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"Any person importing, distributing, selling or otherwise assisting in the sale of counterfeit stamps is committing offences of fraud and/or counterfeiting" [1]

"Any person importing, distributing, selling or otherwise assisting in the sale of counterfeit stamps is committing offences of fraud and/or counterfeiting" [1] I am surprised there are so many listed on eBay. Just the two "sponsored" listings on eBay for the search "first class stamps" have already sold over £1000 of counterfeit stamps, and about £20 in fees for eBay. [1] https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/14308 https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/...

Syonyk 4y ago
> I am surprised there are so many listed on eBay. I'm not. They make money from it, just like Amazon makes money from the counterfeiters, scammers, and fraudulent sellers. Google has plenty of ads for fake stamps if you search for stamps - they're about the only ones you'll find ads for. Someone will write an article that gets traction talking about the vibrant market for fake stamps on eBay and Google, and they'll issue the Standard Tech Apology, "We are so, so sorry you caught us doing this and we will try harder to avoid you catching us doing it in the future," they'll clamp down for a few months, and then will quietly ignore the rise in the profitable listings again after the attention dies down. People selling fake products are great ad buyers. They have to bid high enough to be placed ahead of "organic" results and legitimate stuff, and if they get caught, you can keep their money per the terms and agreements and such.
adolph 4y ago
The surprising part is that people go to such effort for such a low value commodity. Who is sending 1k worth of Christmas cards etc? Maybe small biz, but again the value added doesn’t seem to match the risk of getting your model train outfit raised by the postal inspector. Maybe anarchists use these exclusively to avoid paying the man?
- Fezzik 4y ago
  Just a random example: I’m involved a bit in the Magic: The Gathering resale market and I know plenty of unscrupulous sellers who would gladly buy fake stamps to send their merchandise if it would save them even a few cents on every sale. Postage adds up when you’re shipping hundreds or thousands of envelopes in a low margin, competitive market. And I imagine there are lots of other collectable and re-sale markets with similarly principled people.
  - adolph 4y ago
    I hear you and that is why I added the hypothetical small biz shipping model train parts. A visit by the postal inspector would really ruin a low margin biz. Likewise, I suppose a postal service must weigh the cost/benefit of pursuing counterfeit stamps--it might not be costly enough compared to other forms of problems.
- Gigachad 4y ago
  Many small eBay sales are shipped as letters. Fake stamps would save you a fortune.
- electroly 4y ago
  In the US you can use stamps for Priority Mail packages; they're not just for letters! My dad does this when he sends packages because he can get (legitimate) bulk postage at odd denominations for less than face value. You can use more postage than will physically fit on the box; more postage can go into a shipping label pouch. I imagine the stamps get used up a lot faster when you're shipping packages with it. A tip to anyone wanting to get into this: legitimate bulk postage is sold by the pound!

Syonyk 4y ago

> I am surprised there are so many listed on eBay. I'm not. They make money from it, just like Amazon makes money from the counterfeiters, scammers, and fraudulent sellers. Google has plenty of ads for fake stamps if you search for stamps - they're about the only ones you'll find ads for. Someone will write an article that gets traction talking about the vibrant market for fake stamps on eBay and Google, and they'll issue the Standard Tech Apology, "We are so, so sorry you caught us doing this and we will try harder to avoid you catching us doing it in the future," they'll clamp down for a few months, and then will quietly ignore the rise in the profitable listings again after the attention dies down. People selling fake products are great ad buyers. They have to bid high enough to be placed ahead of "organic" results and legitimate stuff, and if they get caught, you can keep their money per the terms and agreements and such.

adolph 4y ago

The surprising part is that people go to such effort for such a low value commodity. Who is sending 1k worth of Christmas cards etc? Maybe small biz, but again the value added doesn’t seem to match the risk of getting your model train outfit raised by the postal inspector. Maybe anarchists use these exclusively to avoid paying the man?

Fezzik 4y ago
Just a random example: I’m involved a bit in the Magic: The Gathering resale market and I know plenty of unscrupulous sellers who would gladly buy fake stamps to send their merchandise if it would save them even a few cents on every sale. Postage adds up when you’re shipping hundreds or thousands of envelopes in a low margin, competitive market. And I imagine there are lots of other collectable and re-sale markets with similarly principled people.
- adolph 4y ago
  I hear you and that is why I added the hypothetical small biz shipping model train parts. A visit by the postal inspector would really ruin a low margin biz. Likewise, I suppose a postal service must weigh the cost/benefit of pursuing counterfeit stamps--it might not be costly enough compared to other forms of problems.
Gigachad 4y ago
Many small eBay sales are shipped as letters. Fake stamps would save you a fortune.
electroly 4y ago
In the US you can use stamps for Priority Mail packages; they're not just for letters! My dad does this when he sends packages because he can get (legitimate) bulk postage at odd denominations for less than face value. You can use more postage than will physically fit on the box; more postage can go into a shipping label pouch. I imagine the stamps get used up a lot faster when you're shipping packages with it. A tip to anyone wanting to get into this: legitimate bulk postage is sold by the pound!