Finding the best place to sell a stamp collection can be a daunting process. Stumbling across your old stamp collection can be a pretty cool experience. As you flip through the pages of endless colors and rare stamps, you might begin to wonder about the value of your collection. Selling your old stamp collection can be a pretty tricky process if you don’t know where to go or who to seek out. That’s why we’re here to help!
There are plenty of places for you to sell your stamp collection, whether online or in person. However, finding the right buyer is where the difficulty sets in. You might have an impressive collection filled with rare gems, only to encounter a buyer that doesn’t value it offering you a much lower price than you deserve.
We’re going to take a look at the many institutions that will buy your stamps from you, as well as how likely they are to pay you the full price. We’ll walk you through the selling process so that you’re not stuck with a stamp collection that you’re unable to sell to anyone. Get the value of your stamps and find the right buyer now!
Start With A Trusted Appraisal
The first step to selling your stamp collection is to find a trusted appraiser who will be able to provide you with an accurate value of your collection. You’ll want to find someone who has been recommended to you by fellow collectors as they’ll be more likely to provide you with an accurate estimate of the total value of your collection. Trusted appraisers can be very important.
If you get your collection valued at an unvetted location that’s interested in purchasing from you, you could very easily get prices way below the actual value. Try to avoid getting your collection priced by someone you’re selling to as they’ll want your stamps for cheaper than what they need to pay. Find a trusted appraiser and avoid being taken advantage of by a buyer.
Finding The Best Place To Sell A Stamp Collection
Once you have the actual value of your collection, you can start looking for the right buyer. By getting your stamp collection appraised separately, you can go into a transaction knowing the full value of what’s on hand. Now it’s time to find the best place to sell a stamp collection. Here are a few of the most common options you’ll encounter when selling your stamps.
Selling to Another Collector
Your first option is to sell to another collector. If you sell to a collector, you’re likely going to get a higher price. As long as you make it clear that you know the true value of your stamps, they’ll be less likely to take advantage of any novice or amateur stamp collectors. Selling to a stamp collector is the best way to guarantee a high price as you’re cutting out the middle man and avoiding inflated prices.
The only issue with selling to a fellow stamp collector is that they may be less inclined to purchase your stamps as there’s no guarantee that they’ll need them or be able to sell them themselves. Stamp collectors will fetch you the highest price for your collection but are probably the hardest to sell to. They might want a few of your stamps, but offloading your whole collection is unlikely.
Selling to a Stamp Dealer
A stamp dealer is someone that flips stamps. They’ll buy low from you and then sell high to another collector. Because of this, they’re always willing to expand their stock and will probably buy your stamps when offered. A stamp dealer is the easiest place to make a sale of your stamp collection and might even be willing to buy your entire collection if there’s a chance to flip it.
The downside of selling to a dealer is that they want to make money off of your stamps, so they’ll probably buy your stamps for a much lower price than what they’re actually valued at. So, you’ll be able to make the sale and get money in your pocket fast, but it will be much less than what you could have made in another situation or sale.
Selling Via Consignment
If you’re stuck and don’t know where to go to make your stamp collection sale, you can hire someone to sell them for you. This is known as selling with consignment. The professional that’s helping to sell your collection will likely know how to value your stamps and will try to get the highest price possible. The higher the price they sell at, the more money they make.
They’ll take a commission out of the final sale as their payment, but you’re almost guaranteed a sale at the best possible price. The better they do at their job, the better a price you both will receive. So while you won’t be getting the full value of the sale, you might be getting a higher value than initially expected for your stamp collection.
Selling to an Auction House
Another choice you have is to sell to an auction house. Auction houses sometimes specialize in stamps and will be quite willing to purchase your collection if it has the promise of value. They’ll be able to introduce your stamp collection to hundreds of interested buyers who are in the mood to buy while at the auction.
The auction house will likely take a certain percentage of the final price as their fee for hosting your collection, but in the right circumstances, collectors could be pressed to raise the price they’re willing to pay by a massive amount. Auction houses are where most of the world’s rarest stamps are bought and sold among collectors.
American Philatelic Society
Another way to find the best place to to sell a stamp collection is the American Philatelic Society. Many novice collectors will use their members to find out exactly how much their stamps are worth for a small fee. Others post their stamp collection and sell it to collectors within the APS. This is one of the best places to make your final sale.
