Walmart Selling Stamps

[bobdenneu]

Today I was rifling through headlines and a 2021 Bugs Bunny Stamp ad showed up with Walmart as the source.  What in the world does this have to do with Walmart I asked.  After clicking on the ad I was amazed to see Walmart has a Postage Stamp Category.   What further amazed me was the selection of stamps and the fantastic bargains.  For instance:

Frogs Forever Postage Stamps US First Class Postage 5 Books Total of 100 Stamps  $32.99

Fruit and Vegetables Postage Stamps 5 Booklets of 20 (100 Stamps)  $31.99

Holiday Wreaths 5 Book of 20 Forever Stamps Christmas Tradition Celebration (100 Stamps)  $31.99

U.S. Flag 2 Roll of 100 USPS Forever First Class Postage Stamps 2018  $59.95

Great Deals Right!   One may ask how can the stamps be so cheap and Who in the world  would sell at such prices?

If you answered China as the source you would be correct.

Walmart obviously imports massive quantities of goods from China to sell on their website.  Why Not Stamps?

To be fair there seems to be some legitimate sellers on the site, but it's obvious the bargains are from China the Counterfeit capital. 

[bobdenneu]

My headline feed when I turn on my computer has an ad from discountedstamps.com featuring "Stamps 50% Off Right Now".    When the sight is pulled up USPS.com is the headline.   They go on to explain that the reasons why they are legitimate.    The stamps for sale include current Flag Booklets as well as Frogs, Cactus Flowers, Bonzai Trees, Winter Scenes, Wild Orchids, Love Stamps, etc.    Buy 100 stamps for $38.  Buy 200 Stamps for $50.90.

I also checked out Etsy.  Unbelievable the availability of previously hard to find stamps for sale.  Etsy at least appears to have some legitimate stamps for sale.  However, if you dead set on Cactus stamps.  They have 100 stamps for $29.99  and free shipping.  A few years back it was hard to find stamps on Etsy.  

United States Post Office doesn't appear to be interested in shutting down sites that sell obvious counterfeit stamps.   It's now in your face from Chinese sources.   Their official response is "Beware of Discounts."

[billsey]

Mostly it is so easy to setup a scam site like that that when USPS, or any police type agency, gets rid of one another two pop up within minutes. Plus they find it very difficult to get at the actual perpetrators, since they are overseas. Agencies that deal with international crime really want to have the numbers very large before they step in... 😞

[jaywild]

I'm guessing that Louis DeJoy's cost-slashing at USPS has left any pursuit of stamp forgers pretty thin on the ground.  The more USPS loses or becomes a nuisance to consumers, the better for the DeJoy family which is heavily invested in USPS-alternative businesses.  Just on more painted pony on TFG's cabinet graft merry-go-round.

[michaels1806]

This is an OUTSTANDING Article on the Stamp Scam mockery going on.

VERY Nice and Informative article this was.

[albertabrightalberta]

---

@jaywild wrote:

A few years ago I received an eBay lot that was mailed with this “stamp” on the cover—

Someone took the enormous trouble to cut out the Liberty indicia from a postcard, pare the card down to paper thickness, perforate it then apply it to this cover.  (You can see that the perfs are not in an exactly straight line and are smaller and closer together than USPS perforations.)  Gain: 3 cents.

---

That wasn't cut from a post card. It was a 3 cent stamp, though not the self-stick type. If someone has old stamps, they're perfectly legal to use them as long as the sender uses enough to add up to the required postage amount.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2047675.m570.l1313&_nkw=statue+of+liberty+3+cent+...

[jaywild]

Thanks for jumping in with both feet!

Below is a block of four of the 3-cent Liberty stamp.  Below that is a 3 cent Liberty stamped postcard.

Do you see where you made your mistake?

 

[jaywild]

Just to be sure...

[bobdenneu · Accepted solution]

Legitimate Sellers should be worried about these types of Sales that are expanding from China occurring daily on eBay.

Forever Cactus Flowers-200pcs (10 Sheet of 20-Nature Self Stick USPS FIRST-CLASS

Winning bid:

$39.00

Shipping:

FREE Standard Shipping from outside

• Bids: 7
• Bidders: 2
  Time Ended:
  Jul 2, 2022 at 10:05AM PDT
• 

  Forever 'Wild Orchids' 120pcs (6 Sheet of 20) Nature Self Stick USPS FIRST-CLASS

  Winning bid:

  $25.00

  Shipping:

  FREE Standard Shipping from outside

  • Bids: 2
  • Bidders: 1
  • Time Ended:
    Jul 2, 2022 at 10:02AM PDT

[annadryl]

Yep, we've established this is clearly a thing. While we're at it, 'member these? This is one of my own pages cobbled together over the years. Several are clearly fakes, many were used...

[jaywild]

Hi annadryl

Don't be so quick to label your stamps as fakes.  Here is a very good visible guide to what's genuine and what's not.  Note the dropped "s" on the first fake.  The bottom fakes are too "clean" to be real.

Cheers, jaywild

[bobdenneu]

I received this eBay message today.   

"Hi, do you need a cheaper stamps source? We support drop shipping now. About $15/100 stamps. Do you need some?"

The source was from China.  The source has no history of buying or selling stamps.  The source became an eBay member on June 13, 2022.

Pictured with this message to me was the title and photo of one of my listings showing a sheet of Hot Wheels stamps.   I take it to mean Forever type stamps are offered at 15 cents per stamp.

Anybody know the meaning of "drop shipping"?

Anybody else receive a similar message?

[bobdenneu]

Today, 7/06/2022, I checked out Walmart's stamp category to see if anything changed.  I was surprised to see the dominance of "In Your Face" discounting of US Postage stamps from China has almost disappeared.  The current pricing of stamps sold in a lot of listings is reasonable.  There are some that are still suspect, but in those cases, the pricing is closer to face value.  Gone are the multiple sheet listing at half price.

Don't know what happened, but maybe complaints caused a house cleaning.

Now, on to eBay allowing Chinese vendors to rip off the USPS and American Taxpayers.  I am thinking of opening a new Community Thread devoted to ousting counterfeit stamp sales from China or elsewhere.  I currently have 30 suspect sellers on my list.   These sellers have a destructive affect on stamp collecting.   Legitimate sellers are being undercut in pricing.   Buyers dilemma will be not know what's authentic versus counterfeit.