Building A Basic Stamp Album

For the stamp beginner nothing is more challenging than believing you have to decide on which direction you want to take your collection. The truth is you don't have to take a direction---at the moment. Don't adopt a stamp album---US or Foreign. Collect stamps you enjoy keeping and purchase a set of Vario pages.

Vario pages are sheets of special paper with sleeves that protect your stamps but still allow you to view what you have put together thus far. You are not confined or cornered into a certain country or theme. These pages are left holes made for inexpensive loose leaf binders. $ 5 on Ebay plus $1 for the binder will allow you to build a basic stamp album without choosing a hasty and expensive direction.

As time marches on you will be able to assemble a collection of stamps that will allow you to start formulating what you want to keep and what you want to trade. This discovery is what inspires a collector to pursue, sometimes for a lifetime, a certain type of stamp.

What A Friend We Have In Stamping

What a friend we have in stamping.

Yet in many respects it's a secret friend or an invisible friend. Stamp collecting still has a negative image that forces many to practice their hobby far away from friends. It's an irony since stamping has progressed with technology you can now own a complete catalog of every stamp ever produced anywhere in the where for a fraction of the print cost--because it is available on compact disc.

Stamp listings on Ebay outnumber nearly every other product sold if judged by category. Stamp collecting programs make collecting even more fun and educational. Not to mention the introduction of electronic mail, which supposed was going to make stamps obsolete, now serves as a communication device about stamps and stamp collecting.

Image scanners allow a collector to scan a stamp into his computer and then magnify it far better than any magnifying glass.  Smart phones have applications where collectors can keep track of their collections, their purchases and sales of stamps with people around the globe.

We have a friend in stamping. Let's share that friend with others and not fear they will not understand its purpose and potential.  Why are stamps any more strange than spending three hours trying to blow up aliens from planet Creepo. Don't let prejudice get in the way of spreading the word about the world's oldest and coolest hobby.

Low Cost Hobby Translates into High Values During A Crazy Econony

We received many emails from families who have tightened their belts due to the downturned economy. A large percentage lost hours or weeks or even 1 of their 2 incomes due to this nagging recession. I make no judgements on why more parents are interested in stamp collecting for their children this year versus last year. What I say is don't wait!

Stamp collecting is not only an incredibly educational hobby it is also a low-cost one that firmly allows kids to work at their own pace and by themselves when needed but also makes room to have parents and adults enjoy in the fun. With our stamp kit, a child receives a packet of stamps and some hinges. Their parents receive a number of stamp attachments that provide stamp information, foreign identification and links to print out free stamps. Everything they need to start is entirely for free.

If a parent wants to venture out further, then they can buy a $1 3-ring loose leaf binder and order for $5 a packet of Vario pages (these are pre-made cellophane pages with 7 or 8 levels to hold stamps for protection and viewing.) These are very easy to get at auction sites such as Ebay.

We have been hearing stories from parents who cannot afford to buy video games or electronic toys. They want stamp collecting and board games and family games that bring people closer together. We at KNS have been preaching this for years. Do not allow modern conveniences to divide your time from your family. And definitely don't allow a bad economy to turn you into a smarter parent. Be smart in any economy. You can't get those years back and you are bound to be sell those silly toys at a future garage sale.

Some of your and your child's fondest memories one day will be the days of stamp collecting. The education, the bonding and ultimately the love of family.

Monthly Report: Collectors News Spotlights KNS

KNS is proud to announce our site, its efforts and its club president, Mark Rossi, is being featured in Collectors News a magazine that focuses on various aspects of collecting (toys, dolls, cards, stamps, etc.) The January 2009 issue will be examing the stamp collecting aspect of collectibles and KNS was chosen as an organization making a difference in the vital effort to keep stamp collecting alive for another enlightened generation. We sincerely thank them for spreading the good word. http://collectors-news.com/ {Cover Issue is November 2008}

KNS is continuing to fine tune its effort to equip a children's hospital with a complete stamp collecting program. We also made another meaningful contribution of stamps to the Stamps for the Wounded program. Meanwhile we continue our main mission of assisting parents with free starter-kits one parent at a time. We welcome new members from Canada and India and thank everyone for their inquiries and questions. A special thank you for those kind members who leave comments on the blog articles.

