Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
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That stamp is very common, because millions of them were printed and used for mailing letters.
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How come I see stamps like this on ebay for thousands of dollars. I can research and research my stamps but cannot seem to find out what they are worth. I've tried to get them appraised but it seems like everyplace I go here in town they want me to leave my stamps with them until, they say, an appraiser can go through them all and they will contact me. I am not comfortable leaving them, anywhere. Is that normally how that works?
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When using ebay, search what they SOLD for not what they are listed for as some think anything that is old is worth something.
If you are mostly interested in US, you can purchase a Scott or Harris or Brookman catalog but note even there is no guarantee you can sell it to another collector for the price list.
A free online US guide from Mystic https://www.mysticstamp.com/ also has prices for stamps they sell but you will not likely get the price.
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Julie,
Do not get discourged. Do not trust Ebay to provide any kind of value. Angore gave you some good advice. You can also go to your public library and they should have copies of the Scott stamp catalogues for your use.
Please continue to ask questions here, we will be glad to help as much as possibe, but since we do not have the stamp in hand it is sometime hard to give you any answers. The picture you posted really helps and we could provide an answer because the stamp is very common. If the collection is all US, you might try posting a couple of pictures of stamps that were issued prior to 1900. We still may not be able to properly ID the stamp from the picture, but we could point you in the right direction.
Enjoy the research, who knows, you just might become a stamp collector.
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agree with everything that others have said; i'll add a bit more.
If you really want to know what you have (more than just the general value, with no specifics) a catalogue is a must for identification, primarily, but also a sense of price.
Angore suggested Mystic's catalogue; great place to start because it's beautifully done, but their prices are hi-end retail and, except for rare stamps, prices you're unlikely to come anywhere near. They run about 50% higher than the catalogue values listed in Scott, and I typically expect to get about 20-30% of Scott's prices on stamps I sell. You can do the math.
Based on the single stamp you showed us, appraisals (if that's what you really meant) aren't appropriate. One typically pays for appraisals, and it won't get you any further towards your goal.
Instead, if what you really want is to sell your stamps, offer them to a stamp dealer. They are more likely to be able to give you a price in 5 minutes.
Of course, you could also use the stamps as the basis for your own collection; and we'd be happy to answer questions.
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Jewel -- I think this is a very good question for a beginner. Most people new to collecting stamps begin with getting stamps or collections from someone else, thus have no idea of what they have received. With no prior knowledge of stamp values or where to learn about stamp values, turning to ebay for samples values is a very obvious choice.
Unfortunately, ebay is no longer a trustworthy source for potential values. I see were you get the $4,000-6000+ estimated values on ebay
https://www.google.com/search?channel=frs&client=firefox-b-1-d&q=4+cent+lincoln+stamp
But the rule you should hold dear is that "If it is too good to be true, it is probably a scam".
If you scroll down past the ebay offering to offering from stamp companies, such as Mystic, you see they offer the stamp of pennies. So there is a problem you need to resolve.... is the professional stamp seller selling a similar stamp for pennies more reliable than an ebay seller selling for $KKK. Could the ebay stamp seller be trying to scam the unwary or novice stamp collector.
It's certainly exciting to see a stamp in your possession being valued on ebay in the $Ks, but just know that "Buyer Be Ware" was not coined yesterday.
Look for existing stamp selling companies for potential values vs ebay sellers.
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Weird things have been going on on Ebay (and Etsy and other auction sites as well) with regard to common stamps like this one. People offer them for insane asking prices and up to now, it remains unclear whether the seller is ignorant, the seller is preying on ignorant buyers (which is close to a scam but since nobody forces buyers to buy something, it is the free market) or that something else is going on (money laundring is often mentioned, but no proof for that either).
In any case, as has been said by several before me, do not rely on Ebay for establishing the value of stamps. There are better ways, like Colnect
https://colnect.com/en/stamps/stamp/9230 ...
or Freestampcatalogue
https://www.freestampcatalogue.com/sus06 ...
