Pricing multiples - pairs, blocks & sheets - how do I do it?
Feb 3, 2018 23:44:35 GMT
Mick, Beryllium Guy, and 1 more like this
Post by tempphilatelist on Feb 3, 2018 23:44:35 GMT
Hi all!
I've recently found what I think is a bit of a treasure. A couple of boxes I've had for what seems like a million years, and dragged from house to house, are full of stamps. My ex had a whole lot of stamps (he doesn't want them back, I asked), and my brother and his dad had stamp collections, which have all been amalgamated for the benefit of my kids. My grand-dad was pretty serious about collecting, so there are quite a few pre-decimal items I think will be at least a little valuable... So I want to go through them, keep a few and re-start the collection I started when I was a teenager (aah, about 30 years ago), and sell the balance (the majority). This brings me to my questions about pricing stamps...
I went out and bought the 'Seven Seas Stamps - Australasian Stamp Catalogue' (the stamp book) to help me because otherwise I wouldn't know a stamp valued at 50c from one valued at $500, and searching values for all these on the internet would take me forever.
1: Pricing multiples.
Let's just take a stamp off the first page of the stamp book for an example - the 1913 Green 1/2d Kangaroo (cat #1)- valued at between $8 and $15 depending on grade (let's say $10 for this example).
That price is for a lone stamp. How do I price a pair? What about a block of, say 4 or 6? What about a half or full sheet? What about blocks with selvedge or gutters?
2: 'Low value' stamp multiples.
I'm looking at listing most of the stamps at slightly less than the stamp book says, because otherwise I don't think any dealer would be interested, but the stamp book has a "minimum value of 50c". This is annoying because I simply don't know whether the stamp is worth 50c or 5c. I'll use an example, the first stamp in the stamp book valued at 50c is the '1947 Wedding of Princess Elizabeth' 1d Purple (cat #241). Again, what do I do about multiples, is it the same 'rule' as for a more expensive stamp?
3: 'Low value' stamp lots.
If I have a whole lot of singleton 50c value stamps left at the end of sorting all this out I'm thinking of just offering them online as bulk lots, perhaps in 'decades' (like, all the 199x ones together), or maybe just lots of 100, or such. Does this sound like an idea? If I have 100 of these 50c stamps I don't believe anyone would pay $50 for them, should I just list them at auction starting at $1 or what? I would think this would be a relatively simple way to start a collection- if you could get lots of Aussie stamps of the same decade at once... Or are they basically worthless?
4: Grading stamps.
Can anyone suggest a webpage which might give me an idea on how to grade stamps? I'm assuming if they're a block of unused stamps, unhinged and flat, they're going to be at the higher end of the stamp book's valuation, but, what about used ones? Does anyone have an idea of how I should grade these, or whether I should bother? Let's use the first stamp, above, as an example. If I have a used, lightly hinged version of that stamp, the book says it's value is $8. Would it be a good idea to just list it on eBay for, say, a $5 start at auction? What about used decimal stamps? Is it the same rule there?
5: Hinges.
Some of the stamps I have come hinged. I'm thinking I should just leave the hinges on and let the person who buys the stamp worry about it, even if this means I'll get slightly less for the stamp. I've never removed hinges, so I'm concerned I'll screw the stamp up if I try. Is this the right thing to do? (Obviously, the listing will note there's a hinge/hinge remnant and have photos of such).
6: Watermarks and perfs.
As I've said, I'm really new to this. I don't have a watermark kit, and I'm *really* not keen on the idea of dousing stamps in lighter fluid given that I don't know what I'm doing , so, I thought I'd just do my best with watermarks. If they're obvious and can be photographed I'll list them as having a particular watermark, otherwise, I'll just take the photo and list it at the price of the least expensive watermark version available and leave it up to the purchaser to work out. With regard to perforations - I did buy a perf guide, but I'm wondering whether, if perforations are an issue, I should photograph the stamp with either a ruler or the perf guide in the photo so the buyer can see exactly what is going on?
6: Anything else?
Is there anything else I need to know in order to list stamps for sale?
Thanks so much everyone.
