Facts for Stamp Sellers and How to Donate to a Worthy Cause

 

Facts for Stamp Sellers And How to Donate to a Worthy Cause

  

Social Media is a great place to interact with collectors. It’s now the #1 format for stamp traders who can download an image of a stamp and chat with other collectors quickly and relatively safely. Facebook especially has a vast number of stamp collecting groups often defined by agenda like new, buying, selling, air mail. South Africa, etc. I enjoy consulting for a few of them and often have to assist with the flood of questions from non-collectors who spend a paragraph mentioning how they love and adore their grandfather for collecting stamps. And then in the next breath offer a lifetime worth of grandpa’s stamps faster than a cattle auction at the county fair.

 If you are still interested in selling these precious items, please observe the following facts:

 1. 99% hobby collections aren’t worth more than $200 and that’s counting a few thousands stamps.

That’s right. There are no diamonds in the rough. That’s the talk of people of fortune hunters. This is stamps not the national lottery. People being too supportive are just being polite, completely ignorant, or just to buy collections to break up and sell as packs for resale to new collectors. Again not big money. 

2. Unless the person who passed this collection spent thousands on specialized stamps and left the invoices and those stamps in a safe deposit box at the bank — you’re not in the 1% category of valuable stamps. 

This is a rule many folks have a hard time accepting. Stamps easily fool the outsider. They don’t realize it’s a beautiful, education hobby –but an inexpensive one too. The great majority of collectors couldn’t afford at any decade in the past one hundred and thirty years the rarest stamps. And the incidents of someone finding a rare stamp is the stuff of urban legends. You have a better chance finding a rare coin than a rare stamp. 

3. Appraisals cost $150 and nearly everyone in social media stamp groups warns folks to stay away from that practice — they do it anyway and wind up losing money. Stamps are beautiful and interesting but usually a very poor investment. 

As a general rule, stay away from appraisals. If someone suggests or directs you to a certain appraiser ignore it. Most stamp collections are basic set ups and do not contain anything – combined -- to even realize your appraisal fee back in a sale. Appraisers are a legitimate side of stamp collecting but they are not in the business to warn you about the value of your collection for free. They will appraise it knowing its worth far less than the fee you pay up front.

4. Old stamps are not rare. Stamps are not coins. An old coin in good condition still has real value. Not stamps. You will see stamps from the 1890’s and each is worth 1 nickel. This is because stamps are mostly common printed in the millions or tens of millions.

Rare stamps are exactly that --- rare. You can spend fifty or more years in stamp collecting and never come across a rare stamp.  You see them at stamp shows, museums and now on the Internet. But in person, well that is exceedingly rare.

5. Stop hesitating. Donate. Donate the stamps to a worthy cause. I am listing for this article the one place I am fond of because they help veterans. And I am a veteran and a stamp collector and a regular donor to this incredible organization.

Stamps for the Wounded is an excellent place to send your stamps you have inherited, found, bought in a thrift shop, etc.

 

https://www.stampsforthewounded.org/

 

Stamps for the Wounded
P.O. Box 297
Dunn Loring VA 22027-0297

 

You can mail them to the address above. If you want to save postal costs you can spend the time to carefully remove the stamps and mail. Or perhaps just tear out the pages with stamps on them to mail that. Each allows less weight and cheaper shipping charges. Most old stamp albums are in poor condition and not worth shipping. But the choice is yours.

Stamps for the Wounded can make exceptions to this mailing rule is they have two local delivery drop off locations – one in Vienna, Virginia and the other in Bethesda, MD. You would need to email them and set up drops by special arrangement, in advance.  

And finally, I mentioned before most collections are worth $200 or less and once a dealer or a buyer (provided you didn’t get an appraisal) reviews it you will likely get an offer from $25 to $100. SFTW is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and all donations are tax deductible. Donating also has the advantage of getting a tax deduction for the full value ($200) versus $25 plus shipping and handling.

 

Donate your stamps*:

 

You honor your family

You help our nation’s heroes

You get a nice tax deduction.

 

{*To our international friends, we love you, but you are not getting a tax deduction if you donate. But it’s still a worthy cause. Thanks much.}

Private Charities   (not tax deductible, but do great work)

Lakeland Holocaust Stamp Project

c/o Laura Spurway

15506 N Washington St.

Rathdrum, ID 83858

This wonderful school teacher is collecting 11,000,0000 (that's right 11 million) stamps to honor the 11 million victims of the holocaust. 

Produced by Kids Need Stamps 2
https://kidsneedstamps2.blogspot.com