Selling stamps on Ebay (or elsewhere)

Aryndeneth

When my Grandad died he left us a huge stamp collection. There's boxes and boxes of them and some part-completed albums. Now my Nan has asked me to sell them for her but I'm not sure where to start. This seemed the most appropriate MSE board to ask on.

I sell regularly on Ebay so I'm very familiar with that BUT I know nothing about stamps so couldn't begin to describe what we've got accurately or estimate a value. I don't even have time or room to sift through the hundreds, maybe thousands, of stamps let alone research what each one is.

One idea is to break them roughly into a few groups and just post as mixed lots, making no promises as to what's in there. Do I risk annoying buyers if I do that?

The other option is to sell them to a company that buys stamps but, again, I don't know how to find out which ones are reputable or won't totally rip us off.

I know that doing it this way means we might miss an individual stamp or two that's more valuable (although my Grandad would have known if there were anything really important in there) but my Nan just wants the house cleared. Any advice on a good way to sell these that will get us a reasonable price but doesn't involve having every last stamp individually examined?

Edit: By reasonable price I don't necessarily mean best market value. I know that any company who buys them will do so with a view to making a profit on resale and I'm fine with that. Just don't want to get totally taken for a ride.

itsallinthemind

Personally I would try sell them all to a stamp shop. Doesn't answer your question, but I would think they would be fair?

oldone_2

As a philatelist I must warn you we are a fussy breed. Condition of stamps must be described exactly, warts and all. Even the colour of the gum on tropical stamps is relevant.
Also do not be misled by catalogue values. On e-Bay most stamps catalogued £10 or more would fetch less than 10% catalogue value.

If you can't find a bricks and motar auction house and want to sell on e-Bay, do the following.

Photograph all the albums together on a table, preferably with as many pages open as room allows.
Describe the number of albums you are selling, and the countries/reigns included. The more you are able to describe, the higher the price you will get.
Next, using photobucket, upload to your selling advert selected pages.Choose those that look interesting. A safe bet is to include Queen Victoria stamps. These command the most interest and higher prices.
Either scan your pages, or if using a camera, make sure they are sharp and detailed. Stamp Collectors will not bid on anything they can't see.

Finally go on to e-bay, and search out similar sales for ideas of what is usual. Best area is collections/bulk.

Don't underestimate the cost of sending them. Best to weigh all the albums, and put in your listing whether you will be using a courier, or special delivery, and give prices.

Take a bit of time on the listing, and you may be surprised how many bids you get; but don't forget you need very clear photos.

Crowqueen

I don't have time to answer this right now - I could write a book - but there is a stamp discussion board on the eBay.com (US site) community which will give you a lot of good advice.

Many collections are not really worth anything except for sale to collectors of cheap stamps - you will not get rich doing this, but if you get it right, and list as themed/country lots, you might make more than selling individual stamps. WHSmiths can charge about £10 for 1000 stamps, so it's not exactly going to be a nest-egg, but you might enjoy it, get into the hobby - then it is difficult to stop .

Good luck with this.

WLM21

Trying to photograph individual stamps close up may prove difficult, unless your camera has a 'macro' option.

If you have a scanner, this might be a better option .... I think you could enlarge the image with a scanner.

Crowqueen

Yes, scanners are much better than cameras.