Facebook as the Wild Wild West of Stamps

Facebook as the Wild Wild West of Stamps



Facebook, much more than Ebay, has fast become the wild wild west of stamps where the novice or relative of recently deceased who inherited a collection now go to find information or valuation. Both suspect sadly due to the enormous amount of poor advice, conflicts of interest, unneeded appraisals and general conspiracy to wear you down into a bad sale.

Beware of the following situations and take this advice seriously:

The Helpful Collector: Loves giving you incredible advice and even directs you to a site or two.

What to Ask:  Are you a dealer? If the person says yes or hedges with a defensive answer, consider seriously the source. Chances are they are just trying to frustrate you with a few sites where you will have a tough time understanding the history or value of stamps. Then they expect you come back to them, usually via PM, to find out what to do next. You will either be shook down with a lowball offer or worse directed to one of their friends who give expert appraisals. Such paid evaluations are never less than $150 for a collection or a group of stamps worth considerably less. Now you are out real money and your friend will swoop in to save the day and buy the lot for a song. He makes out from his appraisal cut and what you just discounted him. Great deal for him. What about YOU.

The Admin or Moderator:  See above. Nearly the same situation but they have the added profile of being in charge of the site with decades of experience. Experience in what exactly should be your next question!

What to Ask:  How many stamp websites do you operate? You will find often they run dozens and somehow they have the time you ask you about your stamps? Be concerned. You might have something of value they recognize. If anyone in the process, admin, moderator or helpful collector, initiate a private message (PM) request, know that this is highly unusual and means they are trying to shield their efforts, offers and whatnot from the general stamp community on that website. Insist on anything that is said, offered, directed to, be done in the open air and not hidden. The honest person of good will has no issue with this intelligent request. Anyone else is working with less than ethical motives and you should be wary.

Generally folks it's a bad idea to go a place offering free advice or requesting you download pics of your stamp inventory. Most things offered for free in life have another agenda attached and a serious sense of caution is mandatory. Remember these things going forward:

1. You can get a good idea about value of stamps from stampworld.com

2. Ebay can give you a fair or unfair market value of what other folks are selling individual stamps for. Keep in mind what a ebayer selling a stamp for is not the same as a catalog value or even what you might eventually receive. But at least it's a real notion versus someone's fabrication.

3. If you didn't inherit stamps that were locked into a home vault or safe deposit box the chances the collection is worth more than $100 is very very low. Most collectors engaged in the hobby for enjoyment, therapy or pure pleasure of collecting. They would not store or stick a very valuable stamp along with other common stamps. There's always exceptions but it's much more rare than you realize. Follow the logic and you will keep yourself safe. Dream about hitting the lottery and these vultures I previously described will take you for a ride.

4. The absolute rule of stamping: Old doesn't mean valuable. It's the opposite of coins. Old coins even in bad condition can be worth real money. Old stamps, even stamps older than 120 years, could be worth pennies. It's about rarity in stamps; not age. And then the condition needs to be factored and that could reduce even a rarer stamp to a lower value. Unlike the metal of coins, stamps are paper, usually kept in poor storage, ravaged by the elements, atop of acid-filled paper and even humility and mold. Paper does not fair well in any long term condition.

5. If you want to test drive out a person about a stamp, pick one you strongly feel might be worth further investigation. If you are observant you might learn something about the stamp, the person supposedly helping you and the direction you might want to go with the rest of your collection.

6. Last comment: Keep in mind the timeless edict: supply and demand. Since the last 1990's folks have been dumping billions upon billions of stamps on the marketplace driven by Ebay, Facebook groups, Websites to continue to drive down prices. It's estimated stamps have lost nearly 80% of their real value. Right now the supply outweighs the demand by a factor of a 1000 and it's a buyer's market; not a seller's market. Your chances of winning your state lottery are higher than finding a super rare stamp in an average collection your grandfather left in his sock drawer before he passed on to his reward.

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