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It wasn’t my first….exactly. I bought some stamps from eBay that were being auctioned. I was the only bidder and won the lot (all the Italian stamps published in 1970) for the minimum bid. So why make a fuss over this one? This was the first one where I had active competition.
So, I have bought a few stamps on HipStamp. I have enjoyed the experience–except waiting for my stamps to appear. I have bought a number of stamps for my 1970 collection, and despite it being in US dollars, have felt okay about the money I have spent.
I had never gotten into an auction though. I am not really up on the prices and I don’t want to blow my budget. In this case, some Canadian stamps were up that I knew had a heftier price tag, and I want to see how much of that album I can fill up. These were pre 1935 stamps. I didn’t have any of these in my album.
So, I took a deep breath and started bidding on four lots. In some cases, I was beaten automatically by pre-registered bids. In other cases, I had to wait a day before someone beat my bid. Like most of us, I worried that someone was just bidding me up to raise the price–but then I thought they might be thinking the same about me.
Another bad thought struck me. If I won only one of the lots, then I would have to pay shipping which almost equaled what I paid for the stamps. Then again, I worried that if I became “desperate” to win the lots, I would over spend. I have to admit, it caused some inner turmoil.
In the end, I waited until the last day and put in my final bid. If it got beat, then I would just accept it and try again later. Luckily, I won the four lots I bid on at a price I was quite comfortable with. I even found a few stamps by the same seller to include in the sale to rationalize the shipping cost.
Will I do it again? Absolutely.
A Boy and His Stamps 