Ep. 10 - Consumer Review: Mystic Stamp Co. Heritage Imperforate Collection
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- čas přidán 14. 04. 2020
- I joined Mystic Stamp Company's Heritage Imperforate Collection subscription program to evaluate their prices and product quality. In this video, I review my experience. Was it worth the price? Did they provide good quality stamps? Watch and find out.
I sent off for another stamp mixture, this one promising to send $120 in Scott Catalogue value, for a cost of $10. How did I do? Watch my review and find out.
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Thank you for a thorough review.
I am a Mystic Stamp customer and a novice collector. I am very happy and have no complaints about them.
No deal for me. I'm not a big fan of imperforate stamps to begin with. And, as you so rightly pointed out, the cutting job was awful! Also, from what I could see, the binder's quality looks cheap . The objective of these type of programs should be to save you some money, not making you pay more than the actual value. What is the point of commiting to this program if it ends up costing more? But thank you Ted for spending the money (so we don't have to!) for testing this program. I appreciate your ''sacrifice''.
One of the biggest problems you will face from some of these approval companies is they won't give up, even after you tell them to stop. I once signed up for approvals from Kenmore and after finding that, even after you put in a want list, they still just send you whatever they have laying around, I told them to stop and they have continued to send me approval stamps, once or twice a year, *20 years* after I told them to stop. And I've told them to stop on numerous occasions. For the people who just keep the things, I honestly don't blame them if my experience is anything to go by.
Luckily, I haven’t had that problem with Mystic. I occasionally send for one of their special offers, like a high face-value priority mail no-die-cut at face value and free shipping, and the first set of approvals I get from them I send back, with a note saying, “I’m sorry. Your stamps do not meet my high standards,” and that’s the last I see of their approvals (though, I still get their junk mail).
I do not by from Mystic. They are horribly overpriced. However, I applaud the efforts Mr. Sundman puts into the hobby. Always a leader in bringin in new members to the APS. Very generous in making donations. If you are not fussy about paying multiples of actual retail value for stamps you can get at face value or less at stamp shows, that's up to you.
What makes it worse is the cruddy quality of the stamps they send you. They are not worth full retail value to begin with.
Thank you for this valuable and honest insight into the pricing and quality of a popular source of mail-order stamps for collectors. Truth is, it's always puzzled me why collectors would seek out imperforate stamps when they don't much look like stamps to begin with. Are they gummed and valid for use as postage?
I know what you mean. These are contrived collectibles. They are gummed, and they are valid for postage, but almost any used copies you find will be from philatelic usage, and much less desirable than commercial, or even personal covers that saw regular postal duty. What's even worse are the silly novelty items some collectors create from the sheets, such as cross-gutter blocks. Look at the Baseball press sheet at the 2:23 mark. Where the center gutter(i.e. margin) intersects with the horizontal gutter, some collectors will cut out the block of 4 stamps made up of the corner stamp of each of the four panes surrounding that intersection. Then they put it up for sale at a greatly inflated price because it is much "scarcer" than a normal block of 4, with only 2 per sheet available, versus 24 regular blocks. Big deal.
I was aware of the imperf press sheets and ignored them, as did Scott. Then while doing my regular shopping on ebay I started to see several issues with a lower case "a" next to the number indicating a variation and I was puzzled, wondering what they were and where they came from. Research led me to learn that Scott after a period of time decided to stop ignoring the imperfs and list them. Wanting a complete collection, I had to go on a search mission to learn what all the issues were, then get them. I'm actually glad I did, because well cut or in complete sheets, they are actually quite attractive, and they look very nice in my albums displayed next to the die cut versions. I was happy to add a couple hundred stamps to my collection, especially because they were not bank breakers compared to the 19th century. That being said, I'm glad the Postal Service eventually decided to discontinue the practice so that there are no more home made imperfs.
Thanks for your comments, William. I appreciate your watching.
I agree about being able to see the stamp before buying
Ouch, Another great video :). Sounds like my Hipstamp experience where after several dozen perfect orders I complained about 1 and left bad feedback and then got permanently banned. Don't know how that site stays afloat treating buyers that way. Keep up the good work.
Thanks again.