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Now the poster may not have a catalog to figure out the Scott numbers for the stamp - but I personally find HipStamp a good indicator of what dealers are asking for given stamps (HipValues, not as much, as it seems to be best for single stamps, not full sets, and one can't sort on the sales results by price to discern a trend...). HipStamp also has a much superior search algorithm than eBay so you tend to not get so many useless matches on your search. I sort from low to high. I don't consider outrageous prices like this in my analysis.
It would be interesting to see if anyone actually falls for these kind of sellers. eBay does allow one to search for sold and closed listings (HipStamp doesn't because they want you to use their HipValues product), but eBay's search is kind of useless, and as these types of offers likely won't even have a catalog number, they could be difficult to find if they exist. And I find NobleSpirit's Stamp Market Index tool to be completely broken, their searching is even worse than eBay's and the query engine doesn't even allow you to view past the first screen of results most of the time. If not, that would be a good tool as well.
If Scott used eBay and HipStamp sales results in the compilation of their market values, it would look like 1989 all over again, because especially for some countries, heavy discounting seems to be the norm, whereas for others, not as much.
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I second Jerry's thoughts on Hipstamp. I must add that I sell there, but I find the majority of listings are within what I would consider reasonable price ranges. Keep in mind that condition can have a huge impact on pricing.
Finally....enjoy!
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04:48:54pm
Hi John I was trying to go to your store but your link doesn't work! Could you check it please?
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Harvey, try this link.
https://www.hipstamp.com/store/troutbum- ...
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05:20:54pm
Thanks, that worked and I just book marked it. He has wonderful Canadian material there! All Canada collectors should check it out occasionally! I know this is off topic, sorry about that!
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re: Does anyone know if this stamp is rare?
That stamp is very common, because millions of them were printed and used for mailing letters.
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01:45:29am
re: Does anyone know if this stamp is rare?
How come I see stamps like this on ebay for thousands of dollars. I can research and research my stamps but cannot seem to find out what they are worth. I've tried to get them appraised but it seems like everyplace I go here in town they want me to leave my stamps with them until, they say, an appraiser can go through them all and they will contact me. I am not comfortable leaving them, anywhere. Is that normally how that works?
Login to Like
this post
re: Does anyone know if this stamp is rare?
When using ebay, search what they SOLD for not what they are listed for as some think anything that is old is worth something.
If you are mostly interested in US, you can purchase a Scott or Harris or Brookman catalog but note even there is no guarantee you can sell it to another collector for the price list.
A free online US guide from Mystic https://www.mysticstamp.com/ also has prices for stamps they sell but you will not likely get the price.
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
re: Does anyone know if this stamp is rare?
Julie,
Do not get discourged. Do not trust Ebay to provide any kind of value. Angore gave you some good advice. You can also go to your public library and they should have copies of the Scott stamp catalogues for your use.
Please continue to ask questions here, we will be glad to help as much as possibe, but since we do not have the stamp in hand it is sometime hard to give you any answers. The picture you posted really helps and we could provide an answer because the stamp is very common. If the collection is all US, you might try posting a couple of pictures of stamps that were issued prior to 1900. We still may not be able to properly ID the stamp from the picture, but we could point you in the right direction.
Enjoy the research, who knows, you just might become a stamp collector.
3 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
re: Does anyone know if this stamp is rare?
agree with everything that others have said; i'll add a bit more.
If you really want to know what you have (more than just the general value, with no specifics) a catalogue is a must for identification, primarily, but also a sense of price.
Angore suggested Mystic's catalogue; great place to start because it's beautifully done, but their prices are hi-end retail and, except for rare stamps, prices you're unlikely to come anywhere near. They run about 50% higher than the catalogue values listed in Scott, and I typically expect to get about 20-30% of Scott's prices on stamps I sell. You can do the math.
Based on the single stamp you showed us, appraisals (if that's what you really meant) aren't appropriate. One typically pays for appraisals, and it won't get you any further towards your goal.
Instead, if what you really want is to sell your stamps, offer them to a stamp dealer. They are more likely to be able to give you a price in 5 minutes.
