I really don't understand!! If someone were selling postage at grossly reduced prices wouldn't it almost certainly be fake? Or does the post office sell off unused stock at almost giveaway prices. Surely most of this garbage if fake material from overseas! Please tell me how this stuff exists, legally!
@Harvey
I worked for a stamp dealer who sold excess postage for a discount.
Dealer goes to Post Office and buys 1 sheet of stamps for x dollars.
Dealer removes plate block(s) and other position pieces and a few singles for his/her stock book.
Dealer has 50 stamps left over. Dealer is in business to make money, dealer sells off the left over stamps for a discount price (getting some of his working capital back to buy more stamps).
Dealers makes money enough to cover his expanses and make a profit.
1898
Good point, never thought about it that way! Thanks!!
i used to buy coil remnants from PNC dealers; they had no use for the bulk of their coils and sold them cheap: 50% off for small denominations and 25-30% off for current rate/forever.
I paid $15.00 for 3,000 1c coil remnants from Rabinowitz, one of the largest PNC dealers; still have half of them, and he's been gone probably a decade.
At a recent club auction i purchased celebrate the century sheets 1900,1910s,1920s,1930s,1940s,1950s,1960s,1970s,1980s and 1990s for FIVE Bucks ! Now thats discount postage
Sixty stamps at 32 cents...$19.20 and 90 @ 33 cents $29.70 thats close to 10 percent of cat.
And i was the only bidder !
We have a Stamp Auction run by a stamp dealer who has regular lots of discounted postage from Presentation packs, prestige booklets and mint collections. The only drawback is that most lots are anything from $125 to $800.
However there are current problems, small Machins cannot be used (There goes the prestige booklets) and we do not know when any stamp with Queen Elizabeths head on it will not be accepted by Royal Mail. (In the past a year after the death of the monarch the stamps are classed as obselete and we are already 10 months in.)
From my point of view, stamps you buy are an IOU. The postal system, whatever the country, has to deliver the mail stamped with it. Doing otherwise is a steal. Michel
"And i was the only bidder !"
My wife and I have been getting a lot of email from somewhere called the "Postage Store". Site looks very much like the USPS website but is not.
My wife had been wanting Christmas stamps for her upcoming car mailings so she ordered two different types. (5-books of 20 for $19.99.
When they arrived they just looked a little faded in color. I presumed they were counterfeit and notified paypal who refunded my money, but I kept the stamps as a lesson learned reminder.
I am weighing the option of taking one of each book to my local post office and letting them look at them.
Mike
Moderator Note: Thanks for letting everyone know about this scam.
The link was removed as it is to a counterfeit stamp selling site originating in China. These similar advertisements are all interlinked, many of which are found in places like Facebook Marketplace.
The United States Postal Service NEVER sells stamps at a discount, or at wholesale or bulk prices. It is forbidden to do so by federal law.
(Modified by Moderator on 2023-07-22 21:06:46)
BUT they do discount large mailings at different prices, so a discount is still a discount!
Mike, you are correct
The USPOD and USPS have offered discount services (but never postage) in all three centuries in which it's operated.
The post is related to counterfeiting postage and selling as if it were being marketed by the USPS.
I didn’t see the deleted messages but most certainly those rolls of Forever stamps at a discount are counterfeits from China.
On the other hand, I do buy discount postage from known stamp dealers at 50-60% of face to use to ship my eBay packages. Yes I spend a few hundred dollars at a time.
These come from collection purchases where someone bought a sheet, or a lot of sheets, of every new stamp for decades. Thought it was an investment but you know how that went! Collector dies and his family sells off his stuff.
The dealer had to take the entire collection to get what he actually wanted, and sells off the postage hoard to get back some money.
One lot I bought on eBay had 100 plate blocks each of several 1970s space issues. All gone as postage now!
“I am weighing the option of taking one of each book to my local post office and letting them look at them.“
If you do take them to the post office, there is a very good chance they will be confiscated.
