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General Philatelic/Gen. Discussion : Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

 

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philatelia
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15 Jul 2016
01:29:13pm
This topic came up on a another thread and I think it is one that is interesting. If you posted there, please join in the discussion here. There were a few great comments.

I posted the following response in the other thread;

"Finally, in my opinion, if you are out to buy large quantities of stamps (100K is an awful lot) - then you ought not buy them as single stamps.
"




Some folks will do anything to avoid acquiring duplicates while others prefer to buy collections even though they may only need a handful of stamps from the purchase. To each his own, eh?

_______________________________________________________________________________



Personally, I much prefer to buy collections. Beyond the ones that I didn't have, I often find better copies. Many times I've purchased collections with varieties and invaluable notations about them. It is a nice feeling to take a great collection and build upon another philatelist's hard work. I have scanned some pages for references before I disassembled them because the previous collector had done such a great job.

That said, some people just don't want to buy one single stamp that they already have and they will pay handsomely to do so. That is their prerogative, but I think they are missing out a bit. Again - to each their own. If that is what makes them happy, well I suppose I should be glad as there is one less person bidding against me to buy that collection!
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seanpashby
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15 Jul 2016
02:04:38pm
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

I much prefer buying collections, or even better, accumulations if it contains at least a handful of stamps I need. As Theresa said, I can upgrade many items as well and then pass the remainder on to someone else, usually the Boy Scouts as I don't like holding on to duplicates.

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BenFranklin1902
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Tom in Exton, PA

15 Jul 2016
02:40:17pm
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

Agreed! I'm organizing and then filling out my USA collection. Lord knows I don't want to be buying this all one at a time at retail. I've had pretty good luck buying accumulation lots on eBay. I've bought a few poorly described lots that nobody really bid on and upon receiving them, have realized that I just bought 50-80 year old mint stamps and plate blocks at 50% of face. That has filled out my pages for those eras and has given me loads of similar duplicates to trade, put in auctions or approvals.

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scb
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Collecting the world 1840 to date - one stamp at a time!

15 Jul 2016
02:45:28pm
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

Thanks for splitting this up, Theresa.

Anyway... I agree with you that buying collections, mixtures, and accumulations is the way to go. But... Having reached the 100K stamp limit with my world collection recently, I can already see there will eventually be a limit with this approach (somewhere between 200-250K stamps I'd say).

Sure, one can go on with it forever, but eventually the 'growth/progress' will slow down significantly and maybe even halt; and all that hard work and no play would make Jack a dull boy


Considering that there are roughly 800K face different issued stamps worldwide, it is surprising how little variety collections actually have and contain. Possibly the only major exception are specialized lots and collections (and they usually get pricey).

Delphi's stamp forum has got a good talk on topic - http://forums.delphiforums.com/stamps/messages?msg=52378.1 ... Of course one could ask whether or not the catalog values are right if the stamps are so difficult to locate.

Anyway, here's a pic of my current acquisition strategy (heavily simplified, but it gives a good overview. I'm currently adding roughly 10K stamps a year (some of them end up to my backlog, some go straight to collection):

Image Not Found

And like stated on the original topic, I would definitely love to utilize the SoR approvals as well if it was more cost effective.




-k-


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smauggie
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15 Jul 2016
02:45:52pm
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

I suppose it all depends on what you want. Want to fill lots of inexpensive holes, buy the big lot. Want a nicely centered mint stamp with a cat of $100+ buy the stamp. I also find myself buying individual stamps at the auctions (here and elsewhere) where they fit into my collection/accumulation.

It is one of the unique advantages of the Stamporama auction and approvals, you can even buy the exact lower-value stamps you need, too.

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TribalErnie

15 Jul 2016
02:51:57pm
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

I would LOVE to be able to find great box lots or accumulations. My problem is knowing how to put a value on it. If you bid $200 on a lot and you get $50 of material out that you want to keep for your collections, what do you do with the other $150? Youre suddenly in the stamp dealer business.

For me, its tough enough finding the stamps I DO want, with the right look at the right price. The few times I've done it I wasn't satisfied with buying the stamps I DIDN'T want.

Having said that, it's not hard to understand the economics of buying large collections and breaking them down to flesh out your own collections and turn the rest for profit. Many people do it and they do it well and often.

