I was asked if I knew of anyone having a variety of kiloware selections for sale at reasonable prices. When I suggested an Internet search, the reply was "Been there; done that; slim pickin's." Promised I'd ask on SOR.... so, any recommendations I can pass on?
It depends what you mean by 'reasonable'. To purchase good quality kiloware it is not cheap. The price of GOOD kiloware has skyrocketed in the past few years.
My recommendations would be to search eBay or watch our own Stamporama auction for on-paper or off-paper lots. There are several persons on Stamporama who periodically list kiloware for sale.
Be prepared to be disappointed if buying kiloware on eBay or from dealers. Most kiloware, with the very odd exception, has been picked through by dealers and/or other collectors. You can expect to receive a percentage of damaged unusable stamps also.
Sometimes you will get a fairly reasonable lot and other times you would think it's the sweepings off the floor.
If the availability was the opposite of "slim pickins" they would not be good deals. If you want a good deal, you have to be willing to spend the time looking online. When I'm in the market for buying anything, it takes days to find a single good deal. At least that's my experience.
Good kiloware is getting harder and harder to find, especially if you are looking for "recent" material. Those who deal in kiloware are having a very hard time finding material to sell, since less and less commercial mail is sent using stamps.
As others have suggested, online searches will give the best results. Sometimes decent lots of on-paper come up on eBay, but if they are "decent" the prices tend to run up in a hurry. The most likely sources seem to be in Europe-- most of what I've bought over the past five years have come sporadically from eBay, from vendors mostly in Germany or Scandinavia.
