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  • February 21, 2024 15:38
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February 21, 2024 15:38
Is there the possibility and demand to include the CTO (Cancelled To Order) condition? So in addition to MNH, used and with damaged gum (trace of sticker).
These are stamped stamps, with an undamaged gum, that have never been sent.

For example, I now have some CTO stamps from Austria. I cannot classify these as used or used, because they were never sent on a letter. MNH is also not possible, because it has a stamp on it. And the gum is undamaged. Where to ?.

I also think this is a good addition for sales. Buyers want to know what they are buying.

Furthermore, I think that there are many stamps for sale that are currently listed as used, but are CTO. A used collector is now being mistreated if he or she buys these CTO stamps and thinks they are used.

In itself, I don't think there is anything wrong with a CTO stamp, you just need to know about it. Hence this request, this possibility.


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  • February 21, 2024 20:04
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February 21, 2024 20:04
According to the catalog there is no "used" status, but there is a "stamped" status and that also includes the CTOs, at least it seems to me.
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  • February 21, 2024 20:42
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February 21, 2024 20:42
What ApiSta writes is correct.

Suddenly adding a 'CTO' condition would cause untold amounts of ambiguity and chaos. Thousands of collectors have CTO items in their collections listed as 'stamped'. Me too, especially for Eastern European countries. It is an illusion to think that everyone will retroactively adjust this for hundreds/thousands of items.

And then questions arise regarding catalog value - should tens of thousands of items be given an additional price. It will also no longer match the prices of the past yields if a condition is added. And: is it always completely clear whether a seal is CTO or simply stamped? What's more, many collectors have no idea that there is such a thing as CTO...

Moreover: I also have stamps that have been running, but were not canceled (although I personally removed them from the envelope). Just the other way around from CTO. Is another condition necessary: 'walked but not stamped'? Oh no.

So no, this only creates complexity and little added value.
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  • February 21, 2024 21:31
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February 21, 2024 21:31
For me, my wish list could remain complete: from Stamped and higher. If CTO is added as a lower condition.
I'm really not a fan of CTO. If I order stamped I assume they have been running. Not made (with or without some of the gum still attached). I prefer not to have CTO, nor unused (in my mind those are damaged copies).
Unused is still possible in extreme need (cannot be found or unaffordable in mint mint/stamped conditions).

Anyone who doesn't care CTO or stamped can simply keep stamped for their collection. Collection is personal, it is no one's business what you indicate there.
The shops, they start sweating. They may go over all their stamped material and adjust it if necessary (this will often not be necessary, but you should check it anyway). But ultimately, every shop should occasionally review and update its inventory with LD. Fewer ordered items would be canceled.
With the search list, you as a user then have the dilemma: do I want them included or not.
Those who want them have to work for them. One-time.

There is now a problem regarding catalog values and sales statistics. CTO is in principle worth nothing (factory stamped to be dropped directly into the market ... that has nothing to do with philately anymore), and yet offered/traded via 'Stamped'. While a genuine used example can have a reasonably high value, the 'value' in CTO condition is always clear.
To continue this way (do nothing) is to allow known fraud to survive, the stats will never improve.
Changing this now will eventually smooth things out and ultimately result in more realistic stats.
In other words: I am in favor of adding a 4th condition (CTO, lower than Stamped).
As far as I'm concerned, there is no need to add a catalog value reference for CTO. I know exactly what they are worth.
They go into my pot (as I once wrote) for the missions.

VAT: a stamp without any form of devaluation without gum is an unused stamp. It is still valid for postage, but damaged (the gum has come off). Completely unused.
In Belgium there are those who select such stamps (still valid for postage) and sell them in bulk at 50% of the postage value with the slogan 'Cheaper postage'. I imagine it is no different in other countries. 2nd chance philately :)
And every year the postage rates add up a lot. They are also traded a few percent more expensive (50% is always based on the current postal rate). There is no better return at the banks at the moment.


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  • February 22, 2024 15:40
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February 22, 2024 15:40
As far as I'm concerned, there is no need to add a catalog value reference for CTO.

Good plan Raoul62, just let the average sales value, as a trial, run for this condition, as the catalog value. Then it is not necessary to introduce utopian catalog values. Saves a lot of work for the importer and for the administrator.
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  • February 22, 2024 18:35
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February 22, 2024 18:35
I assume that most SELLERS know whether a stamp is expired or CTO stamped.
You solve the problem by adding your own image, you will never get any complaints afterwards and you don't have to mention it, the buyer knows what he is getting.

