Market Ground - Buy, Sell, Trade

marketground.com · Joined: 13 Oct 2006 Posts: 247

Here are a few great tips from ebay:

Choosing recent stamps makes it easier to get started. They are more readily available, less expensive, and generally can be found in good quality.
Decide if you want to collect cancelled or mint stamps. Mint stamps (stamps that are pristine and have not been used), generally fetch more money at auction, but cancelled stamps (stamps that have actually been used and stamped by the post office) have served their purpose, which some collectors prefer.
When buying a set of stamps, only buy a complete set. If one particular stamp is hard to find, you risk having to buy a complete set at a later date to get that one rare stamp.
Focus on a particular type of stamp. Some collectors begin by collecting a specific kind of stamp, like stamps of birds or planes. Others decide to find stamps from a specific country or state. Some choose to only collect stamps from a particular time.