Wayne, in all honesty, I try to keep an active give-away listed and have for months. I'm convinced that it does help my store's performance in that it keeps it in front of buyers and others eyes every time they enter to win it.
Greg, thanks much! "Geaorge Washington!" Indeed! I've sent the gentleman a very unfriendly message. That was fun! I hope to do it again soon.
The gentleman has 7 offerings listed, one is outrageous and the others are blindly fraudulent. I encourage any of you to send a message to him, let him know what you think and maybe he'll go back to etsy. Ya'll have fun....
Well. I've had some words with the gentleman, he says he's inherited this from his mother and he knows nothing about stamps. Well, this is certainly the place to sell when you know nothing. Yah? I told him that he was making himself either a laughing stock or a criminal. I advised him to go to a major stamp company to just sell the whole batch.
I'm glad you go a chance to communicate with him. I'm sure he just didn't know. Never know...we've seen here a number of new collectors get bit by the bug after inheriting a collection. Thanks Capt.!
You know....now that I look at them again...and again...I'm pretty sure that the HS giveaway C15 (at least) is not what I would consider as....U.S. #C13-C15 Zeppelins XF-Superb-Gem OG H. Marginal centering at best and hinged to boot. I wouldn't mind winning them as they would then be free to me but if I was presented with this set described this way, I would be asking a lot of questions. Even the C13 and C14 would probably not be considered to fit this description. HMMMMMM (and commas). Maybe I'm just trying to pick a fight (which I am not BTW).
Exodus, I'm not going to look it up, but I hardly think it's worth saving. This gentleman is claiming ignorance, but I think he's just trying to cheat the next greater fool. If the item were valid, any real dealer would be proud to list the Scott catalog number, a full description, any minor faults, and give a clear, up right, in focus photograph. This guy cannot even bother to clean his camera lens.
Probably about $0.00 or a penny or two if you still have one in your pocket and you must have it. Exodus, this is exactly one of those things to pay attention to in your philatelic journey. I am pretty sure that the person who put this there just didn't really know what they were dealing with and possibly thought that maybe, just maybe, they had hit the "jackpot". Best advice (unsolicited) I could give that the big jackpot comes after time and you can look back on a life lived well. Crap!!! I only, used, a few commas here. Got, distracted.....,,,
Kris, (note the comma), that one has a wavy line cancel so it wouldn't have qualified for your discerning uncancelled quality demands. Unless you like the poorly centered, straight edge. IF so, (more commas), then this is the 2c Geaorge for you. Just kidding!!!! There is an upside though. If someone does win it, then it is, actually, free.
The stamp in the "giveaway" is a booklet pain single from the initial printing 554. It's perf 11. It's a horrible image, so took me a while to figure it out. The CV is the same as a used single which would be 25c, keeping in mind Scott only lists the "VF" value and that one is UGLY. So, I'd give him a nickel just to take it down...
Re the Zep set, 100% agree there too... that is NOT an XF Zeppelin set. Only the C14 is a XF candidate. The C13 doesn't have the centering for it and the C15 certainly isn't. But it's a giveaway so...
Yeah, looked at the store. He's not a beginner, he's just a con artist (and not a very good one). Beginners don't create listing titles like " Scott U4638 Franklin rate surcharge stamped envelope Entire". Interestingly of course there is no U4638... This is a U540 where the litem is worth 50c, he's got it listed at $1,099. Now I point this out because that wording is not something any beginner I've ever come across would use. Even the use of the word "Entire" is a proper philatelic description of postal stationary. But the "Franklin rate surcharge stamped envelope" no way this is "beginner language".
And he's accurately identified the UC25, so if he can do that, which has a CV of 75c, why would he be listing it at $1,099... Are postal stationary even listed in the standard US catalog (I don't have one because I only use specialized, but being a kid, I don't remember the postal stationary being listed... it was just airmail, postage due, special deliver, the usual "BoB".)
So that would suggest, he's got access to a specialized catalog, and even if not, it's STILL going to show a value of 25c. Not buying at all the "innocent" act here. If he can ID it, then he knows what the value is.
Thank you, gentlemen, one and all. Thank you, Greg, for starting all this. I'm happy to have played a bit part in this thing. It's been a blast, we should do this more often.
Comments
The gentleman has 7 offerings listed, one is outrageous and the others are blindly fraudulent. I encourage any of you to send a message to him, let him know what you think and maybe he'll go back to etsy. Ya'll have fun....
https://www.hipstamp.com/giveaways/win/us-c13-c15-zeppelins-xf-superb-gem-og-h/261
Just say'n......
Re the Zep set, 100% agree there too... that is NOT an XF Zeppelin set. Only the C14 is a XF candidate. The C13 doesn't have the centering for it and the C15 certainly isn't. But it's a giveaway so...
And he's accurately identified the UC25, so if he can do that, which has a CV of 75c, why would he be listing it at $1,099...
Are postal stationary even listed in the standard US catalog (I don't have one because I only use specialized, but being a kid, I don't remember the postal stationary being listed... it was just airmail, postage due, special deliver, the usual "BoB".)
So that would suggest, he's got access to a specialized catalog, and even if not, it's STILL going to show a value of 25c. Not buying at all the "innocent" act here. If he can ID it, then he knows what the value is.