IS THE BEST PRICE ALWAYS THE LOWEST PRICE?
Surely all stamp collectors should always look for and pay the lowest possible price. And when choosing between similar copies of a stamp or cover, a buyer should always opt for the cheapest one, especially if it is nicer looking.
Not necessarily. In fact, while cost is always a factor in any purchase, always insisting on a rock-bottom price is one of the worst ways to put together a good collection. Indeed, it can result in throwing away a lot of money and cause frustration and disappointment.
Quite apart from the well-known fact that a high-quality item always holds its value better than a poor-quality one, several compelling reasons exist for considering a range of prices for any purchase.
A story told by an experienced stamp auctioneer illustrates the point well. At one of the excellent annual American Philatelic Society summer seminars in Pennsylvania, the teacher of my course on the economics of the stamp market told how two boys offered one wintry day to shovel the snow off his drive. They wanted $25 for the large job but after some discussion reluctantly agreed to $20.
The hard bargainer settled down smugly to watch TV, but later was astonished to find his snow intact and the boys working away industriously on his neighbour’s. "Why are you doing his driveway?" the auctioneer asked.
"He is paying $25," one of the boys said.
Anyone who believes this cannot happen in the stamp world is sadly mistaken. I was once contacted by a collector in a popular postal history area who had seen my advert in a club magazine. He asked me to send a list of covers for sale, which I went to some effort to do. Then he made a large order of these reasonably priced covers, but said he had to see them before paying. I bundled them up with some annoyance, for this was a second job I’d had to do without receiving any money.
The collector then wrote back to say the covers were the sort of thing he wanted, but made a counter-offer for them. As I had gone to a fair bit of work and did not want to lose the sale, I gritted my teeth and accepted the offer, but resolved never to have anything to do with the person again.
A few months later the collector phoned, wondering why I hadn’t sent any more lists. He was quite anxious to acquire more items, but he wasn’t having much luck for some reason. I said I didn’t have anything suitable to offer, but the fact is I’d rather donate stock to charity than deal with him.
Just in case you’re thinking that this is a self-serving plot by a dealer to get more money from collectors, the same is just as true for the dealer making purchases. A fair offer is not only more likely to result in a transaction, but is more likely to result in a long-term relationship. I sometimes pay a bit more than I’d like just to keep a seller from looking for other pastures, and anyway I often then realise the vendor was justified in asking for the price. Occasionally I find I’ve seriously underestimated the value of an item and make a second payment, confident the value of the seller’s future offers will far exceed the modest sum involved.
The collector should be wary of the lowest price for several other reasons. While dealers have genuine sales, and true bargains are often found for many good reasons, a very low price is often too good to be true. The item might be a forgery, have a faked watermark or postmark, be repaired, regummed or reperforated or have a hard-to-spot flaw. Anthony Duda, of the Scottish stamp dealers Stenlake and McCourt, explains that forgeries abound on many early stamps. "The reasons that these forgeries were produced is that the originals are rare. People wanted copies to fill up their printed albums."
I have a highly experienced friend who gave up stamps in favour of postal history because he was so disillusioned about some purchases. When he tried to sell a group of stamps from one seller he was horrified to find virtually all had been "improved". "I knew the prices were low when I bought them," he explained, "but I thought it was because he liked me."
Another way that paying a bit more can result in a better bargain is having an expensive or tricky item examined by experts. While this will cost a few pounds it will almost certainly insure you are receiving what you are paying for. And the certificate will make the item much easier to sell if you decide to part with it, and a satisfactory price is more likely.
Collectors should be especially wary of very fine looking stamps or covers at a price well below market values. Forgers who go to the trouble of producing an item might as well make it a superb copy. The collector who has long been searching for a key item at an affordable price and finds one whose vendor admits the price takes into account a slightly blurred postmark or a bit of a crayon marking is far more likely to get the real McCoy than by buying a fabulous looking item an internet seller "just found in his grandfather’s loft." Of course the buyer should understand that the potential price for the item in the event of resale will be similarly affected.
Collectors who insist on paying the lowest price possible also run another risk. Anyone who offers material at prices well below market value could have another secret to hide. The goods could be a hot bargain of another sort: stolen goods. Collectors who buy heavily discounted high-quality material without asking any questions could well get an unwelcome knock on the door one day and find their prized item is not mounted in an album but entered as evidence.
