How to Sell Yearly Stamp Mint Sets
Since 1968, the United States Postal Service has issued commemorative year sets of stamps. Packaged especially for collectors, these collections contain the commemorative stamps issued that year. They do not contain definitives (the small stamps issued simply to pay postage rates), stamp booklets or coil stamps. With millions Americans collecting stamps, and countless stamp dealers always looking to buy stamps to resell to collectors, selling your postage stamp mint sets for a fair market price is a straightforward task provided you do a bit of homework and own a current edition of a U.S. stamp catalog.
Things You'll Need
- 1 or more USPS commemorative year sets
- Current copy of the H.E. Harris, Scott, or Brookman U.S. stamp catalog
- Working knowledge of the grading of postage stamps by condition
- Current copy of Linn's Stamp News
Instructions
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Using your stamp catalog, determine as well as you can the condition (grade) of the stamps in your year sets. Stamps are graded primarily by their centering and the width of their margins. The most common grades are Fine-to-Very Fine (F-VF), Very Fine (FV), Very Fine-to-Extremely Fine (VF-XF), Extremely Fine (XF), Extremely Fine-to-Superb (XF-S), Superb (S) and Gem (G). The higher the grade, the higher the price the stamps will fetch. This should help you ascertain their potential value.
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Acquire a current copy of Linn's Stamp News, a weekly philatelic newspaper devoted exclusively to stamp collecting.
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Check the "Wanted To Buy" section of the classified ads in Linn's. If there are buyers of commemorative year sets listed, they may list their prices, giving you another insight into the potential value of yours.
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Contact one or more buyers of U.S. stamps. Explain that you have commemorative mint sets you wish to sell. Tell the dealers which year sets you own. Some year sets, particularly the first three, are somewhat scarce and thus command higher prices.
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Request a purchase price quote from each dealer. If the dealers you engage are local, present the sets for examination. If the dealers are not, they may request a fax or photo of the sets be sent before they will make their purchase offer.
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Compare the purchase price offers you receive. Select the highest one.
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Ship or deliver your commemorative stamp sets to the stamp dealer and receive your payment.
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Tips & Warnings
The condition of the USPS packaging folder is nearly as important to collectors as the stamps themselves. Always handle them with clean hands. The more pristine an entire set is, the higher the price it will command from a dealer.
Do not remove any of the stamps from the packaging--simply examine them carefully and determine their grade and centering to the best of your ability.