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whitebuffalo
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15 Jul 2016
03:28:33pm
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

My approach has been to pick a country or topic out of my Statesman WW album and buy a few fair size lots/accumulations that I can easily spot larger quantities of material that I need. Then start searching the approvals here to find the stamps I need to fill in spaces. In the process, I start printing off pages and housing them into their own albums. When I hit a dry spot, I start another country or topic. I always watch for the larger lots in my areas of interest, but eventually you get to the point where your getting more duplicates then needed stamps.

There's nothing like large accumulations to get the ball rolling and the approvals are a perfect way to plug holes. I use both.


WB

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michael78651

15 Jul 2016
03:29:46pm
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

Hungary for Stamps said:

"I agree that if you are planning on acquiring 100K stamps, either starting from zero or starting from an existing 100K you want to augment to 200K, its a very poor plan to purchase single stamps from an online approval book. For one it'll take forever and you'll probably end up paying 10 to 25 more.

Buying collections is still the best plan of action. If its a general worldwide collection, you can pull out the stamps you need, and relist the remainder as a somewhat sparser collection. Recall we are talking about low-value stamps to start with (given that's what should be sold/bought in the approval books), so you're not necessarily robbing the collection of its best bits.

The other option is to focus a bit more and perhaps buy a collections targeted at a single country at a time or collection of related countries.

The added benefit of this approach is collections often yield nice surprises and occasionally, superb finds."



The tactics he described are exactly how I concentrated on building my collection (I still bought and buy individual sets and single stamps), which is now well over 300,000 stamps. You will find, however, that when you get up to the number where I am at that the nickle and dime stuff isn't needed all that often anymore. I now look to Buy nice country collections in area where I still have plenty of holes to justify the cost, but those collections also have to have better value items or else the cost won't justify what I get out of it. That brings the necessity of having to buy plenty of individual sets, year sets are great too, and a few common stamps to complete a set now and then. As you gain more stamps in quantity, the price of poker goes up. If I live long enough to go over the 400,000 stamp mark, I'm sure the price of what I'll still need will go up even more.
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michael78651

15 Jul 2016
04:02:16pm
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

"My problem is knowing how to put a value on it. If you bid $200 on a lot and you get $50 of material out that you want to keep for your collections, what do you do with the other $150? Youre suddenly in the stamp dealer business.
"



Before you bid or buy bulk/collection lots, you need to know what it is that you need. You also need to know the value of what you need, and bid accordingly. If you bid $200, and what you need out of the lot is only $50, then you over bid. Selling off the surplus from such lots is a good way to get some, all or more of what you paid for the lot. However, if you pay $200, get $50, and don't have an inkling as to how much you can sell the unwanted material for, you'd be best to bid as low as possible. I have seen many people get stuck just like that.

Start out by going to stamp auctions (live or silent). See how the other bidders conduct themselves. Learn how to inspect a bulk lot. Avoid getting into a bidding war. Know the top dollar you're willing to pay for it and do not go over it.

I once attended a live auction that had a bulk lot that I wanted. I thought $100 was my maximum price, but $50 was more realistic. Three people, including myself, wound up bidding on it. I dropped out at $100. The hammer price was $400. The guy who bought it told me a couple of months later that he got absolutely nothing out of the lot. I asked him why he bid that high on it. He said, "Because you were bidding on it, so I thought there was something good in it." So, remember that when you are a regular at auctions, others watch you, and if they see that you usually bid on nicer lots, they will try to beat you out of the lot.

Before you start bidding, think about what you're going to do with the surplus. If the surplus is going to sit for decades in a box, then you wasted money. The surplus can't generate any return revenue sitting in the dark. At the least, return it to the hobby by donating it to the children's scavenging table at a stamp show. (Why do so many adults sit there digging out the better freebies, sometimes blocking the children from looking at the stamps?)

Sorry, but you have to go into it with a business sense. My primary rule is that when I inspect a bulk lot it cannot be full of beginner albums, stock books, envelopes and glassines with nothing but common garbage. Buying those worked fine at first, but I wound up with tons of common garbage. I sent it all to the Holocaust Project. The lot also has to contain mostly the stamps that I need for my collection, and in the condition that I want.

