posted on January 6, 2007 03:27:22 PM new
koz: You're a stamp guy. How does he manage to do this with current U.S. postage?
I mean, I get how stamp dealers buy up huge collections and end up with lots of old U.S. commemoratives that have no collectible value, so they resell them as postage.
posted on January 6, 2007 05:15:28 PM new
Here is a sample of where stamps like this *could* come from....newly registered, low feedback sellers that sell large amounts of stamps.
Then in turn, the dealers who pay really low prices from unknown sellers offer them at a much larger percentage of face.
http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZsaulshmilQQhtZ-1
About 3-4 years ago, there was a major amount of counterfeit stamps being pushed on ebay in that exact fashion. Notice how one dealer was stuck with $80,000 of counterfeit stamps. This is not referring to this dealer since the postal inspectors confiscated those stamps, but just to show how quick it is for common sense to go out the window in search of bargains. Who is their right mind would buy $80,000 of modern stamps from an unknown source.
While these may be real or fake, buying large amounts of similar stamps is risky. Legitimate sources of modern stamps in large quantities are mailing that never happen to get the expense for tax purposes.
posted on January 6, 2007 08:07:17 PM new
txbg - I checked on the items you provided links to. The stamps being sold are still available from the USPS Philatelic Catalog. Must be more to this. Now I am really curious.
I certainly would never buy such a large value of stamps from a 5 feedback.
posted on January 7, 2007 08:26:21 AM new
I just received a catalog where it said Susan B Anthony silver dollars $69.99(MSR 99.95)with free shiping.
The picture shows 11 coins!
Now how can they make money doing this!
posted on January 7, 2007 08:28:51 AM new
Kozersky-
I am sure this is not the case,but some of the items being sold on Ebay are stolen goods,thats how they manage to start the bid at a ridiculously low price !
Just think thier cost is zero,all they pay is the Ebay fees,so anything above that is a profit for them!
posted on January 8, 2007 09:40:59 AM new
I believe there are major stamp dealers who buy massive amounts of stamps from the post office.
They then search through the stamps for imperfs, miscuts, and misprintings. Many sheets are broken down for the plate blocks. They also use topical stamps for potential resale, investment, and for their stamp subscription services.
What is left is sold as discount postage. I'm am sure much of that winds up on eBay.
posted on January 8, 2007 10:55:03 AM new
In the original post, the stamps were also available in sealed pads. This is just as it comes from the post office. There were many articles in Linn's about the forged flag stamps and they were also found in sealed pads. In large quantities, they are either forged, or result of purchases with stolen credit cards, employee theft, post office robbery. I purchased some on ebay a few years back from someone that lived locally. They were in the exact format that one could purchase from the postal centers which have stamps on hangers. A couple of months later, there were reports of several local post office breakins. I reported the purchases to the postal inspectors, but never heard back from them.
All stamps that are removed from sale are destroyed. Every so often, Linn's does a freedom of information act and reports on number of stamps that have been destroyed. One such report sparked the large increases in the RoadRunner and Porky Pig imperf stamps.
In the following link, there is specific guidelines that are followed when returning stamps that are off sale. The F-1 Handbook is not available online. I have been in the post office when the vault custodian was preparing all the old stamps for destruction. This was when the rate went from 34c to 37c. They are not discounted and sold off. It's cheaper to destroy than to provide services at a lower rate. The post office destroyed a full printing of Grand Canyon stamps (about $500K worth of stamp printing costs) because they had the wrong state shown on the stamp.
I have purchased many large collections and have never received that many modern stamps. My discount postage does not have large amounts of modern stamps. It takes time for modern stamps to hit secondary markets in quantity through collection sales. Dealers buying for inventory do not have large amounts of excess for discount postage. It's cheaper to buy the imperfs, miscuts, missing colors on the open market than hoping to find one in stamp purchases from the post office. On current mini sheets, removing plate blocks would only leave 4 stamps that would be available for postage.
posted on January 8, 2007 01:53:28 PM new
I must first point out that the dealar who is selling the postage has been in business for 34 years. Has a great reputation, and should not be compared to those who might be selling counterfeit stamps. I only posted his ad so that we could all share in some extra profit, if we could afford to do so.
It appears that the stamps are acquired from failing businesses who need quick cash; businesses and firms who are about to enter Bankruptcy, who are seeking cash for payroll, or their own pockets; Doctors, Lawyers, and other small proprietors who buy large quantities to sell at a loss for taxes, or themselves; and the other sources mentioned in previous posts.
If you have enough cash available, you could also purchase quantities of these stamps and sell to others. Or, you could just buy what is offered by McDonald and realize some extra profit this year.
posted on January 8, 2007 02:09:54 PM new
Maybe some people buy large quanities of stamps before the end of the year, so they can deduct the purchase as a business expense, and then resale the stamps in January.
posted on January 12, 2007 03:25:40 PM new
I received the stamps I ordered today. They are genuine but they are an issue no longer offered by USPS. Make of that what you will.
I'm happy. The money I saved is pure profit. I will buy more.
