posted on May 7, 2004 07:17:42 PM new
There's a seller online that I just stumbled across that sold new, sealed rolls of one hundred $.37 stamps for below cost, and taking paypal to boot, and paying the e-bay fees. Looking back he's had to have sold close to 500 rolls of 100 stamps or over $17.5K worth at a discount with fees of probably 20%. His description says "left over from our mailing". 1. Why does someone misjudge by so many the number of stamps they would need? 2. Why would you not just take them back to the post office and get your cash back rather than lose a few thousand $'s? 3. Why would you do a mailing with stamps rather than a mailing machine? 4. Could someone "borrow" so many stamps from work? (not saying they did, just can't figure it out)
posted on May 8, 2004 02:45:28 AM new
Don't know why, but if they have good feedback and no obvious warning signs then go for it (using a credit card so you preserve your ability to do a charge back).
We just bought a few sheets of hard to find stamps at a couple of dollars above their face value... and have already resold them at a tidy profit. So bargains are to be had if you make your own luck
posted on May 8, 2004 04:32:30 AM new
was just checking out OP's thoughts on this ... when you pull up completed auctions, nearly every single seller of these, if you click on view other auctions by seller, there are NO auctions running right now .... seems weird,.. makes me think ebay is ostracizing them for some reason?
posted on May 8, 2004 05:26:36 AM new
may be they are stolen from someone.somewhere??
-sig file -------we eat to live,not live to eat.
Benjamin Franklin
posted on May 8, 2004 11:37:20 PM new
On a point made above- I don't believe the PO will "cash in" stamps, I think once they're bought, they're yours.
I have a friend who attempted to liquidate
a collection of full sheets, at the time, 25-30 years old, went to every big stamp dealer in NYC and the MOST he was offered was 80 cents on the dollar. Ended up setting up a table at a stamp show and selling for face plus 5 percent, ended up a hair over face net after his expenses.
On a point made above- I don't believe the PO will "cash in" stamps, I think once they're bought, they're yours.
I have a friend who attempted to liquidate a collection of full sheets, at the time, 25-30 years old, went to every big stamp dealer in NYC and the MOST he was offered was 80 cents on the dollar...
Post Office will cash in stamps - we occasionally get paid that way - in unused stamps - and sell them back at face (if we don't have an immediate use for them).
Dealers will seldom buy at face as they need a mark up to cover their overhead. We regularly buy certain recent stamps sheets at face or slightly above for resale.
[ edited by agitprop on May 9, 2004 04:08 AM ]
I guess I was misinformed - I had always heard that no refunds was the rule.
The friends collection was WW2 Commemoratives, flags, all the military stuff put out during the war- and he was selling in the early 70's - and he was the one who told me the PO sent him to stamp dealers since they didnt want them back.
posted on May 9, 2004 02:29:26 PM new
Just to clarify, the PO will accept current and recent issues for redemption but it's unlikely they will accept historic issues back as they can't be resold. The PO simply sells them on to other customers hence they need to be current denominations and issues (with security features).
posted on May 9, 2004 02:38:25 PM new
As an aside, I once received a mint 1929 $50 and $100 bill when collecting, in person, a draft drawn on a bank in San Francisco. The teller spotted them and was going to swap them for current issues but I said I didn't mind. Story was they came into the bank as cash from an estate and just got dumped into circulation.
Took them down the street to the Federal Reserve who authenticated them, then to a dealer for an appraisal. They were worth considerably more than face value.