This means that I pass over most bulk lots and collections, because most are not well kept. The more you do this, you will learn how to recognize the better lots, and you will learn what to ignore and not even look at. Now I actually prefer to buy lots outright from a dealer. I no longer find many desirable bulk auction lots. Seeing the same stuff all the time from one lot to the next and from one auction to the next will give you a good idea why that garbage is worthless.
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ikeyPikey
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15 Jul 2016
04:19:04pm
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

Buying collections offers serendipity: you get things that you would not have thought to look for, which can be really nice.

But I'm {understatement} not good about getting rid of the dupes {/understatement} ...

... so nowadays I'm buying more individual items.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

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rrraphy
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Retired Consultant APS#186030

15 Jul 2016
04:23:57pm

Approvals
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

"eventually you get to the point where your getting more duplicates then needed stamps. "


That is when you change the strategy. Now you buy individual stamps. Or you keep buying collections AND you sell the duplicates, on Approvals maybe?
rrr...

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philatelia
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15 Jul 2016
04:26:18pm
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

So true about reaching a point where you need so few that you must resort to buying one at a time. Although to be honest, I have bought lots just for one or two stamps. When I calculated the cost to buy the stamps individually, I could buy the whole lot for almost the same price! And I wonder where all these duplicates came from? Laughing



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Guthrum
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15 Jul 2016
05:42:48pm
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

Many of you answering this question seem to enjoy the same hobby, revolving around auctions, collections, multiple duplicates, re-selling, and general amassing.

I follow a very different line; I buy individual stamps (or more frequently sets). Having chosen my area of interest, I make a list of the stamps that qualify for that interest, using what catalogues I have, as well as online sites like Colnect and Stampworld.

With this list I attend the Strand Stamp Fair or Stampex to see how much I can buy from (1) Andy Faulkner and (2) Howard Hatton.

When I've exhausted them I turn by post to D.J.M. Kerr or, less often, Tony Bray.

Lastly I go on to Delcampe for what remains.

Occasionally I use a more specialist online or stamp fair dealer, but by the time we've reached this stage items are becoming very expensive, or simply scarce.

Apart from my ever-expanding WW2 collection, now in the slow process of assembling, researching and writing up into albums, I have the following collections, all acquired in the above fashion:

British Commonwealth QE2-to-independence mint and used
Third Reich mint and used
RSFSR
Soviet recess stamps 1924-1974
The Ivan Dubasov collection
The Great Terror (all these mint only)

The Third Reich used collection was begun, it is fair to say, with a joblot of the cheapest stamps sold at £5 or so. All the rest ticked off set by set, or single by single, and supplemented with the occasional cover or postcard.

I forgot to mention my GB to 2000 material, no rarities, mainly because I set no great store by them and rather hope my heirs will value them more than I do!

Anyone else collect like this?




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TribalErnie

15 Jul 2016
06:29:27pm
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

Would love to see some eBay auctions that people thought were good candidates and why.


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Brechinite

15 Jul 2016
07:29:24pm
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

I'm just an auction junkie.
Show me an auction with mixed lots in boxes and I'm in heaven.
Once you get one or two home you can take out what you want for your own collection, put aside items for research.
Its amazing what you can find and where it can take you, much research on George VI's visit to Canada, more research into Japanese Dragons etc. etc..
Pop the remainder into the approvals/auctions.
Get moaned at by "she who thinks she must be obeyed". What more stamps? When are you going to get rid of all these boxes?

Finest Kind.

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Tom in Exton, PA

15 Jul 2016
07:58:59pm
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

"
Would love to see some eBay auctions that people thought were good candidates and why. "





http://www.ebay.com/itm/1960s-Stamp-Lot-Face-Value-56-MNH-NR-FREE-SHIPPING-/262438943838?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&nma=true&si=Sj2jqZZbc0vZJQyOKQwMXFU0ZMo%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

Okay Ernie, here's a lot I bought. $56 face value plate blocks and older singles... mostly mnh plate blocks of the 3 cent through 6 cent era for $36 postpaid. I filled in a ton of holes in my collection... remember in my album I don't care if it's a single, block, plate block or cover to represent that stamp issue.

And I have a ton of duplicates left over. If I used them for postage I'm still ahead.

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TribalErnie

15 Jul 2016
08:24:20pm
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

Thanks for posting that Tom. Great example. I'm not sure if it's because the listing has closed and is now old but looks like there's no description at all. Just one small picture??? Not sure if I would bid but then again there's people that bid big money on a one line description and no pictures. You can't let your fear of being disappointed cripple you sometimes you just gotta trust your instincts and see what you get.

