Standard boilerplate to save me from typing everything every week:
About me:
I am not a dealer. I’m a hobbyist collector with 70 years of experience, with
particular interest in Scandinavia, Canada, Europe, and the U.S. I have been an
APS member for 35 years and have twice been president of our local
APS-affiliated stamp club. I collected by buying albums, accumulations, and box
lots, keeping what I need, and selling the rest. Now I’m in the process
of trying to get rid of a lifelong accumulation in closets, bookcases, and file
drawers. eBay competes with lots of other interests and responsibilities, so I usually list only a couple items a week (usually starting on Thursday for 10
days to end on Sunday).
Descriptions:
When the catalogue value of a stamp is dependent on watermark or perforations,
I have either confirmed them myself or cited a catalogue price for the cheapest
type. Stamps shown within mounts may be previously hinged by a previous owner. If I’m reselling someone else’s old album pages, it’s always possible that
the original owner misplaced stamps when mounting them.
I describe lots to the best of my ability, but I am human and mistakes can
happen. Small lots I try to describe in minute detail. For mid-size lots
and album pages I try to check stamp backs for gum status and faults, but in such
lots I can’t check or describe everything. Large lots will contain the good and
the bad, but usually not the ugly because before I sell them I weed out (into a
wastebasket) grossly faulty stamps (missing pieces etc). Hinge remnants can
cover faults; I generally do not remove hinges, so thins there might not be
detected.
When I describe a lot as “unchecked by me” (for shades, varieties, watermarks,
papers, cancels etc) it means just that because it’s usually material from
countries I don’t collect that came to me in a box lot.
Images:
I have not yet figured out how to host images on other sites, so I’m limited to
24 photos. The stamps in the photos are always the exact stamps you will
receive; I do not post photos of reference stamps.
Most item images are
created using my old scanner, which sometimes has difficulty reproducing exact
shades. When I photograph an item I do
so using available light on a dining room table, so again shades of color may
not be perfectly reproduced; I try to describe any variance in the written text
if it’s important. If catalogue values
are visible in the photo written on a page or tag, they may be out of date and
inaccurate.
Binders, manila pages, and black plastic Vario-type pages and display cards
shown in photos are usually not shipped, to save weight and thus your cost for
shipping.
Shipping:
My lots generally end on Saturday or Sunday so I will have time to get your
item(s) in the mail to you by Monday. If there’s a delay (blizzard,
family crisis), I will email you to let you know.
If your purchase is small and not very expensive, I prefer to mail the lot in a
regular (4” x 9.5”) business envelope or larger (6” x 9”) manila envelope,
using a dealer card for support; it will go at cost and get to you quickly.
My preferred shipping method for expensive small items is to put them in a semirigid
(cardboard) Scotch photomailer to protect them from damage in transport and
to send them by USPS regular First Class mail. The photomailer weights 2 oz
empty, so it costs a bit more to ship. The USPS treats this as a “package” because of its
rigidity, so it requires manual sorting, and delivery takes longer than
for letters (typically 7-10 days across the U.S.).
Albums and large accumulations seem to ship most efficiently in a Priority Mail
box, and packages to Canada will go by Priority Mail.
My charges for shipping,
are, as best I can figure it, a sum of the cost of postage, the cost of the
mailing supplies, and if a trip to the post office is necessary for insurance,
customs, etc. I don’t try to profit from shipping or include a charge for
“handling.”
I will work with you to combine your winning bids for shipping; for
small items I’ll try to do it routinely but for larger ones it will depend on
the size and availability of packaging material. I am in no hurry for payment of a winning
lot; I’ll wait for several weeks if there are other lots you want to bid on. I can also split lots into 2-3 envelopes if
this will help you avoid high customs duties.
Return Policy:
I have a liberal return policy. If I have made a mistake in describing the lot,
feel free to return it intact for a full refund. This does not apply to large
lots (bulk lots, album pages, full stock pages) where I can’t monitor whether
the lot has been cherry-picked. Stamps that are photographed in the listing
should not be returned because of dissatisfaction with centering or perfs. Lots
with more than a couple dozen stamps may not be returned for small faults, and
items sold “as is” or with described faults may not be returned. I usually
don’t deal in material that needs certification, but if you are submitting a
stamp for a certificate, notify me when payment is made and I’ll extend the
return eligibility period (I refund the cost of the stamp and shipping, not the
cost of certification). I do not make Second Chance offers because I don’t deal
in large quantities of identical material.
Feel free to email me if there are questions that remain unanswered or if you have questions about the contents of a particular lot.