I got back into the hobby after a 40 year hiatus, wanting to combine 10 beginner albums from 3 generations into an updated album and sprung for Mystic's Heritage Collection Albums. I love the hingless albums but am finding the stamps Mystic sends are a bit overpriced. It's nice to replace my canceled hinged stamps with mint non-hinged replacements. After 2 months into their program I will try Hipstamp and see how it goes. Thanks for the informative video.
Welcome back to the hobby, David. I hope things are going well for you on HipStamp. While many collectors build their collections by buying other collections, I prefer not to deal in 3D stamps (dirty, damaged, and duplicate), which is so prevalent in old collections. I buy almost all of my stamps one by one, and the vast majority are bought off of HipStamp.
Informative and level headed. Thank you.
Could you tell my wife, please?😁 Thanks, Z.
To me, imperf stamps should always be in at least a pair. Just to show the stamps are actually imperf. Great video, thanks Ted.
Thanks, Kiwi. You are correct, collectors, as a general rule, collect imperfs in pairs.
Dan Sunman, SP?, needs to watch this...he has done many great things for this hobby....LEE, IPDA Chairman 2021...
People always point out the great things he's done for the hobby, and I don't dispute that at all. But it's one thing to be an ambassador for the hobby, and quite another to be a champion of the hobbyist. For the most part, I give him low marks for the latter. However, I will give credit where credit, and will be doing a follow up video on a recent purchase I made from Mystic, with which I was very happy.
Wilt the stilt cut out is BAD! I used to buy some things from Mystic. However as I’ve matured in this hobby I’ve discovered other sellers and dealers who treat me with a lot more respect (So to speak) and camaraderie. For instance they send your order in a packet with lots of cool stamps (As postage). I love that! Also I had trouble communicating with Mystic. Too big. Or something. I was a little surprised the price was nominally only 22% higher with Mystic? New subscriber here looking to clarify my chaotic collection. Always appreciate you doing these informative videos. Will return! Thanks for posting!
Thanks for your comments, Mitch. I appreciate it.
Hi Ted. Well, you have to like "these stamps" to spend that kind of money. I wouldn't have paid for those. When I was in Los Angeles (1980-92), I bought my albums, and either got stamps from people, or bought the ones I wanted. Good show. David
Thanks, David. I already knew that Mystic sends lower quality older stamps in their approvals at high-quality prices. But I was not expecting to see such sloppy quality on new stamps.
For me, the horrendous cutting is the deal breaker. The only time I would accept an uneven margin would be either with an error stamp and I don't really collect those or with something incredibly old or rare. I don't collect self adhesive stamps and have not collected any new American stamps since around 1999 but I have friends that still do. One friend buys imperforates directly from his philatelic center and pays face value. He collects the whole panes but he also buys extra panes and uses most for postage and the rest he cuts out using a very precise cutting machine with a razor sharp blade and he cuts extra wide margins for each one. The ones he uses for postage have very narrow margins but most likely those will end up in the trash anyways. Then he uses Scott mounts to that are a couple of sizes bigger than one would normally use. I would guess that Ted hit the nail on the head he said they looked like they used scissors. This is lazy carelessness, nothing more. This show they don't care about the collector. I haven't actually done business with them in over 25 years. The last time I ordered an album and some mounts from them. The cover of the album was torn and the mounting posts that go through the holes in the album pages had stripped screw holes and I had to return them. Then they simply sent a different album with nearly identical flaws. I returned those as well. Meanwhile all the mounts which were supposed to be strips as I prefer to cut my own since there are a lot of oddball shapes of stamps from around the world. were cut in half meaning I lost one or two stamp capacity on every strip. They said that was the way they came but the manufacturer says otherwise. It looks like they sold them to a customer who cut them all in half then returned them and then they sent them to me hoping I wouldn't notice. I don't know if they still do this but without my asking for it they automatically enrolled me in their approval service and no matter how many times I wrote them to tell them to stop sending them to me they kept at it which I wouldn't have cared so much if they include return postage but they insisted I either buy the stamps or pay for return postage. Everything was priced about 10%-20% over Scott and most were countries AI don't collect. It took six months of me writing them letters and them threatening to sick their collection bureau after me before they finally stopped It actually took a letter from my brother, an attorney, to get them to stop. He and I both looked at all our documentation provided by them including their catalog and there was nothing that said they would sign us up for approval service. I have used such services offered by other dealers but they would never send out a second shipment until you paid for or returned the previous one. This company sent out a new shipment for me to buy about once every 3-4 weeks along with a letter demanding payment for the previous shipments. At one point I got a letter that essentially said I owed for six shipments of stamps plus two extra shipments that came with the two defective albums and oh by the way here is shipment number nine now pay up or else. I have not attempted to transact business with Mystic since and would not if they are the last supplier and dealer on the planet.
