Selling Stamp Collection

[pct001wine]

Hi all, looking for a bit of friendly advice. 

I want to sell my stamp collection - mostly Australian & Territories, between late '60's to late '70's, mint singles/blocks/mini sheets, few full sheets plus lots of FDC's.   Also a few stock books with a variety of postmarked stamps, again mainly Australian and some bulk stamps on-paper as well.   Whole lot would fit in a large plastic storage tub, and weigh about 15kg.

Is it reasonable to expect a start price of the face value of the MUH stuff ? (probably $2K @ face value ??) Or is this unrealistic ? 

If I need to catalogue everything it will take a while - would putting up a few choice photographs on ebay be the go if I went down that path ?

And would you recommend ebay as the ideal means of disposal ?

TIA for your help !

[kennymick65]

Hi. I'm not a stamp expert but a dealer may offer you 50% of face value . They will cherry pick anything worth more to a collector and sell the rest as postage stamps at around 75-80% of face. On ebay you can usually buy decimal stamps for postage at around 75% of face value. .  Make sure you know exactly what the face value is before hand... Did you compile the collection yourself or was it given to you? Bottom line , do your homework. cheers.

[horizon1907]

Absolutely 100% agree with kennym .Do your homework 1st. I'm not a Stamp Collector / Dealer, but do know that if you don't advertise them properly, you will get yourself into all sorts of trouble. It may be better to sell them individually or in sets, rather than "A Job Lot" . It will take longer, but IMO would be an advantage to you & the Buyer.  That way you 7 they know exactly what is on offer. Please, for your sake, do all your homework 1st. Hopefully you will get more advise from a Dealer or Stamp Collector as to how to go about it.  Good Luck 🙂

[siddieswans]

Ditto the answers above. Not an expert but have sold some over the years that have accidentally come my way and certainly have seen plenty "sell" over the years at B&M auctions. Buyers on eBay expect to be able to know and see exactly what they are getting. If you check eBay Sold it is easy to see that those combos of MUH that equate (roughly) to useful posting values sell most quickly and at close to the 75% face value suggested. Like 50c + 22c, or 45c + 27c, or 85c + 55c. Mixed values will achieve less. FDC - well, I am sure there are some valuable ones out there - not being an expert I don't know about them. All I know is that there are lots on eBay  - about 20,000 at a quick glance and that only about 20% of them seem to sell, and most for around $5. If you know / suspect you have something valuable, do a quick search, but do look at SOLD items.

 As for your stock books, and stamps on paper - again, unless you know / suspect you have things of uncommon value, you might be better just putting them in a B&M auction sale in a plastic tub. I see oodles sold like this quite regularly, but at least they sell (unless the vendor has some ridiculous reserve.) The dealers at the B&M auction will be able to sift through them, and they should achieve their value. Selling used stamps and stamps on paper on eBay can be very time-consuming and quite stressful. If you were the collector so you should know whether what you have is run-of-the-mill (so only worth a % of face value for MUH and not very much for your other items) or something better. If something better check sold values and good luck.

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[putney32]

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@pct001wine wrote:

Hi all, looking for a bit of friendly advice. 

I want to sell my stamp collection - mostly Australian & Territories, between late '60's to late '70's, mint singles/blocks/mini sheets, few full sheets plus lots of FDC's.   Also a few stock books with a variety of postmarked stamps, again mainly Australian and some bulk stamps on-paper as well.   Whole lot would fit in a large plastic storage tub, and weigh about 15kg.

@Is it reasonable to expect a start price of the face value of the MUH stuff ? (probably $2K @ face value ??) Or is this unrealistic ? 

If I need to catalogue everything it will take a while - would putting up a few choice photographs on ebay be the go if I went down that path ?

And would you recommend ebay as the ideal means of disposal ?

TIA for your help !

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late 60 to 70s (early Decimal period) is when the most 'Mums and Dads' bought stamps to ''put away for the kids''  -  the  reseller market isflooded and not a popular 'collecting area' now.   So, stamps from that period sell for way below face value.

FDCs from that era have very little collecting interest these days, again because there were so many produced.  High Value ones such as the first Set of Navigators etc. may have a slight value but not a lot.

Cataloguing that period 66-79 would probably not be worth your time as most people buy at a % under face value.

comments others hae made here are valid, there are hundreds out there trying to sell the same stuff.

the 'value' of your collection should have been in the enjoyment you got from Collecting, the friends you may have made sharing your hobby and the residual value of your hobby after you no longer wish to persue it is really socondary

if your hobby had have been playing golf for example, your membership green fees, the dozens and dozens of boxes of balls,  and your old set of golf clubs would have no residual value whatsoever.  At least with Stamp Collecting your residual value of your old hobby is about 50% of what you paid.

[pct001wine]

Thanks all, some wise (and sobering !) advice there.  I don't have any particular reason to sell them (it's not like I need to pay off a bill or something) - might even hang on to them until the market improves and reflect on your comments putney32 - remembering the enjoyment I got from collecting all those years ago.

Thanks again everyone. 

[northwestnsw]

If you do put it on ebay, please let me know. I would love the chance to own your collection.

[kennymick65]

If you believe you could be selling things on ebay in the future ,you alredy have your postage paid for.

When i was selling my coins i used early decimal stamps purchased at a good rate for just this.

Some buyers  would message me saying thanks for the stamps.   Coins and stamps overlap to some collectors...

An added bonus is your getting full face value..

ken