Cert Ainty

One of the major problems in philately relates to how experts charge for the work that they do. Many types of rare stamps are bought with increased confidence when a third party expert has passed on them. In the area of United States stamps this includes rarer grills and coils and shades. The problem for sellers is that experts have traditionally charged based on catalog value not on sales value. Fees for the Philatelic Foundation and the Professional Stamp Expertizers are 5% of the catalog value (with a cap usually of $250). Here’s the problem-many higher value stamps are defective and sell for 10% or so of catalog so to get a certificate for a high value defective stamp (and most higher value stamps are defective) means that half the sales price will be consumed in expertizer fees. Enter Bill Weiss. Bill is a lifelong stamp professional who retired from his well thought of stamp auction business several years ago. He only expertizes now and issues a certificate for a flat fee of $25. We are using him and find him to be rapid in his turn around time and accurate in his opinions. He’s a good resource to know. You can reach him at http://www.stampexpertizing.com/. And remember when you buy a certified stamp from Apfelbaum you not only have the expertizer’s opinion, but also, like every stamp we sell (both certified and non certified) our lifetime guarantee that the stamp is genuine and as described.