Yikes, what a horror story.
Thanks for the review. I would have to say NO DEAL. The binder is of cheap quality, and can likely be purchased for about $5.00 locally. Also, the stamps sent each month are really haphazard.
Agreed.
Looks like Hermann E. Sieger from Lorch, Germany. Nice collections in expensive papers. And often no complete series.
Thanks for the insight.
I am not familiar with Sieger. Thank you for your comments.
Mystic has reoffered that circus sheet in the October APS monthly publication. Those who need it will I believe get approvals.
john green Yeah, any offer you respond to will include you being signed up for approvals. Just send back the first approval packet with a note on the invoice to cancel.
Awesome :-)
Nisarg Sutaria Thank you very much.
I was also in this program for awhile. I got the free album with pages. While I was paying more for the impreforate stamp, I decided that it wasn't worth it, when I could get the stamps for less.
I know what you mean. I like to stretch my stamp-buying dollars as far as possible. No need to overspend for unsatisfactory material.
😲.. I can't believe that passes off for acceptable there.. I definitely would have gone with hipstamps.. The fact that you expected the block of 10 intact and they took it upon themselves to chop it up, is a no-no for me.. And that was compounded even further with the poor margins for later orders... Am intrigued to know what happens if you go into a post office there to pick up imperforates - do they cut them up in front of you and do they use some specialised stamp guillotine or just a pair of scissors??
We've stopped perforated here but they are die cut to show the same pattern .. All mounted onto backing paper, which for individually purchased stamps is bigger than the actual stamp.. However I think to find a post QV imperforate here you would be lucky - I've just seen a pair of 1st class standard machins (face value maybe £0.60+) on eBay going for £115 - obviously an error in the run..
Have you heard of UPA? - it's an auction house here in the UK but they also do approvals and world mix bags, the latter being sent out and you pick a minimum for a fixed charge and then pay per stamp any extra you like in batches of twenty..
The post office here does not sell the imperforate stamps. Those are only available by buying a complete uncut press sheet.
I have ordered the UPA approvals but have not received anything yet.
As a modern collection for a new collect maybe a deal but count those pages and total it up and probably a no deal. Some years ago on a US stamp forum, I got into a debate about these companies "Fleetwood" which was taken over by one of these bigger companies. I did concur that these Companies do not have a Stamp collector outlook, such as you mention about cutting these type stamps is terrible act. I had cause to email PCS over a collection they produced in 1997/8! They could not tell me anything meaningful about their collection of covers and Stamps used, I was totally gob smacked by these answers. The same thing about Fleetwoods, NO records were kept from when they were taken over and I believe it is the one you mention. Since I have returned to buying US material again I can now in reflection understand these collectors feelings about these collections. NO Deal I am afraid.
Mystic bought Fleetwood's assets back in 2007. What I dislike about Mystic is their over aggressiveness. You can't so much as request a catalog without agreeing to receive their stamp approvals.
With that price the stamps should be well centered.
Yeah. Typical Mega-Corp non-customer-service.
Hi Ted. I had dealings with Mistic stamp company not happy I bought very fine stamps in and pay top dollar.But then the color was very good but the perfs were in the stamp.Many times
.with a special stamp buyer. I called them and told them I was fine. Your lucky. I payed 5 Dollars for that circus.
The word was finished not fine.The same with Kenmore. But I found Four other private company's with great prices Very early ones with certificates. Now I'm happy .Ted I've been collecting since I was six years of age.....So I started again at 76. But only U.S.Have a great day.Glad to leave you with this story.
Thanks for your story, Marvin. I’m glad you’re still finding enjoyment in this hobby.