I did do a search on the forum for the above information, but, if I've missed a thread and this info is already on the site, please give me a link to the thread.
L.
I've recently found what I think is a bit of a treasure. A couple of boxes I've had for what seems like a million years, and dragged from house to house, are full of stamps. My ex had a whole lot of stamps (he doesn't want them back, I asked), and my brother and his dad had stamp collections, which have all been amalgamated for the benefit of my kids. My grand-dad was pretty serious about collecting, so there are quite a few pre-decimal items I think will be at least a little valuable... So I want to go through them, keep a few and re-start the collection I started when I was a teenager (aah, about 30 years ago), and sell the balance (the majority). This brings me to my questions about pricing stamps...
I went out and bought the 'Seven Seas Stamps - Australasian Stamp Catalogue' (the stamp book) to help me because otherwise I wouldn't know a stamp valued at 50c from one valued at $500, and searching values for all these on the internet would take me forever.
1: Pricing multiples.
Let's just take a stamp off the first page of the stamp book for an example - the 1913 Green 1/2d Kangaroo (cat #1)- valued at between $8 and $15 depending on grade (let's say $10 for this example).
That price is for a lone stamp. How do I price a pair? What about a block of, say 4 or 6? What about a half or full sheet? What about blocks with selvedge or gutters?
2: 'Low value' stamp multiples.
I'm looking at listing most of the stamps at slightly less than the stamp book says, because otherwise I don't think any dealer would be interested, but the stamp book has a "minimum value of 50c". This is annoying because I simply don't know whether the stamp is worth 50c or 5c. I'll use an example, the first stamp in the stamp book valued at 50c is the '1947 Wedding of Princess Elizabeth' 1d Purple (cat #241). Again, what do I do about multiples, is it the same 'rule' as for a more expensive stamp?
3: 'Low value' stamp lots.
If I have a whole lot of singleton 50c value stamps left at the end of sorting all this out I'm thinking of just offering them online as bulk lots, perhaps in 'decades' (like, all the 199x ones together), or maybe just lots of 100, or such. Does this sound like an idea? If I have 100 of these 50c stamps I don't believe anyone would pay $50 for them, should I just list them at auction starting at $1 or what? I would think this would be a relatively simple way to start a collection- if you could get lots of Aussie stamps of the same decade at once... Or are they basically worthless?
4: Grading stamps.
Can anyone suggest a webpage which might give me an idea on how to grade stamps? I'm assuming if they're a block of unused stamps, unhinged and flat, they're going to be at the higher end of the stamp book's valuation, but, what about used ones? Does anyone have an idea of how I should grade these, or whether I should bother? Let's use the first stamp, above, as an example. If I have a used, lightly hinged version of that stamp, the book says it's value is $8. Would it be a good idea to just list it on eBay for, say, a $5 start at auction? What about used decimal stamps? Is it the same rule there?
5: Hinges.
Some of the stamps I have come hinged. I'm thinking I should just leave the hinges on and let the person who buys the stamp worry about it, even if this means I'll get slightly less for the stamp. I've never removed hinges, so I'm concerned I'll screw the stamp up if I try. Is this the right thing to do? (Obviously, the listing will note there's a hinge/hinge remnant and have photos of such).
6: Watermarks and perfs.
As I've said, I'm really new to this. I don't have a watermark kit, and I'm *really* not keen on the idea of dousing stamps in lighter fluid given that I don't know what I'm doing
, so, I thought I'd just do my best with watermarks. If they're obvious and can be photographed I'll list them as having a particular watermark, otherwise, I'll just take the photo and list it at the price of the least expensive watermark version available and leave it up to the purchaser to work out. With regard to perforations - I did buy a perf guide, but I'm wondering whether, if perforations are an issue, I should photograph the stamp with either a ruler or the perf guide in the photo so the buyer can see exactly what is going on? 6: Anything else?
Is there anything else I need to know in order to list stamps for sale?
Thanks so much everyone.
I did do a search on the forum for the above information, but, if I've missed a thread and this info is already on the site, please give me a link to the thread.
L.
