We go to great lengths to describe our material accurately and provide adequate scans. Because of this, it is our expectation that you will read the descriptions and view the scans before you purchase. If you have any questions at all, please do ask them before you purchase, as we will answer them quickly. In the event of a misunderstanding occurring because of failure to read the description or ask questions, the ability to return the item will be at our discretion. We won't be unreasonable or unfair in this regard, but we would hope that our customers will take responsibility for their choices and actions as well.
We will always issue refunds in the cases where an item has gotten lost in the mail as it is our experience that this RARELY occurs. However, if it happens more than once, we may have to reconsider our shipping methods to you and may require registered shipping from that point onward.
We absolutely stand 100% behind every stamp we sell. If we have not described an item properly then you may return the item for a full refund, including the shipping. However, if you are intending to send the item to an expert committee, we would ask that you let us know prior to your purchase. Please also note that the decision to obtain a certificate is your personal decision, and we will not be held responsible for paying for the cost of a certificate on an item you decide to return. We have taken this position as we feel that any concerns over the authenticity of a stamp's attributes or condition should be raised before purchasing an item, and we do attempt to describe material as accurately as possible. We may make an exception in cases where we have both agreed that a certificate is to be obtained as a condition of the sale.
We specifically will not allow the return of an item that has been sent to the V.G. Greene Foundation unless the foundation issues a pink certificate for the item, or it issues a green certificate, but does not issue it for the same variety being sold. So for example, if we sell a #270i, the 14c 1946 Peace Issue on the thin ribbed paper and it comes back as the regular paper, #270, we would accept the return. We will not accept returns where the comments on the certificate refer to a condition factor that cannot readily be seen with a loupe, UV light or watermark fluid.
Our reason for this position is that it is our opinion that the expert committee there places too much reliance on a visual comparator spectrometer to render its opinions, and as a result, there have been many instances of opinions about condition and gum that we disagree with. We remain unconvinced that the committee members can adequately control for the multitude of chemical and climactic factors that affect the paper, ink and gum of stamps, particularly those issued prior to 1870, to be able to interpret the results of using their equipment correctly. If V.G. Greene disagrees with our evaluation of a stamp's condition or gum, but not its authenticity, we would request that the stamp in question be sent to an alternate expert committee, such as the BPA, David Brandon, or the Philatelic Foundation. If one of those committees concurs with V.G. Greene's expert committee, then we will of course, accept the item for a full refund, including the cost of the second certificate.