Rare! Very Rare! Ultra Rare! Actually, "as common as muck"!!

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Comments

  • What you didn't add was that the seller is British and the listings are from his Ebay store. Are you also going to say "BYE,BYE.." to Ebay ?
  • Some want to remove rare from the title but then what do you do with listings like these?

    India Scott #269 Rare Earth Factory used

    Russia Scott 5054 used CTO 1982 Rare Bird stamp

    Tanzania # 259, Rare Species - Leopard, Used

    Vietnam - Rare Birds 1977 Sc. 864-71 Complete Set

    China PRC SC#2671-4 Rare trees set MNH

    IVORY COAST - RARE ANIMALS OF THE ZOO - 1992 -

    GAMBIA # 2871 VF MNH RARE AND FAMOUS POSTAGE STAMPS S/S

    Do you penalize the sellers for those listings because the word rare is being used as descriptor of something else and not the stamp itself? There are hundreds of those.

    Now that doesn't mean that there aren't some that over use it and do use it for very common items. But is it really as common on here as it's being made to be?
  • yeas and after they remove Rare.. then next comes --> scarce... uncommon... not often seen... real winner...


    where does the slippery slope stop? my thoughts are there are med for neurotic obsessing of this type. In some countries this is the national sport.
  • Just like with most other (non-philatelic) purchases (used cars, for example), the bottom line is always 'Caveat Emptor.' 'Knowledge is power,' another ole cliché, also comes to mind. The buyers always have the choice between purchasing or not, and I would say its a safe bet that most have catalogues where prices could be checked, as well as the ability to comparison shop right on this site itself or by using others such as eBay.
    "Bye Bye Hipstamp?????" Don't let the door hit you in the.......well, you know.
  • I prefer mine medium rare.
  • I'll throw in my two cents as well. I have had a couple of lower value items that I had RARE listed in the title. After reading this thread I did remove the word. BUT . . . here is the rub. What is the definition of rare: Here are a couple of web definitions :1. "not occurring very often" 2. "not found in large numbers and consequently of interest or value."

    So if we have several million stamp offerings on HipStamp and there are 10 such items listed in total isn't that item "rare"?
  • edited September 2016 0 LikesVote Down
    I would not be adjusting your use of the word because of this thread :-) You have to come up with you own definition you feel comfortable with, in my opinion. For me rare is when there are very very few other locations of the item to be found with looking but that is just me. there are no rules. As far as i know there is no one here with a badge going to arrest you for using the word incorrectly according to their opinion or telling you your prices are too high. When that happens.. you look for another place to sell.
  • I'm guided by the late Simon Dunkerley's thoughts on what is rare: http://stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=72674&p=4585035&hilit=rare#p4585035

    "As I have written, I like to think of something as being rare when you have the money or chequebook in hand and cannot find it to buy.

    In other words, if something is easy to find, then by definition, it is not rare. You may fluke something here and there - and that might make something elusive or even scarce, however, rare is one of the most over used words in philately, and I am sure many other fields.

    A 5/- Bridge is not rare. I once knew a dealer that had approximately 500 in stock at the one time - counting postally used, CTO, mint and mint unhinged - and it included several complete sheets. That might seem impossible, however, I can guarantee it is true. I saw the dealer buy many of them and even bought some at auction for him from time to time when he couldn't make it. If you are chasing a perfectly centred MUH stamp that is perfection in every respect, then that is certainly hard to come buy and indeed scarce.

    When I was young, I used to think that a 1930 penny was rare. Then I once had a stand at the Opera House stamp and coin show and was next to a well known dealer. In one display case he had no less than 13 from memory on display in varying grades. At the time the average price was around $10,000 each. I asked him how many he actually had in stock and it was about 20! We are talking about a coin that generally sells now for between $20,000 and $25,000 in average condition. I went on to ask him how many he thought had survived and about 2,000 was the answer. My next question was how many would change hands each year in Australia and the answer was about 100. So if you had $2,500,000 to spend, over the course of a year I could potentially find you about 100 of these. In my view that cannot be considered rare. Yes, it is much 'scarcer' than the very common dates which are available in huge quantities, but it cannot be considered rare. The price is held up because it is so popular.

    When I write about the rare watermark inverted varieties or missing colours or imperforate errors, I generally refer to the rarities as when there are 10 or less known. Now that is rare. Sometimes there might be an item where 50 or so are known, however, they are 'very tightly' held, and one comes onto the market only every now and then. In the context of what is available to new buyers on the market, that is rare.

    Simon Dunkerley"
  • "So if we have several million stamp offerings on HipStamp and there are 10 such items listed in total isn't that item "rare"?"