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  • February 22, 2024 20:10
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February 22, 2024 20:10
Learned something from you again Raoul62.
Never knew that CTO (Cancelled To Order) stamps are not album worthy.
I own quite a few Swiss stamps with a Halbmond stamp, these were stamped with gum on the first day. I always had the idea that these stamps were more popular, especially among collectors in Switzerland itself. There are also collectors there who buy MNH stamps at a post office and immediately have them stamped with a full stamp.
To me they are like mini FDCs because I'm not that keen on envelopes. My preference is to cut them out and soak them. But what do we actually call these stamps? But luckily you also write that a collection is personal.
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  • February 22, 2024 20:53
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February 22, 2024 20:53
The point of this post isn't MDuinmaijer , what anyone thinks about a CTO. Everyone thinks differently about this, some valuable and others snot. It is only a matter of whether there is a demand and need to possibly add such a condition.
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February 22, 2024 22:38
MDuinmaijer
No one has to share what I think about CTO with me. It is what you find important when collecting.
But it distorts the statistics, throws sand in the eyes, leads to confusion and even to despair among the more serious providers.

e.g. #1232299
Really run, nicely stamped, you can accept the LD catalog value as reality. It actually ran, but if it was stamped a little less nicely, it could easily cost a euro.
And yet the average sales value according to the statistics is 42 cents.
One was sold for 5 cents. A fool who sold or bought it? No. That is already quite a high price for a CTO.
It does cause the average sales value in the statistics to go into decline. It is not at all representative of the stamped condition.

There are currently 2 'stamped' offers. No image of your own anywhere, and nothing is mentioned. There's a good chance they're CTOs.
Or really valuable stamped ones that are offered too cheaply (after all, at least one has already been sold for 5 cents ... then you can't put a normal price of 1 euro on it, right?).

If I look for those stamped, they automatically appear in the picture (match) for me due to the LD technology. The LD technology will not analyze the image and tell me it is a CTO. Then they quickly click in the shopping cart to place an order for a few hundred items. However...if they are CTOs...then I don't want them at all.

With an additional (lowest) condition, these would not come into the picture and would not skew the stats. Which in itself would also show a little more respect to the shop owners (sellers).
If the option were offered (an additional CTO condition), and one was offered as stamped and purchased by me, then I would have a leg to stand on. Not that I would make a fuss about it, but then I can make something clear to the seller.
And you remember something like that the next time you visit that shop.
After a few months of growing pains, most of them would have already been re-educated.
After all, it is not a disadvantage for the sellers. Quite an advantage. At least for the serious (serious) sellers. These who have eaten some cheese from philately. Who take it seriously and don't just want to throw away some pieces of paper.

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  • 198 messages
  • February 23, 2024 07:44
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February 23, 2024 07:44
I am against CTO this is why all serious seller must put a photo of canceled stamps. 

To my opinion sellers putting photos of all what they sale deserve more sales as it is respect and when they sales the same stamps on a marketplace they put the photo so why you got so few seller photos on what is in sale on LD ? 
TomV
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  • February 23, 2024 09:18
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February 23, 2024 09:18
As a worldwide collector I have quite a few CTOs, waiting for an undamaged genuine running example. However, for some countries that is next to impossible, so I just live with that reality.
As a salesperson, I try to pay attention to it and mention it as much as possible when it comes to CTOs. It is up to the collector to decide whether it is worthwhile. After all, there are also collectors who detest automatic stamps (although they are indeed real stamps). Everyone makes things as difficult as they want, I think.

It would take an awful lot of work to re-examine all the stamps in my collection and shop and classify them under the correct (cancelled/CTO) category. But that is more of a practical consideration.

In terms of content, I often don't find it easy. A stamp with a beautiful first day stamp is in principle also 'cancelled to order'. But maybe there are enthusiasts for that.
And sometimes it is not easy to judge whether a partial stamp on a stamp without gum is CTO or not. That will undoubtedly lead to discussions.

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  • February 23, 2024 09:54
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February 23, 2024 09:54
TomV
A neat stamp on the first day is 99.99% certain to be a CTO. Whether it has deviated from an FDC or EDK does not matter. The cancellation has nothing to do with the sending function, while this is the case with a genuine stamped copy.
In my view, CTO has nothing to do with philately anymore. Of course everyone is free to have their own view on it. Me, too :)

The reality is that your own images are not added to the shop for virtually worthless stamps. If you have to make and charge 100 extra scans for stamps that are offered for sale at 0.01 euros, then you don't do that.
And therein lies the problem. Those CTOs are mainly 0.01 items. Also consider the abundance from Eastern European and Arab countries. Directly from the printing house to the stamp trade.
Actually we only need one condition if it has to be figured out by the user via own images and comments. Can't you perfectly indicate whether it is MNH, unused or stamped?
Then you defeat the purpose of LD. Where signals are given automatically, based on the condition, to stimulate sales.
And where the realized turnover provides insight to the users via statistics.
Hence: I am PRO an additional condition CTO. As the lowest possible condition.
If they are stamped just as well for you, then you won't have any problems with them in your collection. You can leave them there as stamped.

