US Postage Stamps

[3733_fred]

Hello folks,

Ebay has a seller advertising US postage stamp. The stamps are half the price that the USPS sells them. IS it a scam or what?

[kathiec]

There's a huge problem everywhere with Chinese counterfeit US stamps. So the stamps are most certainly counterfeit.

[nenu-5410]

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@3733_fred wrote:

Hello folks,

Ebay has a seller advertising US postage stamp. The stamps are half the price that the USPS sells them. IS it a scam or what?

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Anyone can print postage stamps onto a roll of stickers. 

Is that what you want to buy?

[mtgraves7984]

Even if I had beaucoup Christmas cards to mail out, I wouldn't touch these stamps with a thirty-nine-and-a-half-foot pole.

[albertabrightalberta]

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@3733_fred wrote:

. IS it a scam or what?

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Yes, it's a scam by a seller (or many sellers) with counterfeit stamps.

[richard1rst]

Consider this:

A U S postage stamp NEVER expires. I have some 3 cent stamps I collected as a kid and I can still use them as valid postage. I use them to make up the difference between new rates and current stamps on personal mail when the price increases. (i.e. no eBay shipping label)

That being the case why would anyone sell them for less than face value.

Would you consider it odd if you could buy a U S dollar bill for 50 cents? Same concept.

The seller is hoping you are blinded by greed.

[titipeo]

Old saying, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't. 

[bambopbam]

The answer (like many answers) is: it depends.  As mentioned the stamps could be forgeries but they could also be genuine and there is nothing greedy about it.  Collectors saved literally millions of stamps, and early  stamps of low denomination like 3c and 4c and 5c are still good for postage but now that a letter is 60 cents you'll need 10 to 15 to 20 stamps to cover the postage.  Sometimes there's not enough room on the envelope!  At one point collectors were speculating that the value would go up but the supply is way more than the demand.  When stamp collections are bought by dealers the unused low value stamps are sold at a discount simply to get rid of them.  If you happen to have a business and you send out a mailer it's a great way to save on the cost of postage.  Also, there's nothing greedy about it... half price stamps only gets you cheap postage... you can't cash them in for cash.

[simba6]

There is a country I will leave nameless that has been printing fake postage stamps for some time now.

Got to watch those too good to be true listings. 

[albertabrightalberta]

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@bambopbam wrote:

The answer (like many answers) is: it depends.  As mentioned the stamps could be forgeries but they could also be genuine and there is nothing greedy about it.  Collectors saved literally millions of stamps, and early  stamps of low denomination like 3c and 4c and 5c are still good for postage but now that a letter is 60 cents you'll need 10 to 15 to 20 stamps to cover the postage.  Sometimes there's not enough room on the envelope!  At one point collectors were speculating that the value would go up but the supply is way more than the demand.  When stamp collections are bought by dealers the unused low value stamps are sold at a discount simply to get rid of them.  If you happen to have a business and you send out a mailer it's a great way to save on the cost of postage.  Also, there's nothing greedy about it... half price stamps only gets you cheap postage... you can't cash them in for cash.

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@bambopbam 

While what you describe is accurate and certainly happens when collectors give up collections and use their plate blocks and other unused stamps, it's forever stamps that are highly counterfeited and being sold at huge discounts, very commonly distributed from another country on another continent.

[stephenmorgan]

I constantly get pop up advertisements for the half price stamps.  I don't know if they are fake or not but they are allowed to be advertised.  I am not purchasing any.

[bambopbam]

Right, as I said, some may be forgeries.  There's also another possibility, they may be stolen.  Altogether as I  first mentioned, the answer is: it depends.

[downunder-61]

Hmmm...... half price postage stamps?

What could go wrong?

@3733_fred 

[reallynicestamps]

That being the case why would anyone sell them for less than face value.

I do.

We have been buying stamp collections for over 40 years. Now DH is selling off the remaining stock of the shop we closed when we retired.

USPS has a PhilatelicFulfillment Centre and has had for decades.

They sell collectors (and accumulators) mint never hinged current stamps for their collections.

And when the widow goes to sell the collection, we buy them --- at well below their original price.

So right away, the original buyer is losing money.

Stamp collecting is a hobby not an investment.

Now we have pounds and pounds of perfectly valid, very pretty, postage stamps. Much more than we can use.  Nor can the widow.

Actually it's worse since we are in Canada and can't use USPS stamps anyway.

So.

We sort them into packets of like values and 100 per packet. 100x 30c value $30.00 -- but who needs 100 thirty cent stamps?

Someone who will pay $15.00 for twice that value. Or possibly $22.50.

I'm still sorting the most recent accumulation but soon I will be able to post them to eBay.

That being said.

There are counterfeit booklets and strips that pretend to be current stamps. Buying and using those is a criminal act.

Most philatelic estates are not settled until the collector has been gone for five years or so. So that, and a seller who has some track record as a stamp dealer, should protect you from the crooks.

[reallynicestamps]

By the way, I also have UK stamps from those Collector Paks  and of course Canadian, but those I have private buyers for.