How to protect yourself while buying Mahatma Gandhi stamps or any stamps.

Hello Gandhi collectors,

One of the famous quotes of Mahatma Gandhi is

"The World is big enough for everyone’s needs – but it is too small for the GREED of one man!"
I am writing this for new Gandhi stamps collector so they know how is Gandhi's Philatelic world.

In past I bought some stamps from countries such as China, Isarel and I think I was cheated by them by paying very high price for some Gandhi stamps. At that time I was very new so I was not aware of what's going in Gandhi Philatelic world. But I learned from my mistake and I want to protect others so I am writing about this kind of activity.

Recently I saw Trinidad & Tobaga 1969 set of Gandhi stamp selling from South Korea. It was sold for $12 + shipping.

I am surpised by the price it sold because this is very common stamp and it is easily available in market on ebay india or delcampe.

It is easy to fool buyer that you are from other countries by just changing the address after opening a account( I did that to make sure!!) or when you travel you can open it from airport.!!

So never think seller is from China or Isarel or Japan or Korea or Australia or Newzealand or even USA.!!

Also there will be very less collector or dealer in China or Korea who has Mahatma Gandhi material so either they are supporting their friends or relatives from other part of world by shipping items for them.


Also this seller will take longer to ship as they have to send it to friend from that country or they ship will ship from their own countries.!!

Now let's see following sale of Gandhi stamps from Trinidad & Tobaga.

Seller:-nohjc2005 May-10-09 in Korea, South
Buyer:- sunilramesh Dec-20-05 in United States
Sold Price:- $12
Date Sold:- 4/13/2011






After researching more about this buyer he/she looks Indian(because of id name). I am not sure why this buyer did not look at India's ebay site. It is selling for around $4-5 or $2 on delcampe. So I am more surprised.!!


Another example is same buyer buying Gandhi Yemen stamp for $8. He/She was very eager to buy this stamp as he bidded 2 more bids even after he was leading in auction. Not sure what he was trying to do but my guess he is he really wants to pay more and make seller rich.!!! or wants other buyer to pay more.


Now let's see following sale of Gandhi stamps from Yemen. (Buyer & seller are same!!)

Seller:-nohjc2005 May-10-09 in Korea, South
Buyer:- sunilramesh Dec-20-05 in United States
Sold Price:- $8 ( winner put 2 more bids as so desperate to buy it.!!)
Date Sold:- 4/16/2011





I don't want new Gandhi collectors to go through this and want to quit collecting Gandhi Philatelic materials as it will be expensive in initial stage.

I think best think to avoid this kind of situation is try to buy it with FIXED Price item if the price is reasonable between 1-3 US dollars for any Gandhi stamps except 10Rupees Gandhi stamp from India issued in 1948 or Panama Gandhi stamp (30-50$).

Some Gandhi stamps with overprint(10-20$) are selling little bit higher but this is useless to make money by some particular dealer with multiple famous people on it and moon landing overprint. I have that stamps but I regert buying it.!!

My 2+ years experience tells that you can find Gandhi stamp between 1-3 dollars so don't pay more.


Before you bid research for price and don't just jump in. You will get another chance in future to buy it. As per Gandhiji "The World is big enough for everyone’s needs – but it is too small for the GREED of one man!"

Thanks
KP.

BTW: I think this is a questionable Sale.!!

Further reading:
1) My 1st year experience in Gandhi Philatelic material

Gandhi stamp value declining.!! - Part 2 (Somalia Gandhi stamp and Yemen Gandhi stamp)

Hello Gandhi Collector,

It is a great news for new Gandhi Collector who want to start collecting Gandhi stamps because I am seeing Gandhi stamps value is really going down.
In January 2010 I wrote about Gandhi stamp value declining and I am writing part-2 about Gandhi Stamp value.
On April 23rd Gandhi stamp from Yemen sold for $3.50 & Gandhi 3 stamps from Somalia sold for $8.70 on ebay. Following is screen shot.

I bought Somalia & Yemen Gandhi stamps in January 2009 for $32.00. so I lost $20 which is 62%.!! During same time US stock market & 401k accounts went up by 40-50%.!! You might be thinking how in the world "Mr. Patel" paid this much!!. But I did as I was not aware about what's going on in Gandhi Philately.



Both transaction was from same seller "sedin01" from Isarel. (see at bottom of this blog post for more screen shot).
So this means that I lost money as well as this dealer"sedin01"also lost money(from profit) on this Gandhi stamps.
So again my questions are
1) Why price declining in Gandhi Stamps?
2) Is it temporary decline or forever.?
3) Or I paid more in Jan 2009? My answer is YES !! (Again My Experience)
4) Someone was/is playing with new Gandhi collectors (In this case it's me!!!)
5) What is real value of this stamps?
6) Are RESELLER of Gandhi stamps are more educated about bidding on Gandhi stamps? (Now they might be thinking what to do with this overpriced purchases.!!)
7) Do you think price will further decline and become just piece of paper instead of stamp?
I am not sure whether new collector will ever start collecting Gandhi stamps after reading this price declining in Gandhi stamps!! But I am sure by reading this blog post they will get some hint before they start collecting.
I am writing this because new collector as well as experienced collector should not go through this again.!!
Any comments or concerns are most welcome.

Thanks
Ketankumar Patel.
Further Reading:-
1) Gandhi Stamp value declining.
2) Pricing Study on Gandhi FDC - Part 1

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Following is bigger screen shot for more research.
1) My purchase in Jan 2009.

2) Following is Yemen & Somalia stamps sold on April 23rd 2010 for $3.50 & $8.20 which will combine $12.20