I know a collector who likes to have every stamp in every condition. For most, 'double collecting' (MNH and stamped) is no exception. Collecting triples (MNH - worn - CTO) is an exception, but I have seen it before! Such a collector cannot do anything with LD.
A stamped collector cannot actually do anything with LD. On LD you should consider 'Stamped' as 'CTO' because it is not reliable (both the offer, the list value and the financial statistics). And CTO are exactly the copies that a collector of 'Stamped' is NOT looking for. It is what it is. Not more than that.
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TomV
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  • February 23, 2024 10:08
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February 23, 2024 10:08
I don't think a separate CTO category is a bad idea in itself, especially if the salespeople really take it into account. However, reality shows that they often have a different view of quality than collectors.

To be clear: I also have MNH copies of some stamps or copies with stickers, waiting for a real stamped copy. And if I find that, I usually keep them both :-)
Resale value doesn't matter much to me, but quality does. This way you keep constantly searching and finding, and that's the fun part of it.
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  • 198 messages
  • February 23, 2024 11:19
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February 23, 2024 11:19
I think that the only and best solution is to buy only to seller that put a photo of the stamped stamps and that to the collector to decide if it is a CTO or not and decide if the selling price is ok.

So everyone can decide to buy or not CTO and must know that CTO are a selling value of 0,01 € only not 0,05 € or more if you want to buy a CTO. In bulk CTO cab be found for as low as 0,002 €.
  • 198 messages
  • February 23, 2024 11:20
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February 23, 2024 11:20
By the way serious professional stamp seller have a deontology not to sell CTO.
  • 198 messages
  • February 23, 2024 11:25
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February 23, 2024 11:25
If on LD a professional seller sale you a CTO without telling you it is a CTO you should contact him to be reimbursed or put a negative feedback.

Of course what I write is about CTO stamped for the trade not FDC cancellation that is not really CTO like the CTO printed only to foul the collectors that have a trade value far less than 0,01 €.
nlae
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  • February 23, 2024 11:33
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February 23, 2024 11:33
One CTO is not the same as the other - There are real CTOs (stamped in the country of origin) and false CTOs (with stamping printed at the printing house) - When collecting countries such as Laos, Kampuchea, Cambodia and Nicaragua, it is almost impossible to ignore the CTOs - Below is a scan of a CTO worth collecting in my opinion.

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  • 198 messages
  • February 23, 2024 12:06
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February 23, 2024 12:06
nlae I disagree totally with you a CTO is a CTO the stamped CTO you put the photos are CTO with a resale value that should be under 0,05 € The collection os stamped stamps is only about stamps used to post a letter that have traveled and for stamped stamps the catalog price is only for that type of stamps use on letters that have been send through a post office traveling from  one point to another point.

What you put in photo have nothing to do with philately this is only nice images that I will buy for my child at 0,01 €
  • 198 messages
  • February 23, 2024 12:13
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February 23, 2024 12:13
FDC that have never be use to post a letter have also nothing to do with philately they are CTO .

what is philately is a letter post at the post office the first day of the sale in a post office like the scarce letters with the penny black posted the first day of official sales of the black penny in 1840 that is philately is about and 10 000 € is a normal resale price. The same letter posted in 1841 with a black penny you can buy it for 500 €.

Valuation is king and CTO have no retail value.
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  • February 23, 2024 12:14
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February 23, 2024 12:14
The CTO when I find one in a collection go directly to the bin this is my way with CTO. 
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  • February 23, 2024 13:41
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February 23, 2024 13:41
that's the nice thing about it
That's the most important thing. It is a hobby that you spend time on because it is fun. When it stops being fun, it stops.
Frenchstamps
I love you already :)
It must be possible to distinguish between what is purely commercial and what belongs under philately.
NVPH FDCs or Enshedee Maakwerk bv. are flat commercial. You can perfectly recognize and filter them out with the data available on LD.
You can't do this now with CTOs. They are sold by, in my opinion, scammers as being Stamped. A serious philatelist will indeed not do that in his shop. And if you receive such material from a seller, you remember it. That's all you can do right now.
However, the damage that such sellers do to other shops that are run by serious philatelists is ignored.
They cannot sell valuable stamped items (real stamped, postal used items) at a normal price.
CTO is and remains 'not done' for a serious philatelist (stamp collector).
It can be used as a temporary cavity filler. A serious philatelist will always continue to look for the real example.
Countries (such as the Stamperiia countries in Africa) that do not provide such real copies cannot be taken seriously. As a philatelist you avoid that. But you can embrace it for the sake of collecting pleasure, not because of what is called philately.

