Some sellers send me an extensive multi-page computerized inventory of what they have. If you already have an inventory prepared because that’s how you tracked what is in your collection, fine. Otherwise, in most cases, it’s not necessary to generate one.

In most cases, a few bullet points about the collection are sufficient enough to give a dealer an idea of what you have. For example:

-     75 used stamps before 1890, better items include #1 and #166

-     MNH singles from 1935 to 1993, includes #832-834 and #1053.

-     Airmails complete, #C7 to #C126, MNH, no Zeppelins

-     About 3 pounds of mixed used, off paper US stamps in a small box.

Those few bullet points spoke more to me about a collection than 10 pages of Scott numbers with a “1” in the unused column. Those bullet points took a few moments to write versus countless hours of putting every Scott number, description, and quantity per stamp and catalog value into an Excel spreadsheet.

If creating a computerized inventory helps you, that is entirely up to you. If you have early (pre-1935) material, that listing gives me a clue as to what might be there in the collection. It needs verification that the stamps are the correct catalog number. More importantly, the centering and condition of the stamps will affect the price. Detailed inventories of common, ordinary stamps (mainly after 1935) are not necessary. It’s a lot of work and a lot of paper that could be easily summarized in a few bullet points.