Is this seller practice appropriate?

2

Comments

  • It's not hard to amass a large inventory of quality stamps. You simply don't waste your money on lesser items or pigs in a poke (buying collections to cherry pick the good stuff). Maybe he pays close to market value when he obtains them, banking on the "Greater Fool Theory" to find someone else who will pay even more.
  • Scott, please share with all. I see nothing wrong with accurate comments about particular sellers—good or bad. Accuracy, without editorializing, is the key.

    Yes! How DOES he get all those seemingly nice stamps?
  • There are several stamp doctors around who "improve" stamps - from turning HR to LH, reperfing, filling thins, regumming, etc etc ...They sell to dealers openly showing the improvements ... do not think that the dealers who sell these don't know they have been improved.
  • I am pretty sure I have bought some regummed ones from this seller. Did not know better at the time. However, all that I bought from him were really beautiful stamps - I guess I just paid too much. From the front - awesome. From the back - maybe a little too awesome!!
  • Yes,

    I remember as a 20 year old going to a dealer I knew office in downtown Chicago one day and an east coast dealer who later became a big time auctioneer had a set of beautiful Columbian Plate Blocks for sale and he passed on them. He had me look at the gum and I understood why since the whole set was re-gummed. He did not want to buy them because he did not want to pass these on. That was back in 1971 and the the seller ended up making a fortune in the business.
  • Bill-
    Was the Chicago dealer John Ross?
  • Our policy is NO regum. When we get them in collections, we soak it off, and sell as No-Gum, which is what they are. one of the main reasons for this is, some of the regums deteriorate over the years, and end up toning the paper, or worse, turning it a shade of dark brown. (This is a similar issue with authentic CSA's, as sorghum (aka molasses-ish is used in the gum base, and it turns very dark over the years. Many top CSA experts suggest removing gum from CSAs as a preservation method and "get over" the "OG" fetish.
  • edited June 2022 0 LikesVote Down
    Ken,

    No I knew John Ross very well. The dealer was in The Modonock building and he was on the 6th floor.
    I can not remember his name after all of these years. LoL
  • [Our policy is NO regum. When we get them in collections, we soak it off, and sell as No-Gum, which is what they are.]

    I have a few stamps that I bought that are regumed. The dealer sold them as regumed. I bought them because I wanted to see what regumed looked like.

    Just last night I was looking at them trying to decided what to do with them.
    I don't want them in my book. I don't want to put them back out in the market.
    Do I soak off the gum, and make them NG.
    Or do I take a pen and write regumed on the back.
  • edited June 2022 2 LikesVote Down
    I buy no gum stamps for my own collection but I would NEVER purchase a stamp with regumed written on the back. I also soak the gum off regums and sell them as no gum. Same for heavily hinged mint stamps where the hinge remnant may be hiding damage.
    Just my 2 cents
  • I would not write in pen on any stamp.
  • edited June 2022 0 LikesVote Down
    Pencil marks on the back of stamps, are a deal killer for me.

    The general idea is by writing regumed on the back of the stamps, I know that they'll never go back into the market.
    by me or who ever inherits my collection when I'm gone.
    We are also not talking about high dollar stamps here.
    I might just use them on my out going mail.
    The shipping to a buyer will probably cost most more than the NG stamp.

    Some times I think by destroying cheap stamps,
    It only will increase the value of the stamps out there.
    Theoretically anyway.
  • A no gum stamp is undamaged. A stamp with writing in ink (or heavy pencil) on the back is damaged.I regularly sell no gum stamps of moderate or high value at 20% of catalog value and they sell quickly. a stamp with ink on the back is a space filler at best which I either trash or if it catalogs $25 or more and looks OK on the front will sell at maybe 3 to 5%.
  • There's a dealer here and on ebay the tries to get rid of junk stock by offering one or two nice stamps,
    in a group with three or four junk stamps. Never representing them as anything other than a space filler,
    or postage. I've bought some used then as space fillers then I have fun using them as postage.
  • Sorry Henry, unless the stamp was issued without gum, a No Gum stamp is a damaged stamp. And if you still think that's inaccurate, look at the difference in value for No Gum stamps versus those that are hinged (also damaged) or have "part OG" (also damaged) versus the value of a stamp that is full OG and never hinged. There is the odd case where the used stamp is worth more than the unused stamp, but those are for the occasion where they occur far less often.
    The only "Undamaged" stamps are those that are OG, Never Hinged, so long as they don't have other faults. (And some stamps come with faults right out of the post office... it is not a perfect world, after all).

