However you look at it, selling a stamp collection is a financial transaction, and when money is involved it is imperative to deal with a long-standing trustworthy company who are going to maximize the potential of your valued property. webuystamps Limited has a proven track record of paying top prices for all types of stamp collections, backed up by immediate payment without any commissions or deductions to worry about.
This is a common question and simply answered it really depends on what the collection contains. In the vast majority of cases a direct sale to a dealer like webuystamps Limited is far preferable to a sale by auction. The reasons why are numerous. As I said before this is a financial transaction.Therefore the most important factor is how much money will you, the seller end up with. These days all auctions will charge both a Vendors commission of approx. 15-20% and a Buyers premium of approx. 20% (All commissions will be subject to VAT as well!). You may not think that the Buyers Premium directly affects you – however I shall demonstrate….
We attend most major auctions in the UK, and some overseas, and it is a cheap way of buying stamps for stock. As dealers we have to be well aware of the prices we can pay and so we have to factor in the Buyer’s Premium. Let’s say that the maximum we wish to pay for a collection is £1000. We cannot pay £1000 + the premium because this will equate to £1200 and so we have to allow for the 20% and bid a maximum of approx. £800 which will equate to £960. Think also about you, the vendor in this scenario. You will receive the hammer price of £800 – 15/20% commission which leaves you with approx. £675. If the vendor had come to us directly they would have received £1000!
In addition you need to consider the following points:
1) The unreliability of a stamp auction – no public auction house can ever guarantee results.
2) The length of time to conclude a sale – most houses have a lead-in time of 2-3 months to prepare catalogues and advertising. In most cases you will then have to wait an additional month after the sale to be paid out as some buyers can take up to 30 days to settle their bills.
3) Security – stamps are after all small pieces of paper – easily damaged, lost or stolen. Public auctions are by their very nature, Public – anyone can attend and view an auction without fear of any background checks being made.
4) Marketing – If an auction house is doing their job properly they will assess your collection and break the collection down into its most advantageous form.
Sadly, in this day and age auctions are normally filled with large and expensive collections because the overheads involved with breaking a collection down is cost-prohibitive. This results in auction rooms being primarily attended by dealers who can pick and choose which lots to bid on and who will then benefit themselves by breaking the collection down as they see fit. Even if the auction house has split the collection down there is always a risk that not all the lots will sell in which case you may be left with a few sections that could prove difficult to sell in the future.
This may sound all too much “anti-auction” but in fact, in some cases, we do recommend a sale by auction. Auctions can prove to be very worthwhile if you have a very rare and unusual stamp for sale. Some rarities do not see the light of day for 30, 40, 50 years or more, being safely housed in a cherished collection. If you are a collector who has been searching for this elusive stamp for 40 years you may well think to yourself this could be the only opportunity in my lifetime to secure this stamp. The chances are that there will be several like-minded collectors around the world thinking exactly the same, and so that element of competition found at a public auction, can sometimes, in these circumstances, produce results above the market value.
When building up a collection, whether it is a single country collection of say Great Britain, or a collection of Birds on stamps, the same method applies – the collector can quickly acquire the bulk of stamps needed to form a good basis fairly cheaply, as they are relatively common.
When the collector gains more experience and confidence, and perhaps more importantly money, they can then look to buy the more expensive items.
When it comes to selling the collection it would be very easy for us to say that we are only interested in the “better” items. This however is very detrimental to you the seller. If you allow a dealer to “cherry-pick”, then whilst you may think that you are getting a good price for the special stamps, it will inevitably prove very difficult to sell the balance without those “key”stamps present. That is why we make an offer for everything – it is far cleaner, quicker and easier for the seller and more economically sound.
Selling to webuystamps Limited could not be easier. You can call us directly to discuss your collection or you can fill out our online valuation form. If you have the facility, uploading some initial photos to give us an idea about roughly what you have is very useful and can save a lot of time. For more tips and advice on uploading photos please click here.