Of course, you could also use the stamps as the basis for your own collection; and we'd be happy to answer questions.
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re: Does anyone know if this stamp is rare?
Jewel -- I think this is a very good question for a beginner. Most people new to collecting stamps begin with getting stamps or collections from someone else, thus have no idea of what they have received. With no prior knowledge of stamp values or where to learn about stamp values, turning to ebay for samples values is a very obvious choice.
Unfortunately, ebay is no longer a trustworthy source for potential values. I see were you get the $4,000-6000+ estimated values on ebay
https://www.google.com/search?channel=frs&client=firefox-b-1-d&q=4+cent+lincoln+stamp
But the rule you should hold dear is that "If it is too good to be true, it is probably a scam".
If you scroll down past the ebay offering to offering from stamp companies, such as Mystic, you see they offer the stamp of pennies. So there is a problem you need to resolve.... is the professional stamp seller selling a similar stamp for pennies more reliable than an ebay seller selling for $KKK. Could the ebay stamp seller be trying to scam the unwary or novice stamp collector.
It's certainly exciting to see a stamp in your possession being valued on ebay in the $Ks, but just know that "Buyer Be Ware" was not coined yesterday.
Look for existing stamp selling companies for potential values vs ebay sellers.
Login to Like
this post
Approvals
re: Does anyone know if this stamp is rare?
Weird things have been going on on Ebay (and Etsy and other auction sites as well) with regard to common stamps like this one. People offer them for insane asking prices and up to now, it remains unclear whether the seller is ignorant, the seller is preying on ignorant buyers (which is close to a scam but since nobody forces buyers to buy something, it is the free market) or that something else is going on (money laundring is often mentioned, but no proof for that either).
In any case, as has been said by several before me, do not rely on Ebay for establishing the value of stamps. There are better ways, like Colnect
https://colnect.com/en/stamps/stamp/9230 ...
or Freestampcatalogue
https://www.freestampcatalogue.com/sus06 ...
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
re: Does anyone know if this stamp is rare?
Now the poster may not have a catalog to figure out the Scott numbers for the stamp - but I personally find HipStamp a good indicator of what dealers are asking for given stamps (HipValues, not as much, as it seems to be best for single stamps, not full sets, and one can't sort on the sales results by price to discern a trend...). HipStamp also has a much superior search algorithm than eBay so you tend to not get so many useless matches on your search. I sort from low to high. I don't consider outrageous prices like this in my analysis.
It would be interesting to see if anyone actually falls for these kind of sellers. eBay does allow one to search for sold and closed listings (HipStamp doesn't because they want you to use their HipValues product), but eBay's search is kind of useless, and as these types of offers likely won't even have a catalog number, they could be difficult to find if they exist. And I find NobleSpirit's Stamp Market Index tool to be completely broken, their searching is even worse than eBay's and the query engine doesn't even allow you to view past the first screen of results most of the time. If not, that would be a good tool as well.
If Scott used eBay and HipStamp sales results in the compilation of their market values, it would look like 1989 all over again, because especially for some countries, heavy discounting seems to be the norm, whereas for others, not as much.
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re: Does anyone know if this stamp is rare?
I second Jerry's thoughts on Hipstamp. I must add that I sell there, but I find the majority of listings are within what I would consider reasonable price ranges. Keep in mind that condition can have a huge impact on pricing.
Finally....enjoy!
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This is my diabetic cat OBI! I think, therefore I am - I think! Descartes, sort of!
23 Dec 2023
04:48:54pm
re: Does anyone know if this stamp is rare?
Hi John I was trying to go to your store but your link doesn't work! Could you check it please?
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re: Does anyone know if this stamp is rare?
Harvey, try this link.
https://www.hipstamp.com/store/troutbum- ...
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This is my diabetic cat OBI! I think, therefore I am - I think! Descartes, sort of!
23 Dec 2023
05:20:54pm
re: Does anyone know if this stamp is rare?
Thanks, that worked and I just book marked it. He has wonderful Canadian material there! All Canada collectors should check it out occasionally! I know this is off topic, sorry about that!
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