    Alan, pencil marks are something I hate for sure. On a OG stamp, if it's hinged, I will be more accepting, but an MNH stamp, wow, do I hate to see that. But I wouldn't call it a deal killer, it is really case-by-case, and what the seller is asking for it. On used stamps, I make the effort to remove as many pencil marks as possible, without over rubbing the stamp. They are still always detectible though. Strangely in the Private Die world, because of the complexity, I find it very frequent that these have an ID written in pencil on the back. They don't seem to impact CV (in fact, most are undervalued in Scott, and we frequently get 2x - 3x CV for these issues). And any condition is always noted, along with a back photo.
  • edited June 2022 0 LikesVote Down
    The only stamp in my collection with a pencil mark came undisclosed from NY Stamps.
    It was sold as a single #505 in a block of six. OG NH.
    It was hinged and the pencil mark indicated that it was a single #467 in a block of six.
    Making more sense out of the block of six.
    It was also over handled making the perfs very fragile.
    It is now a strip of three. But it looks better in my book that way, so that's not so bad.
    I wasn't happy, but it was a bargain.
    I got what I paid for.
    And NY Stamps aren't well known for their returns.
  • "Sorry Henry, unless the stamp was issued without gum, a No Gum stamp is a damaged stamp".
    Agreed in the strictest definition - my thought was there is usually no damage to the paper itself. Pencil or ink almost always damages the paper fibers and can usually be detected by close inspection (UV light, filtration or magnification)
  • Guys, when making your declarative statements, you really need to insert a comment that you are commenting on United States stamps and not on issues from other countries.

    Germany issues B68 (1935) and C57-C58 (1936) were issued with gum that contained sulfuric acid. Why, I don't know. But if this gum was not removed, the paper quickly degraded. I have a couple examples of the B68 souvenir sheet where the gum was not removed in time to prevent the paper from becoming severely degraded. Scott states that their pricing for mint issues is for issues with the gum removed.

    The German area is rife with issues that command a higher price in used condition compared to mint condition. That West Berlin stamp that I referenced in another post is but one example ($15 in Mint-Never-Hinged condition and $375 in used condition). For that entire set (Scott West Berlin #1-#20), the Mint-Never-Hinged set is priced at $270 while the used set is priced at $1,836). West Berlin has many such examples.

    For Germany itself, most of the inflation-era stamps from the early 1920's are worth much more in actual used condition (not CTO) than in mint condition. Mint stamps from this period are often priced at $0.25 while the used stamps are priced at tens or even a hundred plus dollars. There are many examples of used stamps being worth more than Mint-Hinged or even Mint-Never-Hinged stamps throughout Germany, German states and German colonies.

    Although hard to find, I would guess that many stamps from independent African countries would be worth more used if one could even find them. The same would also be true for other countries that are very prolific with their stamp issuance but where the postal issues would see little actual use.
  • When I started in this crazy business back in the stome ages ( mid 1960's) It was common for approval dealers to mark, in pencil, the Catalogue number and price in pencil on the back of the stamp. Owners would also often have a back stamp on their stamps, supposedly to deter theft. Hingeless albums were not as as common, and hinges were the beloved green peelable hinges that no can duplicate today
  • Re Germany B68, C57-58
    And there are dealers charging hefty premiums over cv for damaged NH examples with oxidized gum and paper.
  • Ted,

    The individuals purchasing that material are foolish. The degradation of the paper is not the same as with toned gum or paper. With toning, the paper and gum turn a nasty yellowish to brownish color but the paper retains its integrity. If the sulfuric-acid-containing gum is not removed from the items, the paper actually disappears (dissolves) over time. Why pay a premium for something that is going to actually disappear? Unless the gum that was present when the items were issued has been removed and replaced (regummed) with a non-destructive gum?
  • In case anyone gives a rat's bucktooth about the stamp that opened this discussion, a viewer of mine did some sleuthing and found the cert on the PSE site:
    http://psestamp.com/Cert/01196922/
    2D41B43C-A7B6-42B2-909E-FEBAE4A39F45
  • Still at twice the SMQ pricing....so....
  • Yep. (178%)
  • Nothing good to say about this seller.
  • Well you said it....seller...not dealer.
  • Specifically selected wording.
  • Speaking of inappropriate dealer practicers, I have just sent a message to jester1951, letting him know what I think of his.

    "Sorry to see you have to resort to deceptive practices to attract sales. Double CV and 90% off? Who are you trying to kid? Well, we both know who you are trying to sucker into a sale. You're disgusting."

    I've also let admin know about this, and let them know I am preparing a YouTube episode on deceptive listings to look out for on HipStamp. I really don't care what they think of me for it. I hate being associated with what is increasingly perceived by others as a scam-filled website.
  • "Sorry to see you have to resort to deceptive practices to attract sales. Double CV and 90% off? Who are you trying to kid? Well, we both know who you are trying to sucker into a sale. You're disgusting."

    Now that is an interesting business model. I wonder if he has been doing this since he started here back in '06? I eagerly await your YouTube - it would be nice to think that it would result in their getting rid of a few of their largest offenders, although I doubt it.
  • This is just pure goofiness on the part of this "SELLER". Why not just list the damn thing for the price you are willing to sell it for instead of screwing around with this stuff. Maybe not technically in conflict with HS terms and conditions since his final asking price may be reasonable but certainly not in the spirit of it.

    From the HS T&C:
    Prices must be realistic and are not allowed to be excessive. The definition of excessive is at our discretion, but usually only applies to items listed at several times their actual retail value.
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