Crazy eBay ... Again!

[steeljam]

I love this item on eBayif only for the£0.76 postage

Total fake though. Compare the picture in https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/ ... amp-495000 to the one for sale.

At that price, I would certainly expect a far better photograph.

[Frank the Younger]

I love this item on eBayif only for the£0.76 postage

Total fake though. Compare the picture in https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/ ... amp-495000 to the one for sale.

At that price, I would certainly expect a far better photograph.

But you have a £485,000 discount you can't expect everything.

[Librarians Apprentice]

Oook!

I'm not sure how I feel about this.

Is this where they're supposed to go?

[steeljam]

Oook!
I'm not sure how I feel about this.
Is this where they're supposed to go?

Certainly, much as the Farthing Duty Paid which was attached to the Old Kindon Embalming Salts box, and the Two Pence Duty Paid which was attached to the Nimf of the Casbah Mild Klatchian Coffee box.
I must add photos of the boxes to the catalogue.

[phalarope]

Certainly! Shows proper use of a revenue stamp. Hard to fit into a philatelic exhibit frame though.

[DavisWi]

Nice find steeljam.

[Murgatroyd]

I can't help but notice this item on e-bay... I think it might be a bit soon? Buying limited editions just to slap them straight onto e-bay seems a tad selfish?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Discworld-Stamp-Unseen-University-Octagonal-Sheet-Rare-Limited-Edition-Retired-/122668811877?hash=item1c8fa18665:g:yu0AAOSwJclZoWxo
I guess it could be said that once purchased it's entirely up to the buyer what they choose to do with their stamps, but in my book it's not entirely in the spirit of Discworld.
What do the rest of you think?

[Muba]

What do the rest of you think?

As soon as something goes out of stock its value is bound to rise. But as for any such spares I prefer to trade or swap, More in the right spirit I think.

[Frank the Younger]

What do the rest of you think?

As soon as something goes out of stock its value is bound to rise. But as for any such spares I prefer to trade or swap, More in the right spirit I think.

Sold for £37.

[Murgatroyd]

Well, I see that the sheet that I mentioned has sold for £37.00 after a 24 hour auction period, making a healthy profit on the sellers initial investment of £15.00.

A different seller (UK based) has put another of these sheets up for £50.00
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Unseen-university-octogram-sheet/322675807104?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D45993%26meid%3Dd33ac27f60c34b79b6b51fa46eff8fd2%26pid%3D100011%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D122668811877&_trksid=p2047675.c100011.m1850
So the profit motive is obviously attracting people to the limited edition Discworld stamp market. Is this a good thing?

I can readily imagine a situation arising with future limited edition sheets, and perhaps LBE's too, where people are attracted by the potential profits to be made, (considerably over a 100% profit margin) for an investment made for only a fortnight or so... I'm not going to calculate an APR for these profits but they would be considerable to say the least.

It's my opinion, (and it's only an opinion), that setting out to deliberately profit like this from the hard work of the designers and the good folk at the shop is contrary to the decent behaviour exhibited by the vast majority of the Discworld stamp fraternity and sorority.

Suppose someone queued all night before the release of a Hogswatch limited edition of 500 LBE's, marched into the shop and plonked £2500.00 down on the counter and bought the lot with the intention of making a huge profit by selling them later at a massive mark-up? They would be entitled to some compensation for their cold night spent on the pavement outside the shop certainly, and for making the financial investment, but not to the extent of holding the rest of the hobby to ransom with their dubiously gotten monopoly. Of course no-one would be forced to buy them at an obscene mark-up, but many of us find gaping holes in our collections are about as welcome as cavities in our teeth!

I'm confident that our friends at the shop wouldn't allow such a thing to happen of course, but where would they have to draw the line? 25 LBE's? 50? 100? Half the whole release?

The more LBE's a person buys, the greater their chances of obtaining rare sports, or prize tickets, and that would seem to be an entirely legitimate practise. The items are intended for their own collections, not purely for profit.

Would Moist Von Lipwig have allowed a person to buy every sheet of the blue triangles on the morning that they were released at the AMPO? Of course he would, but he'd have been straight round to Teemer and Spools to order some more!

Now old and scarce Discworld stamp items like the Skunk Cabbage green in a jar, Blue Triangle sports, or the Assassin Whitebacks have changed hands for much larger figures, but these have been held lovingly in peoples collections for many years, and sometimes a change in circumstances of the owner can force them to have to put their treasured rarities up for sale or auction to raise emergency cash. Often such an item may have already changed hands several times before through trades or private sales, with the cost increasing each time they changed hands. I see these sales as entirely legitimate as the value of the items sold usually increases as the years fly by... In some cases only 10 or even fewer ever became available and were found in LBE's by very lucky people who were in at the start of the days of Discworld stamp collecting. My hat's off to those lucky few!

On the flip side, highly scarce items have on occasions been swapped or even given to other collectors by noble people to whom the hobby and their friends enjoyment of it takes precedence over the profit motive. Others give away early commons, or sell old sports to new and enthusiastic collectors for a fraction of what they might have fetched on e-bay. Bloody good luck to these selfless collectors who act from the very best of motives, and who are a huge credit to the hobby.