A member of my stamp club took some to the USPS and they seized every stamp
There's been a lot of local chatter about Buying Discount Postage since every household seems to be getting deluged with Emails, etc. A couple of things trouble me, and others. One "authority" claims that USPS employees are not federal employees. I guess this is true. Is it? Why can't the USPS combat the selling of counterfeit stamps? There's been a couple of interesting articles about eliminating the USPS. It's outlived its usefulness. Who needs advertising brochures delivered 7 days per week (the article said 7 days per week). The USPS has allowed the UPS and Fedex to siphon off its' most lucrative package business. A woman took some of the questionable stamps she purchased to our local Post Office to ask if they were counterfeit. The Post Office clerk said "How would I know??"
It is not illegal to buy or own them. It is illegal to use them. The post office don't have a right to confiscate them. There are many collectors of these and Scott put out a catalog showing them. The post office has plans to confiscate mail that uses them.
Vince
It's definitely illegal to import them.
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/local-media ...
This is getting away from topic of discount postage but you can buy U.S counterfeit stamps as long as they are not used to defraud the USPS.
https://www.mysticstamp.com/Products/Sim ...
Those in the UK can buy cheap postage any day of the week on eBay and elsewhere, often as much as 50% below face or better.
At the big International Exhibition in London last year I purchased 4 heavy and old albums of Israel stamps which mainly contained modern MNH stamps and Miniature sheets. I paid £80. I discarded the old heavy albums and put all the stamps in glassine envelopes. When I got back home I managed to sell all the older stamps and two scarce items from the modern for just over £150. I was left with all the modern, in complete sets, to use for postage. There was over 3,700 Shekels worth of postage, just over £800 !! I have enough for a lifetime and it cost me nothing.
There are deals out there. Check those albums at shows and fairs. You never know what you will find.
Londonbus1
Oh, I didn't know!
While a polite and clever reader might conclude that a PM contact might result in an opportunity to buy a share in MNH Israeli postage, nowhere do I see any actual offer to sell.
These comments have been removed from a classified ad.
re: Buying Discount Postage
I really don't understand!! If someone were selling postage at grossly reduced prices wouldn't it almost certainly be fake? Or does the post office sell off unused stock at almost giveaway prices. Surely most of this garbage if fake material from overseas! Please tell me how this stuff exists, legally!
re: Buying Discount Postage
@Harvey
I worked for a stamp dealer who sold excess postage for a discount.
Dealer goes to Post Office and buys 1 sheet of stamps for x dollars.
Dealer removes plate block(s) and other position pieces and a few singles for his/her stock book.
Dealer has 50 stamps left over. Dealer is in business to make money, dealer sells off the left over stamps for a discount price (getting some of his working capital back to buy more stamps).
Dealers makes money enough to cover his expanses and make a profit.
1898
re: Buying Discount Postage
Good point, never thought about it that way! Thanks!!
re: Buying Discount Postage
i used to buy coil remnants from PNC dealers; they had no use for the bulk of their coils and sold them cheap: 50% off for small denominations and 25-30% off for current rate/forever.
I paid $15.00 for 3,000 1c coil remnants from Rabinowitz, one of the largest PNC dealers; still have half of them, and he's been gone probably a decade.
re: Buying Discount Postage
At a recent club auction i purchased celebrate the century sheets 1900,1910s,1920s,1930s,1940s,1950s,1960s,1970s,1980s and 1990s for FIVE Bucks ! Now thats discount postage
re: Buying Discount Postage
Sixty stamps at 32 cents...$19.20 and 90 @ 33 cents $29.70 thats close to 10 percent of cat.
re: Buying Discount Postage
And i was the only bidder !
re: Buying Discount Postage
We have a Stamp Auction run by a stamp dealer who has regular lots of discounted postage from Presentation packs, prestige booklets and mint collections. The only drawback is that most lots are anything from $125 to $800.
However there are current problems, small Machins cannot be used (There goes the prestige booklets) and we do not know when any stamp with Queen Elizabeths head on it will not be accepted by Royal Mail. (In the past a year after the death of the monarch the stamps are classed as obselete and we are already 10 months in.)
re: Buying Discount Postage
From my point of view, stamps you buy are an IOU. The postal system, whatever the country, has to deliver the mail stamped with it. Doing otherwise is a steal. Michel
re: Buying Discount Postage
"And i was the only bidder !"
re: Buying Discount Postage
My wife and I have been getting a lot of email from somewhere called the "Postage Store". Site looks very much like the USPS website but is not.
