A Beginning Collector's Guide to Buying Stamps


Stamps are sold to stamp collectors in several ways. All stamp dealers (at least in our 40-year experience!) sell individual stamps and stamp sets at a fixed price. But there are other ways to buy stamps for your collection.


Stamp Approvals:

Some stamp dealers (by no means all) will send you a selection of stamps in the mail. You pick the stamps you'd like to keep and then return the stamps you don't want along with your payment. Approval prices tend to be higher than what the stamps are actually worth, but buying stamps this way is convenient since you don't have to leave your home. You'll get a specified number of days to look over the stamps before you have to return them, sometimes up to three or four weeks. Approval companies have different policies for the number of days you'll have to decide which stamps to keep and which to send back, and also on which party (you or the approval company) pays for return postage.


Stamp Packets:

A "stamp packet" is a grouping of stamps which are all different, something like a miniature stamp collection. Stamp packets are usually filled with less expensive stamps, but if you want to fill spaces in an album and see a good variety of stamps, packets are hard to beat. Good stamp packets have good variety in their stamps: definitives and commemoratives, new and old issues, and few if any damaged stamps.


Stamp Mixtures:

Stamp mixtures are sometimes called "kiloware," although many stamp dealers reserve that term for on-paper stamp mixtures. Stamp mixtures are usually sold by weight -- per ounce or per pound, but it's possible to find stamp mixtures sold by the number of stamps that are included (such as 500 commemorative stamps). Most stamp mixtures are "on paper," meaning the stamps are still attached to pieces of the envelopes they were mailed on. You will have to soak these stamps off the paper, which can take some time but is quite an enjoyable, relaxing process. Stamp mixtures contain duplicates, sometimes hundreds of each type of stamp, but the better stamp mixtures only include one or only a few of each stamp. Stamp mixtures have several benefits, including an extremely low cost per stamp, a wide variety of postmarks, the presence of at least some very recent stamps, and duplicates that you can either trade with your buddies or sell. Without a doubt, stamp mixtures are the cheapest way to buy stamps for your collection.

Some stamp mixtures are sold already "off paper" and don't require soaking. These are more expensive than on-paper stamp mixtures, but since the stamps don't need to be soaked, they can be a timesaver. A pound of stamps off paper can have up to 6000 to 8000 stamps, depending on how many large stamps and how many smaller stamps are in the mix.

On paper stamp mixtures can run from between 100 to 150 or more per ounce, with the number of stamps varying with how much paper is still present and also the size of the stamps. Off paper stamp mixes contain between 200 and 600 or so stamps, also varying with the size of the stamps that are included (how many small and how many large: the more large stamps, the fewer will naturally be included in an ounce because larger stamps weigh more).


Stamp Auctions:

Stamp auction houses sell stamps, often just the most expensive stamps as the auction houses often use heavily illustrated and expensive catalogs. Some auction houses also sell entire stamp collections and wholesale stamp box lots. Be careful, though, because many auction houses add a 10% or even higher buyer's fee to the price you pay.

How to Buy Stamps

Finding free stamps is nice - you can get them from your own mail and from friends and relatives. But at some point (usually soon) those free stamps just aren't enough to satisfy you. Either you already have them or you just want to branch out into something different than what you see in the mail. Fortunately there are many ways to build your stamp collection if you're willing to spend a little money. Once you begin buying stamps, your problem will be too many stamps to choose from, and not enough money.

Stamp shops aren't as common as they used to be, even just a few years ago. They still exist, though, and there are 1,200 stamp shops in the US, with thousands more throughout the rest of the world. To see if there's a stamp shop in your town, look in the telephone yellow pages under "stamps for collectors."

Online stamp shops like The Stamp People are taking up the slack from the lower number of brick and mortar stamp shops that are still around. Online stamp dealers, like any other sellers, are generally reputable, honest and professional, and their stamp offerings are of the same quality as an in-person stamp dealer. Online stamp auctions also exist on a number of websites.

Another source of stamps are the public stamp shows that are regularly held in the US and all around the world. Some are very large, but others are much smaller with fewer dealers. The smaller shows are perhaps a better place to start: big stamp shows feature hundreds of dealers and can be a bit overwhelming unless you've been to one before. Learn where and when local stamp shows will be held by asking your stamp dealer, reading philatelic newspapers and checking stamp websites. You'll find stamps, covers and supplies at just about every stamp show, and sometimes paper ephemera and vintage postcards too.

Some stamp dealers offer mail-order stamp services: some are worldwide stamp dealers, while others are much more specialized. Some stamp dealers, including some pretty large ones, will send you stamps on approval, where you pick and keep those you want and return the rest along with your payment.

You can also buy stamps (new issues only) at any post office. Not all post offices carry every current stamp, but all should have at least a few different stamps to choose from. Some of the post offices in larger cities have a special philatelic window that serves the needs of stamp collectors. If you're lucky, one of these "retail stores" will be easy for you to get to. But don't panic if there isn't one in your area: the US Postal Service also offers a mail-order Philatelic Fulfillment Service Center. You can also buy stamps on the USPS website, located at www.usps.gov. And every country that issues stamps has its own postal administration. Many take stamp orders from collectors that are located elsewhere, and they often have websites, making it far easier for you to make purchases.