After receiving an initial contact we will assess the best way to provide a free, no obligation valuation for you. Depending on the size and potential value of the collection we can arrange for the valuation to be carried out at our offices or at your home. Whether you are a life-time collector who has now decided to sell, or you have inherited a collection from a loved one and have little knowledge about stamps, we will carry out a thorough and diligent assessment of the collection.
It is not normally necessary to “tidy up” the collection or make an extensive inventory to assist us, because we are very experienced in assessing collections of all shapes and sizes and in all conditions. In fact if the collection is a bit “messy” then that can sometimes improve the saleability as collectors love nothing more than having a good sort!
Our valuations are founded on an extensive knowledge of the current market. Stamps are like most other commodities in that they can have phases of popularity and it is therefore very important to keep track of these fashions to ensure you gain the maximum value for your collection.
You may be tempted to carry out your own research – nothing wrong with this of course, in fact with online platforms like eBay etc. it is very quick and easy to find similar stamps for sale. The keyword here though is “similar”. On countless occasions we receive enquiries about stamps that have been seen on online websites selling for thousands of pounds. These mistaken findings normally fit into two categories – firstly, the website is run by a reputable dealer who has a good knowledge of their particular field and therefore their pricing will be more or less correct. However, the chances are that the stamp being sold will be different in some way to the stamp being researched – it may look roughly the same but may have a different shade, watermark or perforation type, all of which cannot be easily identified from a photo. Take the Great Britain George V 1935 Silver Jubilee 2½d values pictured alongside – the upper one is worth £7500 and the lower one is worth £2 ! – all because the shade of the ink is different.
Secondly, remember that anyone can try to sell anything on eBay. You do not have to have any knowledge and you can ask for any price that you like. If the stamp is still visible as a “Buy it Now” then it will be either mis-described, over-priced, or not very popular. The chances are though that those stamps will remain unsold.
Collecting stamps, or philately for its technical term, is an enormous hobby that knows no boundaries, allowing the collector to indulge in whatever subject they want. It may be one or two specific countries to specialise in, it may be an attempt to collect the whole world. It may be a collection of railways on stamps or a study of early airmail envelopes. But whatever is collected the most important factors determining the value when selling is the amount of money invested and the overall condition. There are basically two ways to collect stamps, neither is right and neither is wrong but both bring the ultimate prize – a pleasurable hobby that provides years of happiness and interest. The first way to build up a collection, normally of several countries, is by buying bags or boxes of stamps to sort through. This is great fun and allows you to acquire literally hundreds of stamps for very little investment. It can also be complemented by exchanging stamps with like-minded collectors or pen-pals overseas. You gain a large and enjoyable collection but you have to remember that even though you may fill 20, 30 or 40 albums, your outlay has been relatively small and the chances are that the vast majority of stamps will be very common. I call these types of collections “entertainment collections” – they have been lovingly put together purely for the enjoyment of the hobby rather than for any financial gain.
The second method is to specialise in perhaps one country or a single aspect of one country – for example collecting just Victorian Great Britain stamps or the “Sower” types of France, or the early Australian states. Even in these specialised areas there will be a certain amount of cheaper stamps to acquire which will be very easy, but as time goes on and the gaps get fewer, more and more investment will be needed. Obviously you have to draw the line somewhere but to progress further you may have to spend £30 a stamp, or £50+ a stamp to fill those elusive gaps. There is no real upper limit and after all the world’s rarest stamp sold recently for $10,000,000! That is of course unrealistic for virtually everyone and you may find that you have reached a point that you cannot go any further with a certain field in which case the collector can change tack and move into another area. The point is though, that let’s say you have a budget in today’s money of £50 per month and that you collect seriously for 30 years – this would represent an overall investment of £18,000. As long as you have bought wisely from reputable sources then you will recoup much of your investment. You can see the vast difference in results between the two methods but both bring possibly hundreds of hours of enjoyment which is worth a fortune on its own!
Join the many satisfied customers who have all benefited from our experience and detailed knowledge of the stamp market.
