A GUIDE TO BUYING KILOWARE ON EBAY

'Kiloware' are stamps on paper that, for many years, charities have collected from various sources in order to sell to stamp dealers to raise funds.Remember the famous Blue Peter Appeals?

Charities start by getting all thier charity workers, friends and family and overseas contacts to start collecting the stamps they receive in the post.  Rather than throwing them in the bin, they can keep them in order to help the charity make a few pounds by (usually) selling them on to stamp dealers.

Definitive kiloware (the normal stamps) especially GB tend to worth significantly less than the commemorative stamps (the special issues for an event etc.).

The price paid by dealers for charity collected stamps is influenced by various factors, most commonly:

what the Kiloware is ;
how much work they have done sorting the Kiloware;
Whether they have 'picked' the Kiloware.

It is fair to pay more for Kiloware if it is collectable and you do not have to spend a large amount of time to sort it into areas of interest and the best stuff has not been picked out of it.

So, it is safe to say that if the charity is honest and the dealer is honest, good quality charity kiloware is not just bags of rubbish but nicely sorted into the countries or areas of interest is unpicked and trimmed of excess paper.

Best prices should be paid for kiloware sorted into specific countries or areas, is not picked and has the excess paper trimmed.

Excess paper that has not been removed means more paper for less stamps - collectors do not like this.
 
Picked kiloware is usually obvious - no high values, no unfranked, loads of christmas issues.

An example of bad kiloware from GB would be a bag containing loads of definitives (especially 1st and 2nd class), loads of Christmas Issues and no unfranked.

People pull unfranked out of kiloware so they can use it again. Not really worth the hassle of soaking them off the paper, drying them out and using a pritt stick to glue them back onto an envelope for posting. If it's not been franked the Post Office will rarely notice this cost saving tactic but it is a criminal offence to do this.

So the kiloware now finds itself on ebay! I would ONLY EVER buy it if:

It comes from a reputable dealer or directly from the charity.
It has a picture in the listing, therefore the dealer has nothing to hide and you see what you are getting.
It's weight is stated in the listing so I can tell if I am getting ripped off in postage charges.

No pictures in a listing is a farce as the first picture in a listing is free - there is no excuse. You can always use some auction tools site where you get free supersize pictures!

With this guide you can examine your kiloware when you get it an make a judgement call on whether it's worth buying another lot.