Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
I'm almost to the point that I won't even give your lots a look if I can't tell where it's from without squinting at the stamps!
So - if you want a bid from me, PLEASE post the country!
Thanks for the soapbox!
Randy
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Fortunately, most sellers do include the name of the country, but I agree wholeheartedly with your suggestion. I'd like to add that if sellers don't provide an image large enough to show details, they're wasting their time with me.
I've said before and I'll say it again — stamp collecting is a visual hobby, which is why we don't see too many blind stamp collectors. If I can't see a decent image of what someone wants me to buy, they can just forget it. It would also be nice if sellers would crop their images so we don't have to scroll 40 miles to see the stamp they are selling, assuming that the image of the stamp is large enough to see! I have no need to see stock cards!
Bob
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Bob,
I have been scanning my stamps at 300 dpi. I can go as high as 600 dpi. What is your pleasure, Sir?
Les
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I think common courtesy would dictate that the country name and catalog number should be prominently shown. I also pass up many listings because I don't want to waste a lot of time looking for the catalog number of stamps. Besides the fact that a lot of values depend of perfs or watermarks to be known. I guess the key is: IF YOU WANT TO SELL IT, IDENTIFY IT.
Thank you all,
Mike
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Les,
Dpi in itself has little to do with the dimensions of images. I can scan a stamp at 2400 dpi or 72 dpi, and end up with virtually identical images.
This one was scanned at 1200 dpi, and then resized at 25 per cent of its original size and compressed for the internet; the original size was 16.6 MB, while the size of this image is only 33KB:
This image was scanned at 72 dpi and 400% of original dimensions, then compressed for the internet; the original size was 954 KB, while the size of the image you see is only 29KB:
If you set your scanner to scan individual stamps at 400% of original size, at 72 dpi, you'll get an image that looks four times larger than the original stamp. It will be too large to use without compression.
My standard statement at this point is this: Scanning is a black art best learned with hours of trial and error. Given the huge range of scanning hardware and software that is available, not to mention various computing platforms, it really is impossible to give someone else precise instructions on "how to scan".
It's possible that some of the experienced sellers in the Stamporama Auction can provide you with more specific instructions, since I assume most of them use PCs whereas I sensibly use a Mac! :-)
Bob
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One other point I would like to make on top of a country name and a good image as to clearly see the stamp on offer. Using just Scott's numbers or only any other catalogue numbers seems to be all important but not every one uses this or that catalogue so why not be a bit more universal in your thinking and include the year the stamp was released in so others have a chance to understand what stamp you are talking about when using a different catalogue to the numbers given. I learnt this the hard way, to be more user friendly with my auctions descriptions. KG5
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John makes a valid point;
year of issue would be a welcome inclusion for those using different catalogs.
I'm sure most of us do not have access to all the various catalog numbering systems.
"...you want to sell it - describe it well....."
A simple rule-of-thumb we all could go by.
Randy
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I also tried listing a date of issue, in my lots, a few weeks ago, but it seems it was all for naught and a wasted of time. Virtually every bidder on my lots was from the North American continent and had use of the Scott catalog's. Nor I can not recall, in the history of my selling on SOR, where a potential bidder has asked about the identity of any stamp, which would indicate to me that they did not want to take enough time to ask or didn't really care that much about the stamp, so I quit adding that information to my own listing. To me that is just another time consuming addition to listing lots and not worth the time involved.
But I still feel that listing the CV of a stamp is all important. There are several stamps currently listed, that I have an interest in, but there is no value listed for them, so I won't even check my want list to see if they are even needed or not. I assume some sellers don't want to waste their time to look up the value of a stamp, which would be quite simple to do, while they are verifying the catalog number. Or maybe they don't want bidders to know that they are listing their stamps at a very high percentage of CV.
Mike
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One thing we ask on Stamporama is that IF you are going to quote the CV of a stamp or stamps, PLEASE state the catalogue you are using, i.e. Scott and the year of the catalogue publication. The amounts shown in catalogues vary greatly, in some cases, from year to year.
To look at an auction listing that says CV $5 tells me zilch. All it says is that the seller is using some catalogue (unknown to me) where he has found his CV quoted UNLESS in the body of his description he tells me that, for instance 'Scott 2012 CV $5.00'.
The value to a collector is determined by many factors which are not necessarily reflected in any catalogue.
