Stop Using Them As Postage - Get Ten Times Face Value!

< sarcasm>
To all those folks who say that US modern stamps aren't a good investment and are only worth a percentage of face value; this is a Ebay seller consistently sells common 3c, 4c, 5c, 6c, plate blocks at more than 10 times face value.

While the rest of us struggle to find buyers at face value for these issues this person has absolutely no problem attracting bidders whom are willing to pay top dollars for this kind of material.

For example; here is one that closed yesterday, sixty - 4c, 5c, and 6c plate blocks (face value around $12) which sold for $125 with 70 bids.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Large-MINT-...p=true&rt=nc

This is not a 'one-time thing'; this seller has a long history of selling at these kinds of levels. So obviously the rest of us are doing something wrong. This seller has figured out the secret to selling many times catalog value while the rest of us cluelessly use this kind of material as spare postage.
</ sarcasm>
Don

The guy is a marketing wizard while we are just collectors! Got to give him credit, he knows how to sell common stamps. He also has a 100% feedback rating, at least in the link above.

Don

Shazam!! What a hayseed I am. I recently traded $400 + of the same stuff at 50% of face.

Interesting -- No mention of face vale or number of sheets - quality pics . I wonder if the way he does the pics helps as well- starts out with first 2 pcs and then adds to the pile with each progression maybe giving the illusion of more and more . Likely just the fact he references no dollar values be it catalog or face doesn't set the bar. Most here always consider 50-75% of face value or 10-25% of catalog for purchasing . Nothing deceiving so naybe less is more.

His presentation in several pictures looks attractive and clean with each mostly mint never hinge plate block in its own glassine envelope. Also variety helps in that there are many different mint never hinged plate blocks with no duplication. One of each different plate block is more attractive to most than many of the same plate blocks. Also, no reserve, free shipping and high retail/catalog value in the description helps.

Wait for it; any day now, that buyer is going to start a new topic, asking how much their hoard is worth.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

I've watched this seller over the last few months. He has many the same bidders for everyone one of his listings; and some of them have incredibly high number bid retractions (over 200 in last 6 months). Some of the other bidders seem to mostly bid on his items. This seller also sells other several other names.

All his listings are no reserve and always go for many times over face for very common material. It also appears that he does occasionally make a sale to buyers who have only made a few EBay purchases. It could be that he is managing to find uneducated buyers or it could be shill accounts.

But thinking there is something odd going on and proving it are two different things. If he really is 'making the sale' he is coughing up his % to EBay and they wouldn't care beyond that. I considered recording the images in the listing and seeing if the same plate blocks are being offered over and over across a period of time and/or under another name but not sure that this would get any traction anyway.
don

If the guy is getting good feedback, he must be delivering what he promises. He hasn't found some secret to getting better prices; the bidders drive the price, not the seller.

I buy space fillers (1980's -1990's) on eBay and am happy to find stamps at any price below catalog, but they're never near face! Is there some source of cheaper stamps with the large selection that eBay provides?

I've seen this since I started looking for stamps on ebay about 4 years ago. This seller seems to change his ebay ID every so often. I'm convinced that they use at least 2 shill bidders.

Like Studebaker said, ebay gets their cut and there is no hard evidence.

On a similar note, I like to investigate what people buy when they are selling me something, although ebay has made this harder to do. A while ago, I saw someone buy a collection then turn around and sell it under false pretenses, as an unsearched collection inherited from his grandfather. I reported it to ebay to no avail. Ebay doesn't KNOW its the same collection. At least as buyers we get to use our common sense.

There is no face value noted and no number of blocks. We are led to believe that scan one is valid - showing maybe a hundred or more plate blocks......and then all those neat stacks.....reminded me of the old dollar bill on top and bottom of the deck of paper gimmick. If the quantity and quantity were legitimate he didn't do all that well on the sale IMHO.

hehehehehehe. I just looked again at those scans. All the stacks under the shown plate blocks are identical in each column.

The seller always starts with 2 blocks in the first picture, then each picture has next two blocks stacked on top. So this auction had 60 plate blocks. The face value is a little over $11.00.

Sold for a little more than 2 bucks each.

He's got another in his list up to $26 for what looks like $6 face value and still 5 days to go.

Is he the only one doing this on ebay? I think that there are others doing it too. Anyways, you usually pay more for these plate blocks if you specifically need a specific catalog number for one corner block or four corner blocks in a matched set.

You can sell anything if you present it well, and this guy does just that. Time to have a go , I think.

Terry

His presentation is good. Maybe he is legit.
Tom