It would be very interesting to find out what other collectors think, so that we can have some kind of reasoned debate on this subject. Perhaps some of you feel that I'm entirely out of order for even raising the issue, others may feel that some discussion would be beneficial... without feedback we'll never know.

[Frank the Younger]

A different seller (UK based) has put another of these sheets up for £50.00

But will it sell. There has always been a limited number of buyers with many stamps unsold especially at the higher rates.

Suppose someone queued all night before the release of a Hogswatch limited edition of 500 LBE's, marched into the shop and plonked £2500.00 down on the counter and bought the lot.

I have joked in the past that if I won the lottery I would do that. Mind you it would have to be less the subscription LBEs and I have no idea how many that is or for that matter what I would
do with that many LBEs.

IIt would be very interesting to find out what other collectors think, so that we can have some kind of reasoned debate on this subject. Perhaps some of you feel that I'm entirely out of order for even raising the issue, others may feel that some discussion would be beneficial... without feedback we'll never know.

Does it matter what we think, will it make any difference? I trust the emporium to not let things get out of hand, apart from the fact they are good people, they have to make a living so need to keep it working.

[the_apprentice]

Wotcha!
Interesting topic...

It's my opinion, (and it's only an opinion), that setting out to deliberately profit like this from the hard work of the designers and the good folk at the shop is contrary to the decent behaviour exhibited by the vast majority of the Discworld stamp fraternity and sorority.

I know what you mean... I also hear from a few folk who really enjoy the trading aspect of collecting. It's part of their hobby, I suppose, be it trading or selling. USUALLY it's not on any huge level. There have only been a very few occasions where we felt we had to question someone's buying decisions. (One such occasion occurred when someone was regularly buying a very large amount of standard edition LBEs. I contacted them in a friendly way to say that we had concerns that their buying patterns were A) possibly incompatible with our limited edition ethos and B) balmy. Turns out that a group of people had formed a little LBE syndicate!). Having seen the impact it's having, I really don't think such buyers are affecting editions too much at the mo. We'd always do what we could to keep things fair and fun for everyone. We love the stamps. We're not about to let them suffer unduly... promise!

Suppose someone queued all night before the release of a Hogswatch limited edition of 500 LBE's, marched into the shop and plonked £2500.00 down on the counter and bought the lot with the intention of making a huge profit by selling them later at a massive mark-up?

Good idea! I'll start saving my pennies!

Would Moist Von Lipwig have allowed a person to buy every sheet of the blue triangles on the morning that they were released at the AMPO? Of course he would, but he'd have been straight round to Teemer and Spools to order some more!

Genius! Keep 'em coming!

Does it matter what we think, will it make any difference? I trust the emporium to not let things get out of hand, apart from the fact they are good people, they have to make a living so need to keep it working.

One thing I love about this 13 year long project is that we CAN talk to you guys about it. We're not some giant corporate outfit, we can keep things fun AND make a living without leaning to heavily on those who support us.

We honestly don't produce the stamps solely for profit, nor do we hope people to buy 'em solely for profit... mostly, those who do sell on swiftly also contribute in a lot of ways too, those who don't only make up a percent or two of any given edition... but thanks for flagging it up. We will keep an eye on it and inform the Agony Aunts if we think anyone is being over the top!

[Grace Speaker]

OK, this vendor has put this gorgeous bit of work from the esteemed Mr Pearson up for sale before many times before over the last few months for anything between £5,000 - £15,000, which you might think was taking the piss is a fairly big way . . . however, they've now listed it for sale for £10,000,000.00
Yep, that's 10 million pounds folks!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/142522182336?ul_noapp=true

Their sales blurb reads:

Here we have an original Bernard Peerson pottery / stone building facade of Derbyshire England.

It is in displayed condition and very, very rare, but looks fantastic with original hanging hook which is good and strong. The size is approx 15 inches high by 10 inches wide.

The detail is outstanding, please see pics as they make up a large part of the description.

I was given this by an elderly friend who loved it.

I know little about the creator, he was born in 1946 and was renowned for this sort of artwork.

Check him out on Wikipedia, loads of info, I enclose some information below as a taster.

The item is stunning, old and displays great.

There is not one other piece by the creator available to buy anywhere, just indicating it's rareness.

Cherish a piece of old England.

Thoughts, anyone?

[Joolz]

OK, this vendor has put this gorgeous bit of work from the esteemed Mr Pearson up for sale before many times before over the last few months for anything between £5,000 - £15,000, which you might think was taking the piss is a fairly big way . . . however, they've now listed it for sale for £10,000,000.00
Yep, that's 10 million pounds folks!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/142522182336?ul_noapp=true

Their sales blurb reads:

Here we have an original Bernard Peerson pottery / stone building facade of Derbyshire England.

Thoughts, anyone?

Well, for the egregious crime of spelling "Pearson" as "Peerson" not once but twice in the detailed description of the piece, my thoughts would be that they should unquestionably be the first against the wall when the revolution comes.

[Frank the Younger]

however, they've now listed it for sale for £10,000,000.00

Is there any logic to what he is doing or is it just to much alcohol/drugs.