A prime example is the Canada-Alaska Cruise Picture Postage stamps. There were two different stamps printed on a pane of 10 stamps (I think the pane was $12.50, plus tax). They were not announced to collectors until after they appeared. They were not included in Annual Collections, nor were there any Official First Day Covers Issued. There were 50,000 panels available, containing 10 stamps (undenominated, although they could be used for international postage which was $1.25 at that time). Only 10,000 panels were sold through the National Philatelic Centre (I suspect these were sold to stamp dealers who had standing orders for every item made available through the Philatelic Centre). Those panels remaining were offered to cruise guests whose pictures were printed on the stamps. It is uncertain how many of the sheets set aside for cruises were actually sold. I know by the time these stamps were announced to the public in Canada Post's quarterly publication, they were SOLD OUT. They were never any. The 2012 Unitrade Catalouge shows NH-VF @ $10.00 - USED F @ $10.00.
IF I had one of these Canada-Alaska Cruise Picture Postage issues as a used stamp in my hand there would be no collector who would be able to purchase it from me for even the full CV of $10.00. I'd have it in a gold frame covered with glass hanging on my wall.
Liz
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There is another good reason to put the year of release in your stamp description.
If I have 300 different Australia Decimal sets it helps me to list them in order.
To not do this makes me wonder what selling is really going on with modern stamps if a person is not organized in this way.
Colonies or states, Kangaroo and Map of Australia, KGV's! Descriptions are for the specialist collectors because of the cost and popularity of most of these stamps.
Pre-Dec from 1935 onwards would need dates again for me as they attract small prices and they need to be kept in order when listing them in numbers of different sets.
But it is all a non-issue if you are only selling a few stamps.
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Would those of you NOT doing it, PLEASE put the country name in your header/title descriptions!!!
I'm almost to the point that I won't even give your lots a look if I can't tell where it's from without squinting at the stamps!
So - if you want a bid from me, PLEASE post the country!
Thanks for the soapbox!
Randy
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this post
re: Some of the descriptors at bidders like...year of issue, catalogue and year if quoting value
Fortunately, most sellers do include the name of the country, but I agree wholeheartedly with your suggestion. I'd like to add that if sellers don't provide an image large enough to show details, they're wasting their time with me.
I've said before and I'll say it again — stamp collecting is a visual hobby, which is why we don't see too many blind stamp collectors. If I can't see a decent image of what someone wants me to buy, they can just forget it. It would also be nice if sellers would crop their images so we don't have to scroll 40 miles to see the stamp they are selling, assuming that the image of the stamp is large enough to see! I have no need to see stock cards!
Bob
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re: Some of the descriptors at bidders like...year of issue, catalogue and year if quoting value
Bob,
I have been scanning my stamps at 300 dpi. I can go as high as 600 dpi. What is your pleasure, Sir?
Les
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this post
re: Some of the descriptors at bidders like...year of issue, catalogue and year if quoting value
I think common courtesy would dictate that the country name and catalog number should be prominently shown. I also pass up many listings because I don't want to waste a lot of time looking for the catalog number of stamps. Besides the fact that a lot of values depend of perfs or watermarks to be known. I guess the key is: IF YOU WANT TO SELL IT, IDENTIFY IT.
Thank you all,
Mike
Login to Like
this post
re: Some of the descriptors at bidders like...year of issue, catalogue and year if quoting value
Les,
Dpi in itself has little to do with the dimensions of images. I can scan a stamp at 2400 dpi or 72 dpi, and end up with virtually identical images.
This one was scanned at 1200 dpi, and then resized at 25 per cent of its original size and compressed for the internet; the original size was 16.6 MB, while the size of this image is only 33KB:
This image was scanned at 72 dpi and 400% of original dimensions, then compressed for the internet; the original size was 954 KB, while the size of the image you see is only 29KB:
If you set your scanner to scan individual stamps at 400% of original size, at 72 dpi, you'll get an image that looks four times larger than the original stamp. It will be too large to use without compression.
My standard statement at this point is this: Scanning is a black art best learned with hours of trial and error. Given the huge range of scanning hardware and software that is available, not to mention various computing platforms, it really is impossible to give someone else precise instructions on "how to scan".
