Reporting US Forever Stamp Sales that Appear to be Counterfeit. (Keep the Discussion to Stamps only)

[bobdenneu]

I know this topic has been discussed by various Categories and Forums over the years, but I think it belongs here on the Stamp Board.  For the past couple of months I've noticed an increasing number of listings for US Forever Stamps that appear to be Counterfeits.  It's not only occurring on eBay, but also on Amazon, Walmart, Etsy, and other sites devoted to discounts on stamps.  Most of the suspicious sales have been sourced out of China but sales also are showing up from US sources.

Some Users, mainly from China and some from the US, show blatant disregard to the eBay Selling Policy and eBay certainly doesn't have Stamp Experts determining what is real or fake.  Because no one at eBay appears to be monitoring suspect sales, I believe it is up to the Stamp Community to let them know what listings fall into the 'To Good to be True' category.   

I've had conversations with eBay regarding suspect Counterfeit Sales to determine the best method to deal with suspicious listings.  They told me that using the "Report Item" button on a listing will inform them that the item being sold should be investigated.   

To Report an Item. 

Press the 'Report Item' button above 'Item Specifics' on the listing in question.

File a Report Page Appears.

     Report Category

          I select 'Prohibited and restricted items'

     Reason for Report

         I select 'Stamps, currency, and coins'

     Detailed Reason

         I select 'Other currency and stamp concerns'

     Brief Description

         You can enter your suspicions here.

     Submit

With that bit of knowledge I have been reviewing listings in the US Postage Category.  It isn't hard to determine items that are suspected of being Counterfeit.  I concentrated on US Forever Stamps Sales looking at the listing price or sales price versus face value.  All the Flag stamps from primarily 2017 thru 2022, most of the Booklets from 2019 thru 2022, and a lot of Sheets from 2020-2022 are suspected of being Counterfeited . The old adage 'You'll Know it when you see it" applies.  At first Buy it Now items selling at approximately half face value were no brainers.  Then I had to decide how to determine if sellers using the Auction format got around the obvious hall price sale.  That took a little more investigation.  It helped to look at the seller's 'Sold Listings".   If the amounts received from Auction sales still had huge discount repeatedly, then its suspicious.   One-offs do occur where a seller just wants to dump stamps for whatever reason.  That's why looking at not only the current listing but See Other Items listed for sale and Sold Listings are important to review

The Stamp Community has to step up and make an effort to stop Counterfeit Listings.  If eBay receives multiple Report Item complaints they may actually act.   You should be concerned if you are a Seller because your prices are being undermined.   If you are a Buyer, your concern would be not knowing if what you bought was real.   

In additional posts, I will let the Board know what I've discovered fighting this problem and hopefully persuade the Community to act. 

[bobdenneu]

Excerpt from Linn's Stamp News.

Counterfeiting of U.S. forever stamps increased exponentially in 2021 with most new issues being faked. Scott catalog editors have noted within the Postage section of the Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps and Covers what stamp issues are known to exist as counterfeits and have placed that information in footnotes.

Because of the large number of new counterfeit forever stamps (more than 300 major numbers in the last year), Scott editors have decided to only list denominated and earlier counterfeits in the 2023 Scott U.S. Specialized catalog.

No forever or postcard-rate counterfeits are included in the 2023 Scott U.S. Specialized catalog for the years 2007 to date.

The forever counterfeits are included in this new catalog of counterfeits.

If just denominated counterfeit issues were listed, the new catalog would only be 17 pages long. With the explosion of forever counterfeit issues, it is 97 pages. More counterfeits have already been reported as the catalog was heading to press in January.

I believe the future Stamp Collecting of Forever issues will be questionable due to the explosion of Counterfeits in 2021 and with no end in sight.  The Postal Inspection Service appears to be Missing in Action with no visible means of curtailing blatant and obvious sales of Counterfeit Forever Stamps.

[bobdenneu]

Ebay is now Using A.I. to Determine what Violates their Stamp Policy.

Recently eBay started providing acknowledgment to reports of suspicious listings and sales by sending messages saying.

"Thanks for reporting the content you found to be problematic on our site.  We’re looking into it now. We’ll let you know once we’ve reviewed it and provide you with details of any decision that we make."  

After a period of time, they would or would not inform via message if the item reported violated eBay Policy.  At first their reviews said "We looked into the matter and decided ".   Their decisions were basically yes or no with little explanation.

Then a subtle difference in their response

"We looked into your report and didn’t find the listing to be in violation of our policy. This determination was made using automation or artificial intelligence."  

All the items in question were US Forever Stamps in Rolls and Booklets listed in Collectables & Art> Art> Other Art Category and mostly sold by China and Hong Kong.  Coil Rolls of 100 Forever Stamps for the years 2017-2023 were selling for as little as $14.  The majority of the Booklets were selling at an average price of $15 for 5 Booklets of 20 stamps each.  Some Booklet names included Rudolph Reindeer, Gingerbread Houses, Winter Scenes, Jack o Lanterns, Frozen Treats, Snowy Beauty, Garden Flowers, and all Booklets from 2021-2023.

By using Non-Stamp Categories, Seller' s appear to be greenlighted and allowed to sell Suspected Counterfeit Forever Stamps with impunity.  It shows that the fight against selling Counterfeit Stamps is ongoing, and eBay is not up to the task of curtailing it.

Any Comment?

[malolo]

Thanks for your efforts and your latest report. Amazing how one sees the "garbage in garbage out" syndrome appear so quickly in AI used by a huge online corporation. Trust eBay to lead the way for stamp counterfeiters to sell their products , as you say, with impunity. The almighty dollar trumps reason and evidence. It could have been simpler for eBay to create a subcategory within the Stamps Categories for " art stamps".

Great work by you.

[msgtdavid]

Interesting subject!

[bobdenneu]

If eBay created  "Art Stamps" within the Stamp Category the counterfeiters would Just use a different Category.  The point of my post was that A.I. is only as good as the human programming it.  Ebay has no one with even a modest understanding of Stamp Collecting.

[kh-cathy]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.