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bobstew617
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15 Jul 2016
09:13:02pm
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

I tend to buy single stamps or sets because I tend to like MNH varieties. I have purchased collections from time to time, like I recently did with Thailand, where I hope to gain some new items, upgrade others, and trade the rest.

Some countries where I know I already have a lot of duplicates, I will shy away from buying collections, like Switzerland or Ireland. (Sorry, Theresa, I will leave the specking and stumping to you.)

BOB

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Jansimon
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collector, seller, MT member

16 Jul 2016
02:59:05am

Approvals
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

For me, buying (small) collections has multiple benefits: first of all I get new stamps for my own collection. What is left will be traded or sold (mostly through the approvals) which means that I get funds to buy a. New collections and b. Single stamps or sets that I can use. Using this system I am not bothered with higher postage costs that much because that's paid for by the profits of my sales. Selling is fun, no denying that, but it is mainly a way of indirect trading.

Another additional benefit of acquiring duplicates through buying accumulations is that it turns our mostly solitary hobby into one that's more eh... social. With several large bags full of stockbooks I go to stamp markets and club meetings where I can trade with other collectors.

Anybody should of course choose their own strategy but this works for me.

Jan-Simon

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Tom in Exton, PA

16 Jul 2016
11:33:24am
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

"
I'm not sure if it's because the listing has closed and is now old but looks like there's no description at all. Just one small picture???"



Ernie, the description on the auction was a one liner:
100s of unused stamps, most in sheets of 4; mostly 3,4,5,6 but other denominations also; in very nice condition


But there were something like 6 photos of the pile of stamps. When I saw that ending at 64% of face, I didn't see a risk there. Still I couldn't figure why I had no competition. The seller was more of an antique dealer than a stamp guy, describing plate blocks as "sheets of 4".

There was a lot of stuff in that lot. Even 1950s Liberty Series definitive plate blocks up to the 50 cent value! There were some damaged and creased stamps, but those got thrown into my postage pile. All in all, I was pretty pleased with my purchase. I spent three evenings sorting it all out and found a lot of stuff for my collection.

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Tom in Exton, PA

16 Jul 2016
04:19:53pm
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

I just bought another misc lot today:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Stamp-Collection-and-miscl-stamps-Mostly-US-/222181506766?nma=true&si=Sj2jqZZbc0vZJQyOKQwMXFU0ZMo%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Total with postage is $23. I bought it primarily because I wanted the Farley imperfs. I was looking in my album the other day and I even skipped the Scott numbers when creating pages because I didn't have any! And that was the weak point of my otherwise complete 1930s US commemoratives.

So figure I've got $23 worth of Farleys. The rest of the stuff including the over $20 face value mentioned in the Minuteman album (which is the same album I bought as a kid) is all free.

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dollhaus

16 Jul 2016
07:08:36pm
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

Were the kittens on the box any part of your decision-making process?

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Tom in Exton, PA

16 Jul 2016
08:00:22pm
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

"Were the kittens on the box any part of your decision-making process?"



Kittens? I actually had to go back to look at the pictures! Wouldn't it be funny if I put the box on eBay and got $25 for it? Big Grin

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Tigger

23 Jul 2016
06:48:20am
re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

I regularly buy collections for only a few items within it. If you include shipping to England from the States, I tend to lose money but as my collections are made in the states I have no choice. And Yes as someone said in here, you do become a sort of dealer and I have found that selling the things I did not need from the collection usually pays for my shipping costs. I have got to say, I have met some great people in the states through stamps and Ebay.
So for me buying both single and collections is part of collecting, obviously bargains are nearly always found in collections.

However, my main collecting theme is what drives me and again makes both collections and singles desirable and I do not buy for what something is worth, I buy for theme.

I once saw a collection and had it not been so expensive, I would have brought it purely for the hand writing and detail the person had gone to, in information, rather than the stamps collection it self. The father that created this collection must have spent hours on it, only for the daughter to sell it. It is also funny how your opinions change, I used to despair when someone would brake up a collection for sale.
But as others have said in here, if you only need a few items for your own collection then it obvious why collections get broken up.

I think the old saying "You cant please people all the time" comes into play.

In the end it comes down to the buyer / collector and their issues.

