Any tips/advice for selling a stamp collection?

[disneysteve]

Surely there must be some philatelists here. I may soon be in the market to liquidate a large stamp collection. I know there are lots of people/companies who advertise that they buy collections but I'd appreciate any tips for being sure I get a good price. Should I break up the collection and find buyers who specialize in different types of items (plate blocks, first day covers, etc.) or is it normal to sell the whole shebang to one dealer? Is there stuff that would be worth my time to sell myself on ebay or some other online source?

Thanks for any tips you may have to offer.

 

[eclectics]

To maximize your return, eBay would be your best bet. Break them down into specifics and sub catagories and if a stamp is particularly scarce, sell it separately. I know that's a lot of work for you, but you will get the most money that way. Give the buyers a good clear scan and describe the stamp accurately. Consider allowing worldwide bidding. You will get the most bids that way. If you sell out of your house, stamp dealers will want the entire collection and probably want to pay you a pittance. You could put a ad in your local paper and try to sell to a collector. You'll get a little more money, but not much. If you want to put in the time required, eBay is the way to go. Good luck!

 

[disneysteve]

To maximize your return, eBay would be your best bet. If you sell out of your house, stamp dealers will want the entire collection and probably want to pay you a pittance. If you want to put in the time required, eBay is the way to go. Good luck!

That's pretty much what I figured. It will be a huge job, though, as the collection is quite large. A few years ago, I did ebay a bunch of first day covers and did quite well with them so I know the market is there. What I may end up doing is pulling out the best items and ebaying them and finding a dealer to buy the remainder. I did something similar a few years back with a collection of mini whiskey bottles. I sold about a couple dozen fairly rare bottles on ebay and sold the rest to a collector in Chicago who drove out here to pick them up. I made more on the ones I sold on ebay than I did on the 1000 the collector bought (though I had pulled out the rarest and most valuable). Thanks.

 

[grlpwrd]

Not stamps, but back in June I sold my dh's gold coin collection. I knew his 2 Indian head coins were valuable. I made sure to consult with a current reference/price book to give me an idea on their worth. There was also info online.

My dh first took it to a coin dealer and he offered around wholesale prices or thereabout. I'm sure the dealer wanted to resell them and make a profit. It was a pittance to me as I kind of knew their worth.

I checked on ebay and there were a lot of Buy It Now prices for what they were worth or around it, overall maybe within $50 to $100 of their value. I ended up selling them on ebay without Buy It Now prices and 2 of the 5 coins that were sold went far above their worth.

It depends on supply and demand, too, I suppose.

GL!

Oh, forgot to add... Soon after I sold the collection for 1000s I got bombarded with spam/phishing/scammers so be careful.