Flattered or disappointed.

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 . . . I want you to picture the scene. June and I have returned from a fabulous West Wales holiday, rested and content.
I am greeted with the news that some of my Isle of Samson stamps have been sold on Ebay for good money. Imagine my surprise to find that the 'good money' equated to £51 (my price £1.50) for a strip of the Bird stamps and £26.01 (my price £1) for a block of the map stamps.
Now then, what to say about that.

Well, on the one hand I cannot help feeling flattered - who wouldn't. But I am also disappointed that someone who I have sold to in good faith should profit by selling the stamps without clearly stating that they are Cinderellas. They were sold in the Great Britain > Local Issues catagory, making them on a par with Jersey or Guernsey. So, misrepresented for sure.
I am discussing the whole matter with the dealer and with Ebay - as much as I can.
But my warning to all through this forum is, that Isle of Samson CINDERELLA stamps are on sale from www.fidgetyforest.com at the correct and resonable price. I shall be watching all future sales more carefully, and probably selling through Ebay myself at my price as a 'Buy Now' item. Then, If people still want to spend that sort of money, well they have been warned.

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Quilpusha Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Special Joined: 10 February 2011 Location: Middle Cornwall Status: Offline Points: 413	Post Options Post Reply Quote Quilpusha Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Flattered or disappointed. Posted: 11 September 2011 at 23:29
	. . . . I want you to picture the scene. June and I have returned from a fabulous West Wales holiday, rested and content. I am greeted with the news that some of my Isle of Samson stamps have been sold on Ebay for good money. Imagine my surprise to find that the 'good money' equated to £51 (my price £1.50) for a strip of the Bird stamps and £26.01 (my price £1) for a block of the map stamps. Now then, what to say about that. Well, on the one hand I cannot help feeling flattered - who wouldn't. But I am also disappointed that someone who I have sold to in good faith should profit by selling the stamps without clearly stating that they are Cinderellas. They were sold in the Great Britain > Local Issues catagory, making them on a par with Jersey or Guernsey. So, misrepresented for sure. I am discussing the whole matter with the dealer and with Ebay - as much as I can. But my warning to all through this forum is, that Isle of Samson CINDERELLA stamps are on sale from www.fidgetyforest.com at the correct and resonable price. I shall be watching all future sales more carefully, and probably selling through Ebay myself at my price as a 'Buy Now' item. Then, If people still want to spend that sort of money, well they have been warned.

Steve Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Unhinged Joined: 26 March 2010 Location: Wrexham Status: Offline Points: 3917	Post Options Post Reply Quote Steve Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 11 September 2011 at 23:48
	On eBay the stamps are worth what someone will pay for them on the day. Next week you could find a similar lot not selling at all, despite a low start price.
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Quilpusha Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Special Joined: 10 February 2011 Location: Middle Cornwall Status: Offline Points: 413	Post Options Post Reply Quote Quilpusha Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 11 September 2011 at 23:53
	. . . . for sure Steve, I know that. But items should be correctly listed - these were misrepresented. That creates an uneven playing field for everyone.

Steve Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Unhinged Joined: 26 March 2010 Location: Wrexham Status: Offline Points: 3917	Post Options Post Reply Quote Steve Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 12 September 2011 at 01:01
	Firstly all of these Island Local Posts are Cinderellas. And the British Island Posts vary greatly from being true postal services through to fantasy or 'what if' issues. A Local Post issue does not put them on a par with Jersey and Guernsey which are full international postal authorities, but on a par with Lundy and Staffa. Your issues have the same postal validity as many of such island issues, and more than some as you have official approval to be sole distributor. I am surprised though that a bidding war must have happened to bump the prices up that high. At least two collectors were daft enough to put in what can only be described as high bids for these stamps when a simple Google search would reveal all. The phrases more money than sense, and a fool and his money are soon parted. These comments are by no means meant as a reflection on your stamps. You should neither be flattered or disappointed. The stamps were not misrepresented by the common standards used by sellers on eBay. The only emotion would be surprise (followed by indecision over a price hike for the next issue).
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Keegan Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List First Class Joined: 24 May 2010 Location: Somerset Status: Offline Points: 89	Post Options Post Reply Quote Keegan Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 14 September 2011 at 02:04
	Hi Peter, to expand on Steve's coments regarding the catagorisation of your Samson stamps, they would sit most comfortably under the heading of locals, when you talk about stamps from Jersey and Guernsey I think they would be called 'regionals', a major difference is having the Queen's head on them. Puting your stuff on Ebay yourself at a 'Buy It Now' price would eliminate their auction. If you didn't want to go down that road then why not copy the issuer of the very nice Canvey Island stamps and only sell one of each to every customer? Just to digress, I (and every other island local collector) would love any covers you could actually get taken to and posted from the island - that is the ultimate proof of a postal service. Meanwhile keep up the nice issues.
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Daniel Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Mint Joined: 30 March 2010 Location: London Status: Offline Points: 1170	Post Options Post Reply Quote Daniel Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 14 September 2011 at 11:44
	Peter, I would have to agree with Steve and Keegan on this one. I don't think that the seller committed any ebay violation at all. If you look under 'locals' in 'stamps' you get Lundy, Staffa, Herm Island etc.. I'm sure the seller was just as surprised as you when he got those fantastic prices. It wasn't me but it's good to know that my sheet of the Bird stamps is now worth £300, my best investment ever He started the auctions at 99p and there were multiple (6 or 7) bidders. He also stated that they were issued in 2011 so anyone could have made a search if they so chose. I would definitely be flattered. Looking forward to the next issue.