The 'additional image and mention' statement is not a solution. Then you don't need LD at all. Then it is better to work manually with shortage and supply lists. Based on concrete catalog numbers from paper catalogues. Then you can take a few weeks to go over and check everything for one order of stamps (usually > 100 stamps to make it worthwhile to send).
With a better developed LD platform you can safely place multiple such orders per day.

To make it even crazier (now that I'm getting started), a 5th and 6th condition could be added: 'Damaged' and 'Not guaranteed'.
Now such copies are also offered (by 'scammers' in my opinion). With the excuse 'it's in the Comments'.
A stamp with a catalog value of MNH 100 euros is offered and sold for 0.50 euros. With the comment 'three teeth missing'.
Then you have to look at the stats. And of course they don't mention those comments. So I have already extracted and identified quite a bit. Such sales must be completely removed from those statistics.
If you already noticed it as a buyer (who is going to read all those comments for hundreds of stamps?), then you are still exposing the other (serious) suppliers with their offer at 10 euros.
The supplier is at fault, but so are the buyers. Because by purchasing (ordering and purchasing) you contribute to unreliable statistics.
The solution is to ban the supply of damaged items and to require a certificate of authenticity to be provided for items above a certain catalog value.
Unfortunately that won't happen.
However, if you take the hobby seriously, it is possible as a seller to offer such damaged or not guaranteed items as blanks. Not tied to a catalog item. No one can blame you for that afterwards, and it doesn't contaminate the rest.
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az60
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February 23, 2024 13:44
The cancellation has nothing to do with the sending function, while this is the case with a genuine stamped copy.
In my view, CTO has nothing to do with philately anymore.
Excellent conclusion. Extend it logically and you say that FDCs have nothing to do with philately. One you save, the other you despise :-). But that's not what the topic is about. In principle I agree with your conclusion. A CTO has never run, has not been used postally and is therefore not a postage stamp. It could have been classified as a CTO usage type, next to franking and 'cinderella'. And adding the condition 'CTO' at the start of the stamp catalog would also have been the right step in my opinion. But not anymore.
You can't add it anymore now. You force everyone to recheck the entire collection and especially the shop. Every seal must be checked. So you're asking quite a bit. And is that necessary? No of course not. If you want to buy already stamped stamps and you care whether it is a stamp or a CTO, you can also simply send a message to the seller. Then you put the burden where it belongs. With yourself.
I also agree that you can profile yourself as a seller here. A self-respecting seller would be wise to profile himself with a photo of the stamp to be sold. And if you don't sell CTOs on principle, that's also admirable.
In my opinion, changing collections and shops is something that you cannot do, with the exception of correcting mistakes. But that must also be done with care and attention.
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  • 198 messages
  • February 23, 2024 14:21
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February 23, 2024 14:21
az60 totally agree with that “ A self-respecting seller would be wise to profile himself with a photo of the stamp to be sold” so everybody know what it buy and have the real freedom to decide by himself. 



TomV
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  • February 23, 2024 16:11
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February 23, 2024 16:11
Let everyone decide for themselves what they collect. If I enjoy collecting themed stamps, and I don't care if they are CTO or actual postal used, then that's completely my business. Then I don't have to receive value judgments from others about it (let alone earn the label 'philately'). If I like to focus on the Arab desert states, then that's no problem, right? Then I also know that they have not been used postally. But you can collect them. And for all I care, also sell and exchange them for what they are.

If I purchase a number of stamps and I really do not wish to receive CTO stamps, or, so to speak, only stamps with a certificate of authenticity, I simply report this to the seller when ordering. Insofar as he has not yet indicated this with the item.
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az60
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February 23, 2024 17:06
Let everyone decide for themselves what they collect.
I completely agree with you. I also have quite a few CTOs and Cinderellas in my collections. There is nothing wrong with that and no one else has anything to say about that. I'm not ashamed of it either. And yes, I take myself seriously (as a stamp collector).
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