Low-Cost Stamp Collecting


If you're a beginning stamp collector or even just considering starting a stamp collection, you might be worried about whether the stamp collecting hobby is too expensive for you. And since you're just beginning, you may not even be sure whether it will appeal to you. So ease into stamp collecting gently and cheaply. If you decide you like it, there'll be plenty of time for you later to add to your collection by purchasing expensive stamps if your budget permits.

Surprisingly, stamp collecting is a hobby you can pursue with any kind of budget, from only a buck or two a month up to millions of dollars spent in one purchase. But even if you don't have any extra money at all, you can still collect stamps.

Used stamps can be just as collectible - and in many cases more so - than mint, unused stamps. And used stamps offer more challenge, too. Assuming you have the financial resources, you can pretty much buy whichever mint stamps you want, either from your local post office, a country's postal administration or a stamp dealer. Finding postally used stamps within your budget is a bit more challenging, and as a result, a bit more satisfying, at least for me. More challenging because you won't be able to buy a single used stamp at any post office or through any postal administration in the world. And many stamp dealers only offer expensive used stamps. Good luck finding the more common, relatively cheap used stamps at a stamp shop - for almost all stamp dealers (with one exception) they're just not worth the bother. You might be able to find them in a stamp mixture, but with one exception, you won't be able to buy specific, individual, inexpensive used stamps. The Stamp People, which sells even inexpensive individual used stamps and sets, is an exception to that rule.

Not all stamp collections contain just mint stamps. Some of the finest stamp collections in the world feature used stamps. Used stamps also have value, and they may cost you nothing or next to nothing. Many stamp collectors focus their collections on used stamps.

Here are eight ways to inexpensively begin or continue a stamp collection:

Save the stamps you receive on your mail. They come at no cost to you. If your friends and relatives send you too much mail using common definitive stamps, just ask them to use different stamps - hopefully commemorative stamps - on the mail they send you. It won't cost them anything extra, and it will greatly increase the variety of free stamps you receive.

You can also ask your friends, relatives and neighbors to accumulate the stamps they get on their mail and then give them to you. Most people just throw them away and they'll be happy to do you a favor.

If you know someone who works in a business, they may be willing to save the stamped corners of incoming mail envelopes for you.

If you know any stamp collectors, they may have thousands of duplicates. They may be willing to part with them, either for free or for a very low price. Established collectors are frequently happy to help new stamp collectors this way - it helps the ongoing future of the hobby. They may (or may not) also be willing to divulge information about the sources of their stamps.

Approval companies frequently advertise free stamps and even free stamp catalogs, but these are almost always accompanied by stamp approvals, the subject of an earlier post here. When this happens you'll receive the free stamps that were advertised, but you'll also get another assortment of stamps which you may either purchase or return, sometimes at your expense. Read the fine print on the offer so you know what will be required if you order.

Join a stamp club in your area. The members may have inexpensive stamps you can afford, and they're a great source of information too.

Trade your duplicate stamps for other stamps that you don't have. Trading can be done with your buddies in person, or it can be done through the mail. If you leaf through stamp magazines, you'll probably see a number of ads from people who want to trade stamps of their country for stamps of your country.

Ask your friends and relatives to give you stamps, stamp albums and other stamp collecting accessories as your birthday and Christmas or Hannukah presents.


Those are my eight ways to inexpensively collect stamps. But if you think about it, there may be more.