Long gone are the days of the brick and mortar stamp shops that were once abundant. I miss the presentation of stock albums lining the selves and glass top counters, where one could view the most delectable delights of the proprietors inventory. Though, for the past 5 years, with the extinction of these outlets, I now buy from ebay and HipStamps and StampWorld. These are in my opinion very competitive, and most importantly, you can in most cases see the actual stamp/stamps you want to purchase. Let me say this. H.E. Harris, Mystic Stamp Co., Kenmore and Stanley Gibbons are a big rip off. Where in the world do they get their prices from? Over priced, and sight unseen. You do not get to see the actual stamps, but a photo from the catalog ! Now I will continue to finish watching the video, I'm enjoying what I've seen so far.
Thanks for your comments, Michael. I agree with everything you said. Thanks for watching.
Hola soy de argentina. Le podria enviar fotos de mis stamps asi la ve y me dice su valor? Graciass
Can someone tell me why they would pay a lot of money Doran album that is fully illustrated and then Mount the stamps with black background mounts?
So that there is a picture filling the blank spaces of stamps they don’t yet have. I don’t like them, myself.
I know this is 2 years old so I dont know if you will reply but why does the centering matter? Does it decrease the value of the stamp or anything?
Aesthetics. Nicely centered stamps are more pleasing to look at, just as a picture hanging on a wall looks better if it’s not skewed.
I do not have any dealings with M ystic because they price their material at full retail.Some stuff can be greatly in excess of catalog which I think is a little too much. I find several local dealers and club members in town sell stamps below retail. 20% for cancelled and around 50% for mint.. Also have you tried Stamps2go.com for checking prices. It may be more convenient that hip stamp.
I have an S2G account, but I haven’t yet developed a habit of going there. I have a HIpStamp store and using that site has just become second nature to me.
I have Mystics hingeless US albums and I love them.
Yes, Mystic does produce some nice affordable albums.
Ted Talks Stamps That’s the bright side. I also had many bad experiences with their stamps so I use my favorite dealers now. And I fell for Mystics Charlie Brown thing and mine were the same as yours! 😆 Don’t feel bad my friend. 😂 ❤️
Yes, one of the benefits of buying on Hip or Ebay (and most auction houses) is that you can view the actual stamp. I am greatly distressed that Mystic did such a slovenly job of cutting the stamps. NO EXCUSE FOR THAT! And as to what you wish to pay? It's entirely up to you.
Correct you are.
I have no idea why the post office stopped printing the no-die-cut press sheets. They’re a lot more interesting than the current die cut versions. I actually don’t know what’s the point of buying the die cut press sheets
Yes, it's hard to make sense of USPS decisions, sometimes.
very expensive stamps, do the price meet the catalog value?
For the most expensive items, sure, it seems every time you see an announcement of the sale of one of the great classic rarities, it has sold for a new record high price.
The information sheets in album should at least have some color. For all they are charging. The stamp images don't need color they will be covered by stamps anyway. Not a good deal
Just curious about Mystic's customer service. Did they ever try to contact you about your review after you posted this video? You are pretty well known amongst the collecting community. I'm sure Mystic could find you and has heard about this.
No, I have never heard from them. I doubt, even if they were aware of this video, that they would bother to contact me. They are obviously successful with their current business model, and any reaction to a video such as this would, I’m sure, be shrugged off with, “You can’t please all the people all the time.”
@@tedtalksstamps It's a shame. As a dealer myself, I would at minimum offered to replace the poorly centered ones. I enjoy your videos. Thank you.
no deal !!
No doubt Mystic has a good marketing and sales plan and they promote the hobby better than anyone but . . . I view stamp collections often and find such collections included with other stamps to be sold from an estate, etc. I hate to tell the holder what they are worth to a dealer or true experienced collector. People spend $114.00 and expect to get back that much and more. When you tell them the $114 spent is worth $10-$15 they think you are taking advantage of them.
So true. Thanks for your comments, Jim.
No deal from me, the cutting is really wonky (I love the folder though and can understand if somebody chose to order stamps this way)
What's also wonky is that Mystic chose to cut them all into single stamps in order to maximize their profit. While everyone is free to collect what and how they wish, it's also true that the standard format for collecting imperforate stamps is as a pair, as proof that the stamps are imperforate, whereas a single stamp could be a regular die-cut stamp with the squiggly edge trimmed off.
@@tedtalksstamps That's terrible!
From what I can see it’s a no deal. The problem is how the charged 30 dollars for a block of Charlie Brown stamps. Firstly the stamps aren’t that interesting and the block was cut into three sections which ruins the quality. Especially that same block was being sold for 12 dollars.