Julian

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philatelia

15 Jul 2016
01:29:13pm

This topic came up on a another thread and I think it is one that is interesting. If you posted there, please join in the discussion here. There were a few great comments.

I posted the following response in the other thread;

"Finally, in my opinion, if you are out to buy large quantities of stamps (100K is an awful lot) - then you ought not buy them as single stamps.
"




Some folks will do anything to avoid acquiring duplicates while others prefer to buy collections even though they may only need a handful of stamps from the purchase. To each his own, eh?

_______________________________________________________________________________



Personally, I much prefer to buy collections. Beyond the ones that I didn't have, I often find better copies. Many times I've purchased collections with varieties and invaluable notations about them. It is a nice feeling to take a great collection and build upon another philatelist's hard work. I have scanned some pages for references before I disassembled them because the previous collector had done such a great job.

That said, some people just don't want to buy one single stamp that they already have and they will pay handsomely to do so. That is their prerogative, but I think they are missing out a bit. Again - to each their own. If that is what makes them happy, well I suppose I should be glad as there is one less person bidding against me to buy that collection!
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seanpashby

15 Jul 2016
02:04:38pm

re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

I much prefer buying collections, or even better, accumulations if it contains at least a handful of stamps I need. As Theresa said, I can upgrade many items as well and then pass the remainder on to someone else, usually the Boy Scouts as I don't like holding on to duplicates.

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Tom in Exton, PA
15 Jul 2016
02:40:17pm

re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

Agreed! I'm organizing and then filling out my USA collection. Lord knows I don't want to be buying this all one at a time at retail. I've had pretty good luck buying accumulation lots on eBay. I've bought a few poorly described lots that nobody really bid on and upon receiving them, have realized that I just bought 50-80 year old mint stamps and plate blocks at 50% of face. That has filled out my pages for those eras and has given me loads of similar duplicates to trade, put in auctions or approvals.

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scb

Collecting the world 1840 to date - one stamp at a time!
15 Jul 2016
02:45:28pm

re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

Thanks for splitting this up, Theresa.

Anyway... I agree with you that buying collections, mixtures, and accumulations is the way to go. But... Having reached the 100K stamp limit with my world collection recently, I can already see there will eventually be a limit with this approach (somewhere between 200-250K stamps I'd say).

Sure, one can go on with it forever, but eventually the 'growth/progress' will slow down significantly and maybe even halt; and all that hard work and no play would make Jack a dull boy


Considering that there are roughly 800K face different issued stamps worldwide, it is surprising how little variety collections actually have and contain. Possibly the only major exception are specialized lots and collections (and they usually get pricey).

Delphi's stamp forum has got a good talk on topic - http://forums.delphiforums.com/stamps/messages?msg=52378.1 ... Of course one could ask whether or not the catalog values are right if the stamps are so difficult to locate.

Anyway, here's a pic of my current acquisition strategy (heavily simplified, but it gives a good overview. I'm currently adding roughly 10K stamps a year (some of them end up to my backlog, some go straight to collection):

Image Not Found

And like stated on the original topic, I would definitely love to utilize the SoR approvals as well if it was more cost effective.




-k-


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smauggie

15 Jul 2016
02:45:52pm

re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

I suppose it all depends on what you want. Want to fill lots of inexpensive holes, buy the big lot. Want a nicely centered mint stamp with a cat of $100+ buy the stamp. I also find myself buying individual stamps at the auctions (here and elsewhere) where they fit into my collection/accumulation.

It is one of the unique advantages of the Stamporama auction and approvals, you can even buy the exact lower-value stamps you need, too.

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TribalErnie

15 Jul 2016
02:51:57pm

re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

I would LOVE to be able to find great box lots or accumulations. My problem is knowing how to put a value on it. If you bid $200 on a lot and you get $50 of material out that you want to keep for your collections, what do you do with the other $150? Youre suddenly in the stamp dealer business.

For me, its tough enough finding the stamps I DO want, with the right look at the right price. The few times I've done it I wasn't satisfied with buying the stamps I DIDN'T want.

Having said that, it's not hard to understand the economics of buying large collections and breaking them down to flesh out your own collections and turn the rest for profit. Many people do it and they do it well and often.

