WARNING Before using Forever stamps you purchased recently on Ebay

[mcw1627jed]

Have them checked out by the PO as many of these too good to be prices are extremely likely to be counterfeit.

Get a receipt if they are taken.

You don't want to get your mail returned or a knock on the door.

[a_c_green]

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@mcw1627jed wrote:

Have them checked out by the PO as many of these too good to be prices are extremely likely to be counterfeit.

Get a receipt if they are taken.

You don't want to get your mail returned or a knock on the door.

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Considering how the USPS raises postage rates a penny or two at a time (along with all the hoo-haw that erupts whenever they do so), I can't picture how or why they would go wholesaling their Forever stamps (or any other ones) at a discount to anyone.

Are there in fact legitimate, genuine Forever stamps available on-line, or are we just seeing varying qualities of counterfeits? Do the genuine ones have any kind of embedded verification? Seems to me like a little stamp on an envelope doesn't have a whole lot of security features that would be obvious at a glance.

[mcw1627jed]

Discount postage is a real market.Like when a stamp collection is sold for one reason or another or a business closed up & had some left over & to turn into cash sold at a discount.

However ,Forever rolls were being sold for around 42cts a stamp until recently & are as cheap as 8cts a stamp now.

 Plus huge amounts suddenly have appeared,most of which the listings seem to be coming from the same area in California.

Between the prices & large amounts of forever stamps recently,most recent listings most certainly have to be looked at &likely fake.

[eburtonlab]

Do the genuine ones have any kind of embedded verification?

I understand that some stamps may have microprint text, or may have characteristics that show up under UV light, but it varies depending on which version you are looking at.

Some of the counterfeits are very hard to detect.

https://www.linns.com/news/us-stamps-postal-history/quality-of-modern-counterfeit-u.s.-stamps-keeps-...

[itscalledapostingid]

One of the shocking aspects of this is the USPS just returns letters with an inked stamp that says "counterfeit postage." 

[a_c_green]

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@itscalledapostingid wrote:

One of the shocking aspects of this is the USPS just returns letters with an inked stamp that says "counterfeit postage." 

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...and you just know that some collectors are paying big bucks to get those covers... 😊 (I worked for many years on the production software for the Scott Stamp catalogs, and they document all kinds of weird postage-related oddities in addition to the usual stamps.)

[mcw1627jed]

And with the many thousands of rolls & sheets of Fakes that may have been dumped widespread into the market ,it may be easier to find a cover with counterfeit postage then a genuine cover at some point.

No Way can anyone expect to get a genuine roll with free shipping for $8.

[buyselljack2016]

Seems like the postal inspection service should have gotten this shut down by now. Go figure.

[mcw1627jed]

Yes,You would think so.

I even ordered 2 rolls a couple of weeks ago at the time about $13.50 a roll to have to show to the PO.

Called up the local main po & let them know I have them unopened to inspect.They called the Postal inspectors & passed on the information about the thousands of rolls for next to nothing on Ebay.Local po give them my # with my permission early last week & I have heard nothing since.

[1tuna]

ebay say that there is no problem with postage..............they are not really aware of it

besides..........................all you have to do is report it

its forbidden to sell counterfeit postage on ebay......end of problem

its funny how ebay does not like to talk about certain things at all and just goes right to the "report it" mantra

you know the old................"are hands are tied"

[mcw1627jed]

It looks like Ebay finally removed the counterfeit forever stamps listings I;ve been warning about

Will Ebay be offering a refund on the tens of thousands of the fake rolls & sheets sold?

[simba6]

I don't think so.   Buyers will have to file a not as described case to recover.

[mcw1627jed]

You of course may be right.

But in this case Ebay has been profiting from a Federal crime if things just go quietly away.

[lesubjonctif]

they are not in California.  they are in China and are immune to the laws of the USA.  They are exploiting the deal China has with the USPS.  They can use the USPS to send to the USA for pennies.  They use an address in City of Industry to fool the buyers.  But the clue is the way  they address the "small packer" (this is what the USPS calls this type of mailer from China)  They add under your address United States.  Since when we send domestic mail we don't ever write United State because we are already there.  If you are not in the USA you would write United States.   Another clue is when they respond to questions, if they do.  I have asked questions of several of these sellers,  which I think are one seller with multiple accounts,   If they reply it is always in the middle of the night.  Either it is a boiler room, or they are in China,

I have written to the USPS Chief Postal Inspector and told them about the fakes being sold on eBay.  Their response was to the tune of We don't care.  he told me like this :  what are we supposed to do stop the machine every time a counterfeit stamp goes in?  I was surprised that I got a response and even more surprised by the answer.

Now with so many, who knows trillions, of fake stamps in the system,  maybe they will start caring,  But I would not expect a knock on the door because I used a fake stamp.  There would be so many doors they would have to knock on it would not be cost effective.  They could confiscate the mail with the fake stamp, but probably will just return it for real postage. 

The USPS has recently got a patent on a machine that identifies fake stamps.  I don't know if it is in use or not.  If it is then they might start confiscating,  But they can try to prosecute but they would have to prove intent to use fraudulent stamps which would be hard to do.  They will go after the bigger fish, China.  Maybe through the IPOL or maybe the Universal Postal Union.  International crime is hard to prosecute i would think, esp because IPOL and the world courts have no teeth.

I think China is trying to knock out the USPS to interfere with our elections,  With all the news about mail in ballots and what is happening to the USPS with Lovejoy in charge, they might be.  I know they monitor our media and news very closely.  China is far far from being an ally,

that's just my take on it

I am glad to see that eBay took them all down.  But I still see $39 rolls, which who knows could be legit,  but maybe not.

[mcw1627jed]

Yes,

You are definitely right that these came from China & they were mostly using the California address as a front.

I was just amazed how obvious these listings became and Ebay didn't seem at all interested.

Was also surprised like what you said when I reported to the po who contacted the Postal Inspectors they didn't seem to care either even with the large amounts being sold here & facebook.

These listings were easy to spot & could have been taken down weeks ago.I tried to get my rolls I purchased just to have inspected & they are still sitting in my unopened package.

I would be very leery of buying discount forever stamps now even if I thought the seller was honest.