As always I welcome parents to read the blog articles and discover what KNS is all about and how to go about setting up a basic inexpensive stamp collecting outfit for your child. This is also a good time to address a few issues that have risen:

1. Free starter-kits are available always. No expiration date. No until supplies run out.

2. I don't care about your martial status, political affiliation, religion or cultural background.If you are committed to getting your child interested in stamp collecting. We will help.

3. Please keep your questions relevant to helping parents help kids collect stamps. This is a family operation. Our time is precious.

4. Stamps Images. Some are in the Public Domain due to their age or country's liberal policy to promote their stamps or country's image. Others are used through Fair Use which allows stamp images to be utilized like book reviews. We are not selling anything hereand our articles only elevate stamp collecting. Period. Appreciate the concern but nothing's happening to the 20,000 auctions (with images) taking place on Ebay everyday. And those guys are actually making money. Hope that answers your questions. Enough said.

5. You need to provide your mailing address. I am still surprised on how many inquiries we get and how many turn down the offer of a free starter-kit because we need their mailing address. Folks, the stamps can't materialize through the internet. They have to be mailed through the postage system: a service also free of charge from KNS.

I wish you all a Happy Halloween. Keep those children safe. And rejoin us again in November.

The Emergence of Ebay: Stamp Buyer Be Glad

The emergence of Ebay has been nothing short of an international phenomena. It's actually one of the few internet companies to survive the internet bubble implosion that wiped out billions of dollars and cast out thousands of tekkies into the unemployment lines of the 90's.

In a nutshell: How Ebay survived

Ebay permits anyone with a computer, digital camera and a product to place it online and potentially sell it in days, hours or minutes. The product can be new or a used item you found around the house, garage or attic. Some people actually go to yardsales and buy for pennies on the dollar and sell for dollars via auction. You can auction your item to the highest bidder via the auction process or outright sell it at a fixed higher price.

Impact on the stamping community

Ebay's influence on the stamping community is enormous; at any given day nearly 20,000 stamp-related auctions take place, making stamping the most active of any of its numerous detailed non-stamp categories. The Internet in general and Ebay in specific are directly responsible for resurrecting a worldwide hobby once perceived on the decline in America. It unites stamping communites, dealers, clubs, and organizations like nothing in the history of stamp collecting. Not all change is bad. Not all progress is at the expense of something else.

Advantages beginner collectors receive from Ebay

Virtually the same as the advanced collector. The specialization of sub-categories easily permits the beginner collector to zero in on the exact item they require be it, a stockbook, stamp album, stamp tongs, magnifier glass, stamp hinges, stamp mounts, etc. In many instances it might be less expensive to buy from an auction site (Ebay or one of the above listed) than from a stamp store or hobby shop. This is not guaranteed if you have the time and opportunity for comparison shopping between the (inter) Net and a (stamp) Store--definitely do so. Another great advantage is the advent of Paypal, a separate service (but now owned by Ebay) which enables you to pay the auction costs via credit credit or checking account quickly and safely. Paypal offers guaranteed money back if fraud occurs or item damaged or never shipped

By Accident and Design

The sub-categories for stamps on Ebay are the most extensive on any auction site on the Internet by virtual of it being the oldest and biggest. This feature is not only useful for beginning collectors in purchasing items but also in learning what entities produced stamps, what continent, language, etc. By accident and design the item arrangement serves as an educational resource as well as the descriptions many dealers/sellers decide to include with the auction. You can cut and paste this information on word doc and save it for your files. It comes in handy later for identification and cataloging.

Purchasing Stamps and Stamp Supplies

For the beginner collector who hasn't decided on a certain country or countries, theme, topic, etc. purchasing stamps on Ebay is very easy if you keep these tips in mind.

Buy in Lots (200, 500 or 1000) By purchasing in this manner you get a wide selection to study and help you decide what you want to collect. Or maybe you want to collect them all.