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whitebuffalo

15 Jul 2016
03:28:33pm

re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

My approach has been to pick a country or topic out of my Statesman WW album and buy a few fair size lots/accumulations that I can easily spot larger quantities of material that I need. Then start searching the approvals here to find the stamps I need to fill in spaces. In the process, I start printing off pages and housing them into their own albums. When I hit a dry spot, I start another country or topic. I always watch for the larger lots in my areas of interest, but eventually you get to the point where your getting more duplicates then needed stamps.

There's nothing like large accumulations to get the ball rolling and the approvals are a perfect way to plug holes. I use both.


WB

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michael78651

15 Jul 2016
03:29:46pm

re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

Hungary for Stamps said:

"I agree that if you are planning on acquiring 100K stamps, either starting from zero or starting from an existing 100K you want to augment to 200K, its a very poor plan to purchase single stamps from an online approval book. For one it'll take forever and you'll probably end up paying 10 to 25 more.

Buying collections is still the best plan of action. If its a general worldwide collection, you can pull out the stamps you need, and relist the remainder as a somewhat sparser collection. Recall we are talking about low-value stamps to start with (given that's what should be sold/bought in the approval books), so you're not necessarily robbing the collection of its best bits.

The other option is to focus a bit more and perhaps buy a collections targeted at a single country at a time or collection of related countries.

The added benefit of this approach is collections often yield nice surprises and occasionally, superb finds."



The tactics he described are exactly how I concentrated on building my collection (I still bought and buy individual sets and single stamps), which is now well over 300,000 stamps. You will find, however, that when you get up to the number where I am at that the nickle and dime stuff isn't needed all that often anymore. I now look to Buy nice country collections in area where I still have plenty of holes to justify the cost, but those collections also have to have better value items or else the cost won't justify what I get out of it. That brings the necessity of having to buy plenty of individual sets, year sets are great too, and a few common stamps to complete a set now and then. As you gain more stamps in quantity, the price of poker goes up. If I live long enough to go over the 400,000 stamp mark, I'm sure the price of what I'll still need will go up even more.
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michael78651

15 Jul 2016
04:02:16pm

re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

"My problem is knowing how to put a value on it. If you bid $200 on a lot and you get $50 of material out that you want to keep for your collections, what do you do with the other $150? Youre suddenly in the stamp dealer business.
"



Before you bid or buy bulk/collection lots, you need to know what it is that you need. You also need to know the value of what you need, and bid accordingly. If you bid $200, and what you need out of the lot is only $50, then you over bid. Selling off the surplus from such lots is a good way to get some, all or more of what you paid for the lot. However, if you pay $200, get $50, and don't have an inkling as to how much you can sell the unwanted material for, you'd be best to bid as low as possible. I have seen many people get stuck just like that.

Start out by going to stamp auctions (live or silent). See how the other bidders conduct themselves. Learn how to inspect a bulk lot. Avoid getting into a bidding war. Know the top dollar you're willing to pay for it and do not go over it.

I once attended a live auction that had a bulk lot that I wanted. I thought $100 was my maximum price, but $50 was more realistic. Three people, including myself, wound up bidding on it. I dropped out at $100. The hammer price was $400. The guy who bought it told me a couple of months later that he got absolutely nothing out of the lot. I asked him why he bid that high on it. He said, "Because you were bidding on it, so I thought there was something good in it." So, remember that when you are a regular at auctions, others watch you, and if they see that you usually bid on nicer lots, they will try to beat you out of the lot.

Before you start bidding, think about what you're going to do with the surplus. If the surplus is going to sit for decades in a box, then you wasted money. The surplus can't generate any return revenue sitting in the dark. At the least, return it to the hobby by donating it to the children's scavenging table at a stamp show. (Why do so many adults sit there digging out the better freebies, sometimes blocking the children from looking at the stamps?)

Sorry, but you have to go into it with a business sense. My primary rule is that when I inspect a bulk lot it cannot be full of beginner albums, stock books, envelopes and glassines with nothing but common garbage. Buying those worked fine at first, but I wound up with tons of common garbage. I sent it all to the Holocaust Project. The lot also has to contain mostly the stamps that I need for my collection, and in the condition that I want.

This means that I pass over most bulk lots and collections, because most are not well kept. The more you do this, you will learn how to recognize the better lots, and you will learn what to ignore and not even look at. Now I actually prefer to buy lots outright from a dealer. I no longer find many desirable bulk auction lots. Seeing the same stuff all the time from one lot to the next and from one auction to the next will give you a good idea why that garbage is worthless.
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ikeyPikey

15 Jul 2016
04:19:04pm

re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

Buying collections offers serendipity: you get things that you would not have thought to look for, which can be really nice.

