5 Vintage Stamps I’ll Never Use Again
If you are new to using vintage stamps, one thing you need to know is that pricing can depend heavily on the specific stamp you choose. Trendy stamp designs become INSANE expensive and, at times even impossible to find, where they are sold out everywhere. It can be frustrating if you find a design you really like and then aren’t able to find anywhere to buy it.
A rule of thumb for pricing is 2-3X face value.
If you are getting into more than 3 times face value, it becomes pretty outrageous and expensive. Maybe your client is cool with that, but I personally think there are so many other cute options that its best to avoid these headaches!
When organizing my go-to stamps, I keep a folder titled “too expensive”. If I find a stamp that is impossible to use, I move it to that folder so I don’t accidentally pitch it to a client.
If you are curious about exactly how to start using vintage stamps for your stationery, you can also check out my in-depth online course here!
Curious what 5 stamps I’ll NEVER use again? –
#1: 32 Cent Tree Flowers
Ugh, I love these. But on average, they cost over 6X face value. That's gonna be a nah for me, dawg.
#2: 20 cent Audubon
This is one where you might have difficulty even finding enough available stamps to buy. There are a few on eBay right now, ranging at about 5X face value. Not terrible, but not worth it to me for a bird…
#3: 20 Cent Love Flowers
I’m traumatized by this stamp because I once pitched it to a client, got it approved, and then went to buy them and literally couldn’t find them anywhere. Looking again now, there are some out there for about 5X face value.
#4: 29 Cent Grace Kelly
This is another one where I think everyone must have just bought all the existing Grace Kelly stamps. They don’t make these anymore, so stamps can run out! There are a few on Ebay now for about 5X, but not a ton. If you have a wedding of 200 envelopes, you might be in a pinch.
#5: 3 Cent Gardening Horticulture Stamp
I love this one, and it's tempting. It’s tricky because it's a three-cent stamp, so it doesn’t seem that expensive. But they are hard to find. And the sheet I just found on eBay is nearly 16X face value. Woof.
How to make sure the stamps you want aren’t too expensive:
All you need to do is a quick Ebay search of that item. For example, search “32 cent tree flower stamps”. Quickly browse through and gauge a median cost. Take that and divide it by the sheet size to get your price per stamp cost. Once you have that, you can gauge how much over face value it is.
For example:
A sheet of the 32cent Tree Flowers is currently around $40 per sheet of 20 stamps. Take 40 divided by 20, and you get 2$ per stamp. For a 32 cent stamp (face value), that is over 6X face value. WAY TOO MUCH YA’LL. That’s going to add up so fast.
Things can change over time. A stamp that was too expensive a few months ago might now have more options. You can always keep checking eBay to see.
XO –
Sally
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