:57:27pm

re: Any success by buying albums on Ebay?

Welcome to SOR. I do from time to time. My luck is usually with large lots or lots the seller states that the items are unsorted or not identified. Take your time to study the scans or photos for the listing you find yourself looking at. I tend to shy away from sellers that don't respond to questions or they refuse to give a photo or scan of the back of the item or items listed. I hope this helps.

Jeremy

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this post
Members Picture
philb

03 Apr 2017
03:18:35pm

Auctions

re: Any success by buying albums on Ebay?

I have purchased a couple of single country collections on eBay and did ok with them. When you bid on the worldwide albums you soon see the same old stamps over and over again and not the higher values. Just my experience !

Like
Login to Like
this post

"And every hair is measured like every grain of sand"
Members Picture
51Studebaker

Dialysis, damned if you do...dead if you don't
03 Apr 2017
03:20:15pm

re: Any success by buying albums on Ebay?

I use a simple formula to ensure that I never get ripped-off when buying bigger lots and collections on eBay. I forget any stated values, I assume that there will be fakes, forgeries, and stamps with condition issues. Instead, I calculate the ‘fun quotient’ for myself. In other words, I estimate how many hours of enjoyment I will glean from working on the new material. I target a ‘fun quotient’ of $10 per hour or better (lower).
Don

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like this post.
Login to Like.

"Current Score... Don 1 - Cancer 0"

stampsmarter.org
Members Picture
Snick1946

APS Life Member
03 Apr 2017
10:32:40pm

re: Any success by buying albums on Ebay?

I assume the OP is asking about purchasing collections in albums, or would it be purchasing used albums?

If the latter I would not suggest it. Although one can sometimes get a nice pre owned album in many cases you are getting something customized by the last owner. Numbers written in, extra mounts, etc. I won't even mention if the last owner was a smoker.

Like
Login to Like
this post
Members Picture
AntoniusRa

The truth is within and only you can reveal it
03 Apr 2017
10:41:49pm

re: Any success by buying albums on Ebay?

The most important thing is to know what you are looking at and how long it takes you to process it. Your looking for the best deal you can find and the more experience you have
the easier it will be. There are so many items on Ebay that you need to be able to qualify them quickly so as to not waste time. If you see a couple things that turn you off then move on to the next. I have a very good knowledge of the value of most stamps of the world so I can process them quite quickly but of course it takes a lot of time to get there. It's best to concentrate on countries that you are well familiar with when buying to sell.
I search to add items to my collection and also to sell off better stamps to help pay for the stamps I need. I first check for stamp I need for my collection and catalog them.
I then decide what I would pay for those stamps and that is often what I bid. Secondly I look for better stamps catalog for more than $5. If there is a lot of this material that is easy to sell with a relatively short turn around, I'll consider that regarding the bid.
This works good for me, of course there are many other factors which ill influence your bid, every lot is different.
You should know what the things you are selling before you buy them and sell quickly enough to cover your investment. You also need to paying around 5%.
Buy good stuff real cheap, that everybody wants, and you'll have no problems.

Like
Login to Like
this post

mitch.seymourfamily. ...
Members Picture
angore

Al
Collector, Moderator
04 Apr 2017
11:19:20am

re: Any success by buying albums on Ebay?

I was looking at some old albums and some often have pages of key stamps either removed or a page removed (sometimes clearly ripped out).

Like
Login to Like
this post

"Stamp Collecting is a many splendored thing"
Members Picture
BenFranklin1902

Tom in Exton, PA
04 Apr 2017
01:02:09pm

re: Any success by buying albums on Ebay?

Within the past year I bid on a lot that included a Scott Minuteman album from the mid 1970s.The seller had mentioned that most 1940 to the end around 1978, stamps were mint and included a face value number.. which was more than I paid for the entire lot. The lot included a few other things, and I was focusing on a glassine envelope full of Farley center pairs, blocks and such. Anyway, I was amazed that I got this entire lot super cheap.

The Minuteman album and it looked exactly like the one I had as a kid. The scans showed page after page of mint stamps in mounts. Typical holes in the collection like the $5 definitives and many of the se-tenent blocks.

I get the album in the mail and I was delighted, when I did a quick flip through the pages. Then the day came when I knew the album contained a stamp that I needed for my own USA collection. I reach into a mount to extract it and immediately saw it was very hinged... so I do a quick check through the mounts and find that ALL of the stamps are either hinged or have no gum at all. It literally looked like someone had been collecting for ten years and had transferred all the stamps from album to album and only on the last transfer had discovered clear mounts!

So instantly I discovered that the entire album was a bust. Still I had gotten my value from the Farleys alone, that were worth more than my bid!

Like
Login to Like
this post

"Check out my eBay Stuff! Username Turtles-Trading-Post"
Members Picture
angore

Al
Collector, Moderator
05 Apr 2017
09:06:01am

re: Any success by buying albums on Ebay?

When buying albums, you do need to find out how the stamps are attached. There are some nice collections out there but as said the stamps cannot be removed from pages without soaking again. A quick email to the seller will usually clear it up.

Like
Login to Like
this post

"Stamp Collecting is a many splendored thing"
        

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