But I'm {understatement} not good about getting rid of the dupes {/understatement} ...

... so nowadays I'm buying more individual items.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

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rrraphy

Retired Consultant APS#186030
15 Jul 2016
04:23:57pm

Approvals

re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

"eventually you get to the point where your getting more duplicates then needed stamps. "


That is when you change the strategy. Now you buy individual stamps. Or you keep buying collections AND you sell the duplicates, on Approvals maybe?
rrr...

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philatelia

15 Jul 2016
04:26:18pm

re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

So true about reaching a point where you need so few that you must resort to buying one at a time. Although to be honest, I have bought lots just for one or two stamps. When I calculated the cost to buy the stamps individually, I could buy the whole lot for almost the same price! And I wonder where all these duplicates came from? Laughing



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Guthrum

15 Jul 2016
05:42:48pm

re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

Many of you answering this question seem to enjoy the same hobby, revolving around auctions, collections, multiple duplicates, re-selling, and general amassing.

I follow a very different line; I buy individual stamps (or more frequently sets). Having chosen my area of interest, I make a list of the stamps that qualify for that interest, using what catalogues I have, as well as online sites like Colnect and Stampworld.

With this list I attend the Strand Stamp Fair or Stampex to see how much I can buy from (1) Andy Faulkner and (2) Howard Hatton.

When I've exhausted them I turn by post to D.J.M. Kerr or, less often, Tony Bray.

Lastly I go on to Delcampe for what remains.

Occasionally I use a more specialist online or stamp fair dealer, but by the time we've reached this stage items are becoming very expensive, or simply scarce.

Apart from my ever-expanding WW2 collection, now in the slow process of assembling, researching and writing up into albums, I have the following collections, all acquired in the above fashion:

British Commonwealth QE2-to-independence mint and used
Third Reich mint and used
RSFSR
Soviet recess stamps 1924-1974
The Ivan Dubasov collection
The Great Terror (all these mint only)

The Third Reich used collection was begun, it is fair to say, with a joblot of the cheapest stamps sold at £5 or so. All the rest ticked off set by set, or single by single, and supplemented with the occasional cover or postcard.

I forgot to mention my GB to 2000 material, no rarities, mainly because I set no great store by them and rather hope my heirs will value them more than I do!

Anyone else collect like this?




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TribalErnie

15 Jul 2016
06:29:27pm

re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

Would love to see some eBay auctions that people thought were good candidates and why.


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Brechinite

15 Jul 2016
07:29:24pm

re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

I'm just an auction junkie.
Show me an auction with mixed lots in boxes and I'm in heaven.
Once you get one or two home you can take out what you want for your own collection, put aside items for research.
Its amazing what you can find and where it can take you, much research on George VI's visit to Canada, more research into Japanese Dragons etc. etc..
Pop the remainder into the approvals/auctions.
Get moaned at by "she who thinks she must be obeyed". What more stamps? When are you going to get rid of all these boxes?

Finest Kind.

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BenFranklin1902

Tom in Exton, PA
15 Jul 2016
07:58:59pm

re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

"
Would love to see some eBay auctions that people thought were good candidates and why. "





http://www.ebay.com/itm/1960s-Stamp-Lot-Face-Value-56-MNH-NR-FREE-SHIPPING-/262438943838?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&nma=true&si=Sj2jqZZbc0vZJQyOKQwMXFU0ZMo%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc

Okay Ernie, here's a lot I bought. $56 face value plate blocks and older singles... mostly mnh plate blocks of the 3 cent through 6 cent era for $36 postpaid. I filled in a ton of holes in my collection... remember in my album I don't care if it's a single, block, plate block or cover to represent that stamp issue.

And I have a ton of duplicates left over. If I used them for postage I'm still ahead.

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TribalErnie

15 Jul 2016
08:24:20pm

re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

Thanks for posting that Tom. Great example. I'm not sure if it's because the listing has closed and is now old but looks like there's no description at all. Just one small picture??? Not sure if I would bid but then again there's people that bid big money on a one line description and no pictures. You can't let your fear of being disappointed cripple you sometimes you just gotta trust your instincts and see what you get.