Postage and Handling: Handling charges are rare, but postage is another matter. It varies geographically depending on where the dealer lives and where you live. Note where the dealer resides from, if is in a foreign country you have to decide if the auction is worth your time (could take couple of weeks to receive it) to the extra cost of international postage. The cool advantage is often these dealers include their country's stamps on the envelope for you to cut, soak and save. U.S. dealers on the other hand can sometimes offer postage higher than necessary as a way to increase their profits. It really shouldn't cost any more than $3 to $4 for postage for a lot of 500 stamps. There are many auctions taking place so choose wisely by price of stamps, price of postage and geographical location (if time is of the essence.)

Stockbooks and Stamp Albums

Unlike the minor weight of stamps, hinges and mounts, stockbooks and stamp albums are heavier items and shipping charges can be nearly a third of the cost (for albums) and nearly a half (for stockbooks) of the item being shipped. Which is one of the reasons why I recommend people comparison shop if they have a stamp store in their community. You might save some serious postage. If the Internet is your only recourse then you should compare between auctions at Ebay and/or between Ebay competitors.

***NOTE: For the purposes of full disclosure, I am not a dealer nor have I ever sold anything on Ebay, but I have bought plenty for my personal stamp collection and therefore can easily testify to the experiences spelled out in this article. While we do not endorse any product or service (since we are not paid nor accept advertising) this site in good conscience will strongly recommend something of good value to its readers but not without also naming alternatives and competitors. The following are main competitors to the auction service Ebay---feel free to use them instead of or in conjunction with the subject of this blog article.
http://www.wigix.com/ http://www.ubid.com/ http://www.bidz.com/ http://www.auction.com/ http://www.webidz.com/

Amazon and Overstock also have their own auction platforms.

The Impact of the Internet on Stamp Collecting

The impact of the Internet on stamp collecting is nothing less than -----enormous. Over the past few years and even past few weeks I have had verbal discussions and emails with friends, associates and admirers (a few not so admiring, oops) about this very subject. Generation X collectors, like myself, know the Internet resuscitated stamp collecting. By the mid-80's you couldn't find a stamp store in your community unless you lived in a major city. Stamp Shows were a once-in-a-year event often miles away from your home. That's a heck of a trip and a long wait to buy some supplies, stamps in lots, and trade shop talk with experienced dealers and collectors. To make things worse book stores stopped carrying stamp magazines making it harder to establish mail contact with stamp supply companies, stamp clubs, etc., etc. Thank God, for the local library which still carried hobby magazines of all types. For all intents and purposes stamp collecting went underground, refusing to die, but also unable to challenge the Age of PacMan

This is where people in the stamp industry get upset. Many would prefer to believe stamp show and stamp clubs kept everything going until the Internet came along. But I was there at shows where dealers outnumbered collectors and clubs where free beer couldn't get someone in the door. In my opinion the Internet saved stamp collecting from oblivion and made it exciting and educational again. Here are the reasons why:

Email:

it keeps people connected, you can send stamp images, word informational attachments in minutes sometimes seconds---really helps with tough questions on id's, watermark issues

World Wide Web:

the major companies got on board and their sites now offer more products and information and then their former printer catalogs--a lot of free stuff too---what a switch!

Software Downloads:

Software programs are the newest product in stamp collecting to come along in years and the most exciting. For US collectors the Scott software program is the best to track every stamp in your collection by image, value, date, year, --just incredible and easy. Plus there are dozens of generic programs for basic collecting and you can provide your own images.

Ebay:

It's impact on stamp collecting is monumental. Between its thousands of stamp auctions and fixed stores, Ebay has brought stamp collecting to the forefront of hobbies again by simply reintroducing it to the public at prices that wont scare away the uninitiated. It also helps that you get to see the stamp, product, etc., and have a decent description. I have always said once stamping was revived the marketplace would correct the past obscene prices of the business side of collecting and level it off for past, present and future collectors; thus preserving the passion of philately without going broke in the process.

Irony and Snailmail:

Past detractors of computers and Internet used to lament about how technology would reduce people contact and possibly formal letter writing and postal mail services (i.e. snailmail).

1st point: a poor public perception of stamp collecting and stamp shows few and far between did a fine job of reducing people contact.

2nd point: the reduction of formal letter writing was on the decline years before email came along in fact email was increasing writing by people in general, many write letters on computers, print them and then mail it.

3rd point: computers and the Internet did not reduce postal mail services in fact it increased them by many fold. I get dozens of stamps from stamp shipments, friends and relatives from the mail which first starts off as an email.