Ukrainian Sirko I don’t really understand their business model. They cater to beginning collectors. But, as the collector becomes more knowledgeable, he or she will see that Mystic is not suitable for anyone advancing beyond beginner status, and they will quit buying there. I guess it works for them, though. They’ve been around a long time.
Ted Talks Stamps I agree, I am considering them being a scam.
@@tedtalksstamps While I'm not a big fan of Mystic, they have been quite successful (until recently) and have played an important role in philately for a long time. To understand Mystic, one must look at the overall "service" they provide, not just the stamps. If only the stamps, a non-beginner will be disappointed 99% of the time, especially since their prices are actually often above catalog values and the quality is often not on par with the pricing.
Historically, Mystic advertised heavily everyday (non-philatelic) magazines. They introduced a lot of people to stamp collecting. They were willing to send approvals, when the few companies willing would make you jump through hoops. They had a full color catalog to send, other companies had pricelists printed in black ink. They've committed significant amounts to philatelic organizations and sponsorships (we're talking millions of $$$). I haven't checked recently, but in the years I did check, Mystic was always the number one annual recruiter of new APS members -- by a huge margin. The original owners, the Sundmans, recruited for APS despite knowing they would lose a lot of their customers.
Some continue to buy from them because they focus more on enjoying the stamps rather than cost. I don't think these people are rich, they simply don't allow "financial value" or "better deals elsewhere" to affect their enjoyment. I'm certainly not one who can do that, but I can tell you they are mighty happy with their stamps, while I will gripe unhappily because a dealer only gave me a 75% discount on a stamp with a nibbed perf. That being said, the poor cutting is symbolic of a Mystic problem -- in their general catalog they don't promise VF/XF stamps nor mint (never hinged) even though they are charging XF/S prices. Apparently, this doesn't bother a lot of people, so Mystic has been in business for a long time with many long-term customers.
My reply is already too long, so I'll just mention that Mystic also has more than a few high-end clientele, and their role in private sales has also been significant in philately.
I agree that’s important that Imperf. should be cut properly. My first problem is with the USPS selling imperforate stands for extra profit. My second observation is that companies like Mystic are needed in the stand business to introduce new people to the hobby. So it’s not all black and white. Wondering also why are you only refer to Hipstamp? I specialize in proofs of the French area which are much more interesting than the US Imperf. For some proofs only nine copies exist. For the perforates, on the one side and copies exist and they still are very affordable. pierre@nc.rr.com
Thank you for your comments, Pierre. I mention HipStamp for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it is the site on which I have my own stamp store. Naturally, I want to support it. Also, I think it is a great site with much to offer for collectors of every level. It has many low value stamps that collectors will not find on eBay because ebay sellers have to overcharge for those stamps because of the expense of selling on that site. HipStamp also has many large and specialized dealers that you will also find on eBay or with their own web sites. It is just a good one stop shopping venue for many collectors.
no deal lol. way too pricey for me. I like the thrill of the hunt. Mystic just doesn't turn me on.
They will certainly send you on a hunt for better quality material. LOL
No deal! This is an artificial market nobody really needs, with a high sticker price. My dad's Mystic pages yellowed badly and damaged lots of stamps. I don't really like them at all.
NO DEAL! $114.00 for a blue binder and pages , 50 sheets with no stamps, you could easily buy a binder for less and print out the 50 pages on your printer. and we know you are not happy with the 3 batches of stamps they are not worth the pricetag
Yes. This was definitely a one-off purchase for me. I'm not, generally, a complete-country collector, so I prefer printing out my own pages designed on Clive Levinson's free AlbumEasy program czcams.com/video/rtDn_7QBDiA/video.html
Interesting the poor centering. No excuse with modern technology.
Right. All it takes is a little attention to good customer service.
What a bad company!
They were disappointing, that's for sure. They obviously hire employees who have no regard for creating collector-quality product. Look at the Special Olympics stamp at the 11:22 mark. If you are going to be the 800 pound gorilla in the stamp community who buys up most of the uncut press sheets before they are even available to Joe and Jane Collector, at least invest in a decent paper cutter, and provide us with some nice looking stamps with 90-degree corners and balanced margins.