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bobstew617

15 Jul 2016
09:13:02pm

re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

I tend to buy single stamps or sets because I tend to like MNH varieties. I have purchased collections from time to time, like I recently did with Thailand, where I hope to gain some new items, upgrade others, and trade the rest.

Some countries where I know I already have a lot of duplicates, I will shy away from buying collections, like Switzerland or Ireland. (Sorry, Theresa, I will leave the specking and stumping to you.)

BOB

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Jansimon

collector, seller, MT member
16 Jul 2016
02:59:05am

Approvals

re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

For me, buying (small) collections has multiple benefits: first of all I get new stamps for my own collection. What is left will be traded or sold (mostly through the approvals) which means that I get funds to buy a. New collections and b. Single stamps or sets that I can use. Using this system I am not bothered with higher postage costs that much because that's paid for by the profits of my sales. Selling is fun, no denying that, but it is mainly a way of indirect trading.

Another additional benefit of acquiring duplicates through buying accumulations is that it turns our mostly solitary hobby into one that's more eh... social. With several large bags full of stockbooks I go to stamp markets and club meetings where I can trade with other collectors.

Anybody should of course choose their own strategy but this works for me.

Jan-Simon

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BenFranklin1902

Tom in Exton, PA
16 Jul 2016
11:33:24am

re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

"
I'm not sure if it's because the listing has closed and is now old but looks like there's no description at all. Just one small picture???"



Ernie, the description on the auction was a one liner:
100s of unused stamps, most in sheets of 4; mostly 3,4,5,6 but other denominations also; in very nice condition


But there were something like 6 photos of the pile of stamps. When I saw that ending at 64% of face, I didn't see a risk there. Still I couldn't figure why I had no competition. The seller was more of an antique dealer than a stamp guy, describing plate blocks as "sheets of 4".

There was a lot of stuff in that lot. Even 1950s Liberty Series definitive plate blocks up to the 50 cent value! There were some damaged and creased stamps, but those got thrown into my postage pile. All in all, I was pretty pleased with my purchase. I spent three evenings sorting it all out and found a lot of stuff for my collection.

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BenFranklin1902

Tom in Exton, PA
16 Jul 2016
04:19:53pm

re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

I just bought another misc lot today:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Stamp-Collection-and-miscl-stamps-Mostly-US-/222181506766?nma=true&si=Sj2jqZZbc0vZJQyOKQwMXFU0ZMo%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Total with postage is $23. I bought it primarily because I wanted the Farley imperfs. I was looking in my album the other day and I even skipped the Scott numbers when creating pages because I didn't have any! And that was the weak point of my otherwise complete 1930s US commemoratives.

So figure I've got $23 worth of Farleys. The rest of the stuff including the over $20 face value mentioned in the Minuteman album (which is the same album I bought as a kid) is all free.

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dollhaus

16 Jul 2016
07:08:36pm

re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

Were the kittens on the box any part of your decision-making process?

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BenFranklin1902

Tom in Exton, PA
16 Jul 2016
08:00:22pm

re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

"Were the kittens on the box any part of your decision-making process?"



Kittens? I actually had to go back to look at the pictures! Wouldn't it be funny if I put the box on eBay and got $25 for it? Big Grin

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Tigger

23 Jul 2016
06:48:20am

re: Buying Collections vs Buying Individual Stamps

I regularly buy collections for only a few items within it. If you include shipping to England from the States, I tend to lose money but as my collections are made in the states I have no choice. And Yes as someone said in here, you do become a sort of dealer and I have found that selling the things I did not need from the collection usually pays for my shipping costs. I have got to say, I have met some great people in the states through stamps and Ebay.
So for me buying both single and collections is part of collecting, obviously bargains are nearly always found in collections.

However, my main collecting theme is what drives me and again makes both collections and singles desirable and I do not buy for what something is worth, I buy for theme.

I once saw a collection and had it not been so expensive, I would have brought it purely for the hand writing and detail the person had gone to, in information, rather than the stamps collection it self. The father that created this collection must have spent hours on it, only for the daughter to sell it. It is also funny how your opinions change, I used to despair when someone would brake up a collection for sale.
But as others have said in here, if you only need a few items for your own collection then it obvious why collections get broken up.

I think the old saying "You cant please people all the time" comes into play.

In the end it comes down to the buyer / collector and their issues.

Julian

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