What to Expect

What to Expect

Quality
All stamps and other items are vetted for quality when they arrive into stock and again while we are assembling orders. Any items which do not meet these quality criteria are rejected. Specifically, our quality criteria are:

No missing perforations or blunt corners for stamps issued since 1915.
All decimal New Zealand mint stamps (since July 1967) have perfect undisturbed gum.
All hinged decimal stamps are rejected.
Pre-decimal unhinged mint stamps also have undisturbed gum.
Pre-decimal hinged mint stamps issued since 1915 are lightly hinged.
No actual (or repaired) thins, tears or holes.
No creases or bends.
No surface abrasions.
Used stamps have light circular cancellations where available not obscuring the stamp design. No 'slogan' cancellations. No cancellations that hide or obliterate significant portions of the stamp design.
Used stamps cancelled to order or soaked off of first day covers are acceptable.
No rust or toning spots on the front, back or around the perforations.
All used stamps are postally used - no fiscal cancellations. The 1931 Arms Postal Fiscals catalogue listing has some notes on how to differentiate between postal and fiscal cancellations on New Zealand Postal Fiscal stamps.
Written cancellations are almost always fiscal and are excluded. Any exceptions are listed as varieties in the catalogue.
Good centering of the stamp - this is quite variable on many earlier issues but we reject any stamp where the actual design has been encroached by perforations.
Used examples of plate damage varieties must have a cancellation that does not obscure the listed flaw.

Note: stamps produced by Courvoisier in Switzerland typically have little pieces of fibre embedded in the gum on the back of the stamp. This appears to have resulted from part of the gumming process and is not a fault on the stamp.

We carefully monitor and control the temperature and humidity of the environment where our stock is stored and take every precaution to ensure that all stamps and philatelic items are delivered safely and securely.

If you have received a stamp which does not meet the above quality criteria, please let us know and we will ship you a replacement stamp at no charge.

Shipping
To ensure the safe delivery of all orders, we ship all stamps in small sections of Hagner pages, sealed in plastic bags to protect from moisture and sandwiched between two pieces of cardboard to protect against rough handling in the post.

Our shipping charges are very competitive and our aim is simply to recover the postal and packaging material costs. For orders under NZ$40.00 we charge NZ$4.50 to ship worldwide via International Air Mail with delivery within three to ten working days after dispatch. Orders to New Zealand customers are sent via standard post. Orders over NZ$40.00 are shipped free of charge.

We are constantly buying new stock to replace popular items. Items temporarily out of stock are noted with an amber 'Order' button on web pages and are also highlighted on the order form. This stock information is regularly updated and may be considered current. In most cases out-of-stock items are easy to obtain and we will be able to ship them to you within a week. Items that are difficult to obtain do not have an Order button beside them unless that item is currently in stock. Back-ordered items are shipped free of charge. If you locate the stamps before we do, just let us know and we will arrange a refund either to your credit card / Paypal account, or online as a credit off your next order so that you can select other items from our catalogue - whichever option you'd prefer.

Orders containing over 50 items may be split into multiple shipments to minimise the risk of damage in transit. Orders may also be split to ensure that individual shipments do not exceed any NZ Post weight restrictions. This practice also ensures that you receive the first portion of your order in a timely fashion with little impact on other customers. There are no extra charges for multiple shipments.

Prices
The prices quoted in our online catalogue are the current (i.e. today's) selling price for each item in New Zealand Dollars and include GST. These prices are potentially updated on an hourly basis but typically there is little movement. The prices are determined based on supply and demand, our stock levels, our competitors pricing and averaged auction values. The prices of items selected from the catalogue are locked in on the order form and sold at the price on the day you selected the item.

An easy to use international currency converter is provided which uses the most recent exchange rates available. The order form also provides estimates of the current value of what you've selected plus shipping in other currencies.

Unless stated specifically on the page for that issue, all prices quoted are for fine to excellent examples for that issue. We do not ship lower quality items, but if you are valuing your collection from our catalogue, you should bear in mind that low quality stamps for most issues are often worth considerably less than the quoted price! You should also be aware that an exceptionally rare variety or flaw will only command a high price if there is considerable interest in it from several collectors.

Catalogue Notes
(i) Our catalogue lists all New Zealand stamps up until deregulation of the postal services (1st of April 1998), and since then only New Zealand Post issued stamps. The catalogue also contains many of the more common varieties and errors.

(ii) Prices quoted for sets always indicate how many items are included and refer to that many preceeding items in the list. Varieties are excluded from the set.

(iii) Ross Dependency stamps have been issued by New Zealand postal authorities for use on mail from Scott Base since 1957. The stamps are not generally valid on New Zealand mail, however mail from the Ross Dependency is processed by a New Zealand Post outlet in Christchurch and members of the public are able to post items bearing Ross Dependency stamps at this office.

(iv) Fiscal stamps were authorised for postal use within New Zealand from 1882, but many of the higher value stamps were almost certainly never required or used for postal services. We only include Fiscal stamps that were commonly used for parcel or general postage in our catalogue.

(v) The 1855 Full Face Queen Victoria - Chalon - Not Perforated issue contains the only imperforate stamps issued for general postal use in New Zealand. They were printed with a narrow margin between stamps which effectively means that a fine example with full margins around all four sides necessitated the sacrifice of all the stamps around it. The catalogue value listed is for stamps from this issue with at least two complete margins and where the complete stamp design is largely intact. Stamps with three or four full margins are worth considerably more.

(vi) Stamps prepared for issue but never issued are included in our catalogue out of interest (along with a rough estimate of value) but are not expected to be found in a comprehensive collection of New Zealand stamps. We do not carry them in stock.

About Us
StampsNZ are full time philatelic dealers specialising in stamps, miniature sheets, booklets, first day covers and varieties from New Zealand and Ross Dependency. We have a passion for collecting New Zealand stamps and believe that stamp collecting should be accessible to all collectors, young and old.

We pride ourselves in the quality, presentation and appearance of our products and services. We provide a personal and professional service and welcome any enquiries relating to New Zealand stamps.

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