Not necessarily. In fact, while cost is always a factor in any purchase, always insisting on a rock-bottom price is one of the worst ways to put together a good collection. Indeed, it can result in throwing away a lot of money and cause frustration and disappointment.
Quite apart from the well-known fact that a high-quality item always holds its value better than a poor-quality one, several compelling reasons exist for considering a range of prices for any purchase.
A story told by an experienced stamp auctioneer illustrates the point well. At one of the excellent annual American Philatelic Society summer seminars in Pennsylvania, the teacher of my course on the economics of the stamp market told how two boys offered one wintry day to shovel the snow off his drive. They wanted $25 for the large job but after some discussion reluctantly agreed to $20.
The hard bargainer settled down smugly to watch TV, but later was astonished to find his snow intact and the boys working away industriously on his neighbour’s. "Why are you doing his driveway?" the auctioneer asked.
"He is paying $25," one of the boys said.
Anyone who believes this cannot happen in the stamp world is sadly mistaken. I was once contacted by a collector in a popular postal history area who had seen my advert in a club magazine. He asked me to send a list of covers for sale, which I went to some effort to do. Then he made a large order of these reasonably priced covers, but said he had to see them before paying. I bundled them up with some annoyance, for this was a second job I’d had to do without receiving any money.
The collector then wrote back to say the covers were the sort of thing he wanted, but made a counter-offer for them. As I had gone to a fair bit of work and did not want to lose the sale, I gritted my teeth and accepted the offer, but resolved never to have anything to do with the person again.
A few months later the collector phoned, wondering why I hadn’t sent any more lists. He was quite anxious to acquire more items, but he wasn’t having much luck for some reason. I said I didn’t have anything suitable to offer, but the fact is I’d rather donate stock to charity than deal with him.
Just in case you’re thinking that this is a self-serving plot by a dealer to get more money from collectors, the same is just as true for the dealer making purchases. A fair offer is not only more likely to result in a transaction, but is more likely to result in a long-term relationship. I sometimes pay a bit more than I’d like just to keep a seller from looking for other pastures, and anyway I often then realise the vendor was justified in asking for the price. Occasionally I find I’ve seriously underestimated the value of an item and make a second payment, confident the value of the seller’s future offers will far exceed the modest sum involved.
The collector should be wary of the lowest price for several other reasons. While dealers have genuine sales, and true bargains are often found for many good reasons, a very low price is often too good to be true. The item might be a forgery, have a faked watermark or postmark, be repaired, regummed or reperforated or have a hard-to-spot flaw. Anthony Duda, of the Scottish stamp dealers Stenlake and McCourt, explains that forgeries abound on many early stamps. "The reasons that these forgeries were produced is that the originals are rare. People wanted copies to fill up their printed albums."
I have a highly experienced friend who gave up stamps in favour of postal history because he was so disillusioned about some purchases. When he tried to sell a group of stamps from one seller he was horrified to find virtually all had been "improved". "I knew the prices were low when I bought them," he explained, "but I thought it was because he liked me."
Another way that paying a bit more can result in a better bargain is having an expensive or tricky item examined by experts. While this will cost a few pounds it will almost certainly insure you are receiving what you are paying for. And the certificate will make the item much easier to sell if you decide to part with it, and a satisfactory price is more likely.
Collectors should be especially wary of very fine looking stamps or covers at a price well below market values. Forgers who go to the trouble of producing an item might as well make it a superb copy. The collector who has long been searching for a key item at an affordable price and finds one whose vendor admits the price takes into account a slightly blurred postmark or a bit of a crayon marking is far more likely to get the real McCoy than by buying a fabulous looking item an internet seller "just found in his grandfather’s loft." Of course the buyer should understand that the potential price for the item in the event of resale will be similarly affected.
Collectors who insist on paying the lowest price possible also run another risk. Anyone who offers material at prices well below market value could have another secret to hide. The goods could be a hot bargain of another sort: stolen goods. Collectors who buy heavily discounted high-quality material without asking any questions could well get an unwelcome knock on the door one day and find their prized item is not mounted in an album but entered as evidence.
posted by Chad Neighbor at
17.1.09
|
0 comments