My wife had been wanting Christmas stamps for her upcoming car mailings so she ordered two different types. (5-books of 20 for $19.99.
When they arrived they just looked a little faded in color. I presumed they were counterfeit and notified paypal who refunded my money, but I kept the stamps as a lesson learned reminder.
I am weighing the option of taking one of each book to my local post office and letting them look at them.
Mike
Moderator Note: Thanks for letting everyone know about this scam.
The link was removed as it is to a counterfeit stamp selling site originating in China. These similar advertisements are all interlinked, many of which are found in places like Facebook Marketplace.
The United States Postal Service NEVER sells stamps at a discount, or at wholesale or bulk prices. It is forbidden to do so by federal law.
(Modified by Moderator on 2023-07-22 21:06:46)
re: Buying Discount Postage
BUT they do discount large mailings at different prices, so a discount is still a discount!
re: Buying Discount Postage
Mike, you are correct
The USPOD and USPS have offered discount services (but never postage) in all three centuries in which it's operated.
The post is related to counterfeiting postage and selling as if it were being marketed by the USPS.
re: Buying Discount Postage
I didn’t see the deleted messages but most certainly those rolls of Forever stamps at a discount are counterfeits from China.
On the other hand, I do buy discount postage from known stamp dealers at 50-60% of face to use to ship my eBay packages. Yes I spend a few hundred dollars at a time.
These come from collection purchases where someone bought a sheet, or a lot of sheets, of every new stamp for decades. Thought it was an investment but you know how that went! Collector dies and his family sells off his stuff.
The dealer had to take the entire collection to get what he actually wanted, and sells off the postage hoard to get back some money.
One lot I bought on eBay had 100 plate blocks each of several 1970s space issues. All gone as postage now!
re: Buying Discount Postage
“I am weighing the option of taking one of each book to my local post office and letting them look at them.“
If you do take them to the post office, there is a very good chance they will be confiscated.
A member of my stamp club took some to the USPS and they seized every stamp
re: Buying Discount Postage
There's been a lot of local chatter about Buying Discount Postage since every household seems to be getting deluged with Emails, etc. A couple of things trouble me, and others. One "authority" claims that USPS employees are not federal employees. I guess this is true. Is it? Why can't the USPS combat the selling of counterfeit stamps? There's been a couple of interesting articles about eliminating the USPS. It's outlived its usefulness. Who needs advertising brochures delivered 7 days per week (the article said 7 days per week). The USPS has allowed the UPS and Fedex to siphon off its' most lucrative package business. A woman took some of the questionable stamps she purchased to our local Post Office to ask if they were counterfeit. The Post Office clerk said "How would I know??"
re: Buying Discount Postage
It is not illegal to buy or own them. It is illegal to use them. The post office don't have a right to confiscate them. There are many collectors of these and Scott put out a catalog showing them. The post office has plans to confiscate mail that uses them.
Vince
re: Buying Discount Postage
It's definitely illegal to import them.
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/local-media ...
re: Buying Discount Postage
This is getting away from topic of discount postage but you can buy U.S counterfeit stamps as long as they are not used to defraud the USPS.
https://www.mysticstamp.com/Products/Sim ...
re: Buying Discount Postage
Those in the UK can buy cheap postage any day of the week on eBay and elsewhere, often as much as 50% below face or better.
At the big International Exhibition in London last year I purchased 4 heavy and old albums of Israel stamps which mainly contained modern MNH stamps and Miniature sheets. I paid £80. I discarded the old heavy albums and put all the stamps in glassine envelopes. When I got back home I managed to sell all the older stamps and two scarce items from the modern for just over £150. I was left with all the modern, in complete sets, to use for postage. There was over 3,700 Shekels worth of postage, just over £800 !! I have enough for a lifetime and it cost me nothing.
There are deals out there. Check those albums at shows and fairs. You never know what you will find.
Londonbus1
re: Buying Discount Postage
While a polite and clever reader might conclude that a PM contact might result in an opportunity to buy a share in MNH Israeli postage, nowhere do I see any actual offer to sell.