Colin Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Unhinged Joined: 29 March 2010 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 2500	Post Options Post Reply Quote Colin Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 15 September 2011 at 20:54
	Peter - perhaps this would make the basis of a good article for your feature in the CSC newsletter?
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Quilpusha Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Special Joined: 10 February 2011 Location: Middle Cornwall Status: Offline Points: 413	Post Options Post Reply Quote Quilpusha Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 15 September 2011 at 21:27
	. . . . you could be right Colin. But, space is at a premium, and so promoting the next Isle of Samson stamps - the Christmas Issue - in advance will take priority. I have taken all comments on board, and spoken to the Ebay Dealer. He says that he has emailed the winning bidder explaining the discrepancies regards description. He accepts that things could have been explained better. I told him of my plan to sell on ebay in future at Buy Now prices, thus stopping the oportunity for anything like this again. For myself, I do think that this whole Island/Local thing is a grey area, with some of the GB Islands having 'legal' postage stamps and some Cinderellas. Seasoned collectors should be well aware of what is going on. But newcomers to our hobby could easily be confused. I still think that honesty in describing stamps whatever they proport to be, is paramount. For me, QED.

Joolz Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Special Joined: 30 March 2010 Location: London Status: Offline Points: 695	Post Options Post Reply Quote Joolz Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 16 September 2011 at 00:30
	I don't know how recently the webpage has been updated (the latest year mentioned is 2008) but I found this very interesting in terms of the author's attempt to categorise locals, the lists of issuers (past and present) and the very long (yet inevitably massively non-comprehensive) list of issuers about which the author has been unable to make up his or her mind usually because of a lack of information. The author's categories are presumably debatable but that's partly what makes them interesting. It seems to me they have some merit but the devil is in the detail. There's definitely a distinction being drawn between: Locals where there is some form (however rudimentary it would seem) of real world local postal service for which the local stamps are a prepayment, either for carriage from a collection point to a delivery point wholly within the local jurisdiction (category 1a) or for carriage between a collection point in the local jurisdiction to a trans-shipment point into a national postal delivery system (category 1b). Amongst UK island locals, probably Lundy and the Summer Isles seem the most significant of these to me. Locals where there isn't any form of local carriage associated with the apparent prepayment for services represented by the local stamp. The author seems to have two categories for these, 2a (cinderellas - real places) and 3abcde (bogus - real places) and doesn't make explicit what the difference is (some issuers could clearly fit into both categories at first glance) but I presume from the phrasing that "cinderellas" is intended to signify that the issuer makes clear that the stamps are not "real" locals (i.e. not category 1a or 1b stamps) whereas "bogus" is intended to signify that the issuer does not make clear that the stamps are not "real" locals or even explicitly misleads that the stamps are "real" locals when they are not. On that basis, I guess, Peter, that you would be happy with Isle of Samson as category 2a, which would be the same as some other UK island locals (just as an example, iirc, Daniel posted an image of a cover from Steep Holm a while back and that sounds like a similar case to Samson) but not others (e.g. Lundy and the Summer Isles where there is a real local carriage element to the postal service however limited or even artificial it might be).

Steve Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Unhinged Joined: 26 March 2010 Location: Wrexham Status: Offline Points: 3917	Post Options Post Reply Quote Steve Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 17 September 2011 at 06:58
	I wonder how that author would classify the Cole Island Local Post. This was short lived during the 1970s, and I cannot find the one article that mentioned it, So I am relying on memory. Cole Island lies in the Thames near Swindon, and was the home of one man or family. It was linked to the banks by a bridge, but the local post office refused to cross the bridge to deliver letters, insisting the owner picked them up from a posting box on the bank. The owner objected and challenged the post office by rubber stamping mail in and out with a simple design saying just Cole Is 2p. I don't suppose any money was actually involved, but publicity about this 'local post' provoked a response from the post office. I do not know how this ended up and a Google search reveals nothing. I do howver have an example of the stamp on a piece and a cover. Could be the rarest GB Island Local Post.
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