Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
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Nice find! The clearance circuit books from the APS can be a treasure trove of nice things, and the discount to buy the entire book (a clearance book has to be bought in its entirety; you can't pick and choose stamps from it as you can with the regular circuit books) makes the cost a very low fraction of original catalog value. Plus what you don't need can be sold to get back most, if not all, of what you spent on the book!
The APS hasn't done a good job, thus far, of publicizing the clearance books. Any member can request a "Clearance Circuit" be sent directly to them. You even tell them what you want. I have made three such requests (nothing exotic). Each time the response was that they would get it out to me in a couple of days. That was two years ago.
I have made some suggestions, but they haven't acted on anything yet. They weren't even acknowledged as were my emails asking when the circuits would be shipped. After Tom Horn retired, the APS Sales Division has not been as customer-friendly as it had been.
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Did you know that stamp was in the book when you bought it or was it a happy surprise when you got home?
Either way, congratulations!
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I am afraid i did not know the stamp or the value until i returned home...most of the Italian stamps of the era are easy..with the exception of the highest value.
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Michael, wow you are correct..its not the same without the Horns. My wife noticed most of the employees are working in areas other than the sales division. There was Bill Dixon moving around and one woman at a desk..very quiet. in the day and a half that we were there..we were the only customers with the exception of one man who came in briefly looking for specific U.S. stamps. In the "gift shop" /donations area there were two very large cardboard boxes full of discontinued circuit books..much Switzerland, Germany and so on.However you can not merge the sales from the sales division and the donations..had to make two payments.
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Our local club gets Circuit books and we have done 2 boxes of
clearance books so far....with no sale either time.
Most of what was there was priced quite high for us.
Maybe we will try again later in the year.
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I used to get them for the club..would ask the people what countries they wanted to see and then they didn't buy anything...it was costing the club 8 bucks a month to ship them back...so i stopped getting them and no one missed them.
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So how do the discontinued circuit books work? Do they send them to you to examine before you decide to purchase? Do you know the value before they send them? I recieved circuit books years ago and I liked the process but was a little disappointed with regard to selection and price. I only recieved older US only and after about two years of getting them it seemed like it was the most common stamps and at top dollar. I'm thinking about starting up again with a different collecting focus. I think some categories probably work better than others.
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They are sent for you to examine;
value is unknown until shipment is received;
your categories are chosen by you from a list;
any number of stamps could be in a book, from one to a hundred or more;
it is a 'buy all or none' program - buy the entire book at the 'clearance' price, or send it back. You don't have to purchase the entire shipment, just each individual book, if you want them.
***this info provided for those who might be unfamiliar with these books***
(See APS website for more info!) 
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Regarding pricing, the seller indicates to APS how much to discount the books when they have reached the end of their regular circuit cycle.
Take my books, for example. In my regular books, I discount around 50% of catalogue value. When the books complete their regular circuit run, they are moved to the clearance book category. I told APS to price the books at 50% off the unsold net value. The result, in this example, is that you are getting the remaining stamps in a clearance circuit book for around 25% of catalogue value. That's a pretty good deal.
You do, however, have to be an APS member in order to receive circuit books in the mail. You can ask APS to send you clearance books within a price range. The lowest price for a clearance book is $10.00.
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Phil:
You have now reached the level of Bobggg for finding stuff. Good job!
David
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I purchased a couple of discontinued Italy APS circuit books...i paid $29.00 for the book this was in. Ok, its unused no gum but my album is not going to know le difference !
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11:00:42am
re: found in discontinued APS circuit book
Nice find! The clearance circuit books from the APS can be a treasure trove of nice things, and the discount to buy the entire book (a clearance book has to be bought in its entirety; you can't pick and choose stamps from it as you can with the regular circuit books) makes the cost a very low fraction of original catalog value. Plus what you don't need can be sold to get back most, if not all, of what you spent on the book!
The APS hasn't done a good job, thus far, of publicizing the clearance books. Any member can request a "Clearance Circuit" be sent directly to them. You even tell them what you want. I have made three such requests (nothing exotic). Each time the response was that they would get it out to me in a couple of days. That was two years ago.
I have made some suggestions, but they haven't acted on anything yet. They weren't even acknowledged as were my emails asking when the circuits would be shipped. After Tom Horn retired, the APS Sales Division has not been as customer-friendly as it had been.
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re: found in discontinued APS circuit book
Did you know that stamp was in the book when you bought it or was it a happy surprise when you got home?
Either way, congratulations!
Login to Like
this post
Auctions
re: found in discontinued APS circuit book
I am afraid i did not know the stamp or the value until i returned home...most of the Italian stamps of the era are easy..with the exception of the highest value.
Login to Like
this post
Auctions
re: found in discontinued APS circuit book
Michael, wow you are correct..its not the same without the Horns. My wife noticed most of the employees are working in areas other than the sales division. There was Bill Dixon moving around and one woman at a desk..very quiet. in the day and a half that we were there..we were the only customers with the exception of one man who came in briefly looking for specific U.S. stamps. In the "gift shop" /donations area there were two very large cardboard boxes full of discontinued circuit books..much Switzerland, Germany and so on.However you can not merge the sales from the sales division and the donations..had to make two payments.
Login to Like
this post
re: found in discontinued APS circuit book
Our local club gets Circuit books and we have done 2 boxes of
clearance books so far....with no sale either time.
Most of what was there was priced quite high for us.
Maybe we will try again later in the year.
Login to Like
this post
Auctions
re: found in discontinued APS circuit book
I used to get them for the club..would ask the people what countries they wanted to see and then they didn't buy anything...it was costing the club 8 bucks a month to ship them back...so i stopped getting them and no one missed them.
Login to Like
this post
06:17:43am
re: found in discontinued APS circuit book
So how do the discontinued circuit books work? Do they send them to you to examine before you decide to purchase? Do you know the value before they send them? I recieved circuit books years ago and I liked the process but was a little disappointed with regard to selection and price. I only recieved older US only and after about two years of getting them it seemed like it was the most common stamps and at top dollar. I'm thinking about starting up again with a different collecting focus. I think some categories probably work better than others.
Login to Like
this post
re: found in discontinued APS circuit book
They are sent for you to examine;
value is unknown until shipment is received;
your categories are chosen by you from a list;
any number of stamps could be in a book, from one to a hundred or more;
it is a 'buy all or none' program - buy the entire book at the 'clearance' price, or send it back. You don't have to purchase the entire shipment, just each individual book, if you want them.
***this info provided for those who might be unfamiliar with these books***
(See APS website for more info!)
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09:34:38am
re: found in discontinued APS circuit book
Regarding pricing, the seller indicates to APS how much to discount the books when they have reached the end of their regular circuit cycle.
Take my books, for example. In my regular books, I discount around 50% of catalogue value. When the books complete their regular circuit run, they are moved to the clearance book category. I told APS to price the books at 50% off the unsold net value. The result, in this example, is that you are getting the remaining stamps in a clearance circuit book for around 25% of catalogue value. That's a pretty good deal.
You do, however, have to be an APS member in order to receive circuit books in the mail. You can ask APS to send you clearance books within a price range. The lowest price for a clearance book is $10.00.
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re: found in discontinued APS circuit book
Phil:
You have now reached the level of Bobggg for finding stuff. Good job!
David
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