    So, if we have several million stamp offerings on HipStamp and there are 0 such items listed in total, isn't that item "non-existant?"
  • This topic has legs.Long before the internet if a stamp or coin was not available at your local store or through the APS books and clubs there were a lot more rare items. I remember as a youngster in my parents store a gentleman brought in full MNH sheets on Zeps- WOW that was Rare then but not any more. I try very hard not to grade or place emphasis on my listings. I let the Stamps have all the glory -a good picture is worth a pound of fluff....
    Ted where is your store link?
    Ross
    https://www.hipstamp.com/store/ross-stamps

    https://www.hipstamp.com/store/ross-stamps
  • Love your question, Ted. The answer is YES. All those empty spaces in my albums are for non-existent stamps. Well, to me at least. How about this, though? If we have millions of stamps offered on HipStamp and there are only a few offered doesn't that at least mean "Rare Offering"?
  • Not to me. HipStamps offerings represent but a miniscule percentage of the total stamps available. I'm sure, with a few minutes effort, I could find dozens of examples of common-as-muck stamps for which there are 0 or 1 examples listed here.
  • Well, to each his own.
  • This store might have some rare stamps: https://www.hipstamp.com/store/stampsrare1
  • Thought I had started a thread about attaching a picture to a seller/member? Oh that's right-I DID!!!! This is a prime example to teach/learn show other sellers their lack of knowledge on a stamp/item with a text book reference. Right there you could scan the cat price of lets say $2.00 and the ask really? Where's the rare on this this stamp based on cat value of xxx I sent you in photo...come on hip stamp
  • edited November 2016 5 LikesVote Down
    I don't think any one person has enough knowledge to police the site for grossly mispriced items. There are covers with 20 cent stamps and $5000 cancels. There are beat up first day covers of early issues that bring several hundred dollars.

    Catalog value often bears little resemblance to actual sales pricing. I had an Austria collector offer me $10 for every copy of a stamp I could find (it was a minimum catalog value stamp). I found 2 in 4 years of searching. I bought a torn size 10 cover off a stack of 50 identical covers from a dealer for $1. I put it on Ebay and it brought almost $200. I watched a cover I passed up at $75 bought by another dealer for $150 and sold at auction two months later for $2500.

    A site that takes it upon itself to try to "police" transactions will not last long. Keep in mind that many sales on this site are dealer to dealer sales. Every single MNH British Commonwealth set that I sold on Bidstart for $75 or more (at 60 to 125% of catalog) was sold to dealers for resale.

    If a dealer prices his/her stock too high it will not sell - I don't see the fascination of trying to force/enforce limitations on how a dealer presents or prices stock - it's a free country. It is a very slippery slope when someone imposes their thoughts (right or perhaps wrong) on someone else's livelihood..
  • This is just one reason why blocking a seller during a search may make it easier for the buyer to find the item they are searching for. Searching can be frustrating when the catagory being searched contains misidentified, or grossly over priced or ..... I have on more than one occasion abandoned my search when too many items are misidentified, or grossly over priced.
  • It's a bit aggravating, yes, but I would kvetch a lot more over the seller who can't ID envelopes or cut squares, so he lists 200 items using the Scott illustration number instead of the Scott ID number. When I search for a $40-60 item, and I see hundreds of items worth a few cents instead, and not one of them is what I'm looking for... that's aggravating.
  • I have used the word rare, but not in the sense you are talking about. I used it as such. rare in this condition, meaning there are many more but may not be as nice as this. As in graded stamps at a grade 95 & and higher. But further up in these listings Rod Tilyard said. I would use the word "SCARCE" and i would like to Thank him. I like that word A whole lot better. And if some one is searching my items and they find something they do not care for. Write me, and tell me, I like constructive criticism. Gramps Stamps


    https://hipstamps.coms/stores/gramps-store
  • OH YES

    This isn't RARE its Just once a year.

    "HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYBODY!!!"
  • Medium Rare please.
  • certainly a true rarity and the quality is impeccable I would buy it but i do not want to be greedy and take all the treasures for myself!
  • Hang On .... I'm disoriented ... Is there no thread about what a dumb name HipStamp is?
  • IMO that tape stamp with damage is the best example of 'I can' I've seen in a while...Does the Smithsonian know it's missing??
  • The answer is pretty simple, implementation probably not so.
    Moderator's
    Sam
  • Ok I found another awesome! stamp-yep its true-not listed on this site-but man, what collector out there is missing this from their world collection? I am---kite
This discussion has been closed.