The impact of the Internet on stamp collecting is significant and continues to expand in many different directions. There are sites where you can create your own stamps for actual postage using your own designs and photos. The horizons are unlimited and benefit stamp collecting in the most incredible ways, you can now actually visit the country you are collecting on the Internet and see amazing photos. But like anything of heartfelt value we must not succumb to rewriting history because the world changed and we didn't. At least this time we did and we as a global stamping community are reaping the rewards of a journey that must last to the next generation. If we do our jobs right and teach the hobby with love and respect the next generation will figure out how to take it to the next level.

The Next Step: Stockbooks and Tongs

The next step once you have received your starter-kit of stamps is to obtain a stockbook, which is basically a black stamp album. Depending on the maker, the pre-made types are manufactured through KA-BE, Lighthouse, PARAT, Stanley Gibbons, Supersafe, Prinz Scott, G & K, each might have a white backing on the pages or black blackground. Each page will have slots, 8, 7, 6, 5, accomodating a vast number of sizes of the stamps. Obtaining of the these stockbooks is easy through the websites of various dealers or through Ebay. The average cost is about $20.

The second type of stockbook is the one you can create with vario pages. These pages set up with various sizes of stamps, blocks, sheets, etc. can be purchased for as little as $6 and have multiple holes for 3 or 4 ring binders that can be purchased in the office section of any large store. For less than half the cost of a pre-made you can put together your own stockbook. Vario pages are best purchased at Ebay. The page quality is all the same just the shipping price will be different and that is what you should factor when ordering. The Vario chart is too big to be pictured here but there is only a few the starting collector can actually use anyhow. The Vario page 6S, 7S & 8S are best for the starting collector. The number is how many horizonal rungs each page contains, the more rungs the smaller the space between. For larger stamps 8S is good and for much smaller thumbnail stamps, 6S is sufficient. The full Chart is available as an informational segment attachment upon request. Ebay stores and dealers usually have the chart available on their sites as well.

The next item necessary is called "tongs." A picture above shows what they look like--almost like a flat headed tweezer. The purpose is to keep the oil from your hands and fingers from tranferring upon the stamp; thus reducing its lifespan. The nickle-plated ones work perfectly fine. Shouldn't cost you any more than $4 for a pair. They now sell gold-plated ones but honestly you don't need them. I am still using the same tongs my father gave me 35 years ago.

The new collector must keep in mind that everything he/she needs for their collecting purposes are not available in any regular stores out there. If you are lucky to have a stamp store nearby, you might find their prices are far higher than the combine price and shipping of most anything on Ebay.

The most important lesson here is to get what you basically need to protect, store and enjoy the stamps. Folks out there easily get carried away with expensive and unnecessary supplies that in my opinion are not only a waste of money but also reduces a person's budget which should be spent on getting more stamps.

Trading Links, Members, Information

Trading Links: (Nix on the Commercial Stuff)

I have been gettting a number of invites to trade links with what I must call commercial stamp sites. After investigation I have concluded trading links with these sites would not be in line with our non-sponsorship position. We take no ads nor endorse products. Our members would be exposed to higher priced items in exchange for a link buried in the bowels of these flashy sites. Sorry, not worth it. All links included below are either sites with no products for sale or with significant free information about stamps and collecting clearly marked for easy navigation. The key is not to get lost in the whole muck of other people's agendas. My vision is practical and simple: help parents help their children appreciate stamps in the most inexpensive manner.

More Members: (Need Your Comments)

We have signed up (metaphorically speaking) more members and starter-kits are out in the mail. Please don't forget to request the informational segment attachments to help with translations and definitions. Thanks for the nice compliments via email but please consider using the comments section of the blog articles and let other people know how you feel. Thanks. And keep spreading the word.

More Information: (Albums, Stockbooks, Supplies and Ebay)

As more members are requesting starter-kits, the need now shifts to produce a blog segments on stamp albums and stamp stockbooks. Stay tuned this weekend. Also there will be a segment on buying stamps and supplies. I will be focusing on the advantages of Ebay auctions and stores versus other direct locations for materials. I will list them all and you can decide what is best for your needs and your budget.