Is there a good online catalog available that one could use to establish fair trading value? Does it even really matter if all you're trying to do is estimate a reasonable trade? I don't care about exact values as much as relative ones, to avoid proposing a trade that gives either party a huge monetary incentive (and thus leave either party feeling cheated), but I've compared a couple of catalogs, and there are some pretty big discrepancies, especially in older stamps. What are your favorites?
I have a Scott 2007 Specialized US... I also have Mystic catalogs. I have never done any 'high stakes' trading, so I have never really felt the need to consult a catalog. I am pretty easy going, and generally say "sure, that sounds good..." when approached with a trade. Usually that gets me things that I don't really need, but it's fun, and my surplus gets out to people that appreciate. The method that I would most likely use if dealing in a higher value trade would be to look at Stampwants (whoops, now Bidstart), and look up your stamp, and look up my stamp, and compare what they sell for in like conditions. I wouldn't use eBay... Stampwants is much more specialized to our hobby.
Thank you. I too receive Mystic's catalogs, but wasn't sure if they were adequate. It just seemed a little too easy. I'm also not really concerned about matching too closely, but I didn't want to disappoint or anger anyone either.
Also you might want to try Stamps2Go.com Thats a wonderful site. Have filled in many holes from that site.
Hi, I am very new to this forum, but would just like to add that as well as the scotts, and stanley gibbons online and PDF albums, i also use this site, it has great scans of most stamps, the are searchable by country, year, and topic and has helped me greatly over the last 5 years. http://www.postbeeld.com/ it is free to register and easy to navigate. i hope this helps
