Bought forever stamps off ebay. Now I learn that "fake stamps" are a thing. What's the play here?

[tigwelding]

Hi all. 

Needed some forever stamps for a mailing I'm doing. Saw there were sellers on ebay who had decent deal on them, ordered a couple rolls. 

Now I learn that 'fake forever stamps' are a thing. 

How can I verify if these are good? I'm working with the assumption they're valid (I have no reason to assume they aren't, other than a decent price and the existence of fakes) but don't want to send 300 letters and have armed goons show up at my house if they're not. 

[gkn29]

You'll know when you receive your mail back marked "counterfeit postage"

[tdumonde2014]

See if the Post Office can verify them.

[gkn29]

I knew I remember something like this. Here is some applicable reading...

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Lost-Packages-for-Using-Counterfeit-Stamps/m-p/31868973

[titipeo]

Not also there are fake forever stamps, some overseas vendor, not going to disclose the Country, but you can figure out easily, use fake postage labels to send their goods through the postal system as well. Scammers are not also making fake goods, fake authentication documents, fake postage, fake labels, fake "MADE IN _____", heck even fake money. 

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

@tigwelding 

Take these stamps down to the post office and take with you the seller's ID and the order information all just in case. If they are counterfeit, you will not get them back and you need to tell the postmaster where you got them. Then file with ebay a NAD=counterfeit.

[7606dennis]

What kind of decent deal could you get on eBay that you couldn't get from USPS directly?

[dirk12955]

United states postage sells at a discount on a regular basis,   Including forever stamps.   Not just on ebay.

I buy 55 cent forever stamps on ebay for about 40 to 42 cents each on a regular basis.    

Let's say Grampy collected U.S. postage stamps for 50 years.    Every Elvis,  Christmas,  Thomas Kincaide,  American flag and other stamp issue our PO turns out (At a profit)   Grampy bought all of them in sheet form.

Now,  the stamp collection is for sale.    100s of sheets going back to 1970.    None are valuable.   All of them are postage just waiting to get licked and stuck.

The stamp dealer,   or coin dealer,   or Pawn shop owner,   or  flea market buyer is not going to pay anywhere 

remotely close to face value.    Why would he?     He can buy postage at the Post office.  

Retail on a suitcase full of unused stamp sheets is about 70%   of the face value.     I buy from other stamp dealers and will receive stuff in a Priority envelope with 40-50-60 year old stamps used as postage.

Discount United states postage stamps are big business.   

[dirk12955]

For the OP.

Tagging on.    Avoid buying anything on ebay from certain sellers, in certain overseas nations ,

 you should be able to avoid buying fake forever stamps.

Or coins,   Or jewelry,   or Ball cards,    or Sim cards,   or video games,   or CDs,   or DVDs,    ETC,   ETC

[variety_nook]

Yeah, Right @dirk12955 

Forever Stamps were first printed by USPS in 2007.

How you're getting them prior to that is a JOKE! And you will be paying FULL current postage rates with any stamps printed prior to forever stamps.

i.e. $0.55

[bigabba]

There are tons of people (many in California) selling many rolls of Forever stamps on eBay at prices and quantities that don't make any sense unless they are counterfeit. Usually it will be about $40 a roll (compared to $55 in the Post Office). Just today, though, I found many sellers selling at greatly reduced prices, like a fire sale, like $14 for a roll. I wonder if the authorities are rounding the sellers up and they are frantically trying to make the last few bucks before being shut down. But as far as armed goons, I'm afraid the Post Office doesn't seem to care about what's going on...

B. A.

[dirk12955]

I noticed those listings flooding ebay a couple weeks ago when I needed stamps. 

It looks to me like all those sellers offering the exact same deal at the exact same price are old accounts that have been hacked.    The accounts I looked at hadn't had any activity in some time.   

Only time will tel if the stamps are fake or simply don't exist at all. 

This AM a $55.00 (Soon to be $58.00)  roll of forever stamps is $12.50 with dozens of listings that all look exactly alike.   

[airsheep]

That would also get the seller on the Postal Service's radar for counterfeiting if they are selling fake stamps, and USPS can kick it upstairs if needed.  The Feds have teeth in that matter.

[phangunguy]

the reason the price has collapsed on fake postage (from .3-.35 to .1ea) is that ebay introduced their new shipping method that provides tracking for .51 for anything thats flat and fits in an envelope. nobody quite knows how they negotiated this with USPS or if the program will expand to outside of ebay. but this has impacted the fake postage market greatly

now almost all the items that people were using the fake postage for can be tracked for .51 

because all their shipments now have tracking, less cases will be opened against the sellers, and they will be able to quality as a "top rated seller" and save 10% on final value fees, which saves them much more money than fake postage would. 

there is now no incentive for people to buy the fake stamps. demand has plummeted. 

[pilotstuff]

Can you explain this a little better? I don't follow your premise.

Specifically, what were people using the fake stamps for in the past?   And are you saying that the 51 cent tracking is the full cost of sending that envelope?