It's possible that some of the experienced sellers in the Stamporama Auction can provide you with more specific instructions, since I assume most of them use PCs whereas I sensibly use a Mac! :-)
Bob
Login to Like
this post
re: Some of the descriptors at bidders like...year of issue, catalogue and year if quoting value
One other point I would like to make on top of a country name and a good image as to clearly see the stamp on offer. Using just Scott's numbers or only any other catalogue numbers seems to be all important but not every one uses this or that catalogue so why not be a bit more universal in your thinking and include the year the stamp was released in so others have a chance to understand what stamp you are talking about when using a different catalogue to the numbers given. I learnt this the hard way, to be more user friendly with my auctions descriptions. KG5
Login to Like
this post
re: Some of the descriptors at bidders like...year of issue, catalogue and year if quoting value
John makes a valid point;
year of issue would be a welcome inclusion for those using different catalogs.
I'm sure most of us do not have access to all the various catalog numbering systems.
"...you want to sell it - describe it well....."
A simple rule-of-thumb we all could go by.
Randy
Login to Like
this post
re: Some of the descriptors at bidders like...year of issue, catalogue and year if quoting value
I also tried listing a date of issue, in my lots, a few weeks ago, but it seems it was all for naught and a wasted of time. Virtually every bidder on my lots was from the North American continent and had use of the Scott catalog's. Nor I can not recall, in the history of my selling on SOR, where a potential bidder has asked about the identity of any stamp, which would indicate to me that they did not want to take enough time to ask or didn't really care that much about the stamp, so I quit adding that information to my own listing. To me that is just another time consuming addition to listing lots and not worth the time involved.
But I still feel that listing the CV of a stamp is all important. There are several stamps currently listed, that I have an interest in, but there is no value listed for them, so I won't even check my want list to see if they are even needed or not. I assume some sellers don't want to waste their time to look up the value of a stamp, which would be quite simple to do, while they are verifying the catalog number. Or maybe they don't want bidders to know that they are listing their stamps at a very high percentage of CV.
Mike
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12:28:35am
re: Some of the descriptors at bidders like...year of issue, catalogue and year if quoting value
One thing we ask on Stamporama is that IF you are going to quote the CV of a stamp or stamps, PLEASE state the catalogue you are using, i.e. Scott and the year of the catalogue publication. The amounts shown in catalogues vary greatly, in some cases, from year to year.
To look at an auction listing that says CV $5 tells me zilch. All it says is that the seller is using some catalogue (unknown to me) where he has found his CV quoted UNLESS in the body of his description he tells me that, for instance 'Scott 2012 CV $5.00'.
The value to a collector is determined by many factors which are not necessarily reflected in any catalogue.
A prime example is the Canada-Alaska Cruise Picture Postage stamps. There were two different stamps printed on a pane of 10 stamps (I think the pane was $12.50, plus tax). They were not announced to collectors until after they appeared. They were not included in Annual Collections, nor were there any Official First Day Covers Issued. There were 50,000 panels available, containing 10 stamps (undenominated, although they could be used for international postage which was $1.25 at that time). Only 10,000 panels were sold through the National Philatelic Centre (I suspect these were sold to stamp dealers who had standing orders for every item made available through the Philatelic Centre). Those panels remaining were offered to cruise guests whose pictures were printed on the stamps. It is uncertain how many of the sheets set aside for cruises were actually sold. I know by the time these stamps were announced to the public in Canada Post's quarterly publication, they were SOLD OUT. They were never any. The 2012 Unitrade Catalouge shows NH-VF @ $10.00 - USED F @ $10.00.
IF I had one of these Canada-Alaska Cruise Picture Postage issues as a used stamp in my hand there would be no collector who would be able to purchase it from me for even the full CV of $10.00. I'd have it in a gold frame covered with glass hanging on my wall.
Liz
Login to Like
this post
re: Some of the descriptors at bidders like...year of issue, catalogue and year if quoting value
There is another good reason to put the year of release in your stamp description.
If I have 300 different Australia Decimal sets it helps me to list them in order.
To not do this makes me wonder what selling is really going on with modern stamps if a person is not organized in this way.
Colonies or states, Kangaroo and Map of Australia, KGV's! Descriptions are for the specialist collectors because of the cost and popularity of most of these stamps.
Pre-Dec from 1935 onwards would need dates again for me as they attract small prices and they need to be kept in order when listing them in numbers of different sets.
But it is all a non-issue if you are only selling a few stamps.
Login to Like
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