FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

This is a very useful page and often includes answers to the questions we receive. We are always delighted to hear from you so if you require any further information, please get in touch to speak with a member of our team who will be happy to help.

We are the ‘buy it now’ shop website of Sandafayre Ltd who were established in 1976 and are one of the world’s largest companies buying and selling stamps, postal history and other collectibles.

Our offices are in Knutsford, Cheshire in the North West of England around 2 hours north of London and close to Manchester and Liverpool. We are owned and managed by Vincent Green, an renowned philatelic professional and auctioneer.

We buy stamps directly and we also auction them on commission through Cheshire Stamp Auctions, our internationally renowned public auction. We are a friendly firm who enjoy what we do!

Our terms and conditions are set out here.

Our Privacy Policy can be viewed here.

We believe that we have the best and fastest packing and shipping department in the stamp world!

We don’t charge for shipping (unless you give us special instructions or by mutual arrangement) and we try to mail your purchases within 24 hours of your order.

The service we use to ship your items determines how quickly you’ll receive them – this can be anything from a next day service to up to 7 days for overseas shipments.

SFStamps do not charge you for shipping. IT’S FREE!

The postal service we use (i.e. a First Class post / Airmail service versus or a Signed for/Courier service) will depend on the value of your lot(s).

We use new modern packing materials and endevour to offer an efficient service at a competative price.

We want you to be delighted with every purchase from us!

That’s why we offer a full, 100% money back guarantee on all the lots we sell at SFStamps.com. If you’re not happy – send it back!

It’s as simple as that. You’ll receive a full refund of the item price. See our Terms and Conditions (T&Cs) for more details and for information about how to send an item back to us. To qualify the lots must be returned in ‘as sold’ condition and presentation (clearly we don’t mind stamps being inspected but a collection should not look different or be otherwise altered) and we must have either been alerted or received the lot back within 28 days of the invoice date.

Searching this site – tricks and tips

Type “NHM” (or u/m, or never hinged mint etc) into the search area (see that magnifying glass at top right?) then you will get a list of ALL the never hinged mint lots on the website, then on the left side of the screen tick against “Great Britain” and you will get a list of all the GB never hinged mint lots!
There are two simple ways, either type “Canada” into the search area (see that magnifying glass at the top?) and you will find all the Canadian lots including the provinces. The other way is to hover over ‘Categories’ on the bar near the top, them click on ‘A-Z Countries’ when it appears below, a list of countries will so you can click on the “Canada” link and you will be taken to all the Canadian lots.

What do the abbreviations in your descriptions mean?

We often use abbreviations in our lot descriptions.

Our most popular ones:

M or MINT
Unused with original gum, previously or currently hinged.

MINT NH
Mint never hinged, the same as Unmounted Mint. See NHM.

NHM
Never hinged mint – unused with original gum never previously hinged or otherwise mounted by affixing anything to the gummed side.

UNUSED
As mint but without gum.

U or USED
Used, postmarked or otherwise cancelled.

Alphabetical list:

AU$ – Australian Dollars

BET – Between

BLK – Block (4)

C$ – Canadian Dollars

CANC – Cancelled

CAT – Catalogue value or catalogue name

CDS – Circular date stamp

COLLN – Collection

CTO – Cancelled to order, or cancelled by favour

F – Fine

FDC – First day cover

FDI – First day of issue

FU – Fine used

FULL OG – Full original gum, a sample with intact gum which has not been previously hinged or otherwise disturbed (see also never hinged mint)

GBP – Great Britain Pounds – the currency for all transactions on this site

INCL – Including

LARGE PART OG – Large part original gum, where less than 50% of the original gum has been disturbed by previous hinging or otherwise

MARG – Margin

M/S – Miniature sheet

OG – Original gum

OPT or OVPT– Overprint

P – Perforation

PART OG – part original gum, where approximately 50% of the original gum has been disturbed by previous hinging or otherwise

PERF – Perforation

PPC – Picture postcard

P.STAT or P/STAT – Postal stationary

SELN or VALS TO – Selection to (not a full unbroken run)

SET – Complete set as listed by Stanley Gibbons, or if expressly referred to in the description another published catalogue. This often precludes very high values and other (usually rarities) excluded from the numbered range described as a ‘set’ in the SG or other catalogue.

SET TO – A ‘short set’. A complete set as listed by Stanley Gibbons, or if expressly referred to in the description another published catalogue but to a value lower than the top value in the set as indicated by the catalogue as above. This often precludes very high values and other (usually rarities) excluded from the numbered range described as a ‘set’ in the SG or other catalogue.

STC – Stated to catalogue (a catalogue value not calculated by us so whilst appearing to be somewhat accurate we can’t guarantee accuracy)

SURCH – Surcharge

USD – United States Dollar

VALS – Values

VALUES TO – A range, not necessarily complete, up to a stated values

VARS – Varieties

VF – Very fine

VFM – Very fine mint

VFU – Very fine used

WMK – Watermark

W/N – Within

W/O – Without