Old Stamps

[Syd Rumpo]

I'm not sure if this is a legal question really, but it does seem odd.

I bought an item on ebay, and when it arrived, I noticed that the stamps
were very old, four different types, all commemorative, and dating from
1983 to 1996, all either 20p or 20.5p. The item was posted second class
but arrived promptly the next day.

Very pretty and unusual. I asked the seller, and he buys GBP 50 worth
of unused old stamps for GBP 44 from ebay. Of course, they're legal to
use as long as you round down any halfpennies.

But it doesn't compute. Why? How?

Cheers
--
Syd

[Owen Dunn]

Some stamps sold on ebay are not in fact unused, even though they bear
no marks (franks, postmarks etc.) of having been used. (Most of the
adverts I can find do actually say that the stamps are only for stamp
collectors.)

(S)

[Fredxx]

I have a stash of stamps I bought 2 years ago, so I could make a tidy
profit. RPI of stamps is higher than any interest I can get.

[Syd Rumpo]

On 09/05/2012 17:00, Owen Dunn wrote:

<snip>

> Some stamps sold on ebay are not in fact unused, even though they bear
> no marks (franks, postmarks etc.) of having been used. (Most of the
> adverts I can find do actually say that the stamps are only for stamp
> collectors.)
>
> (S)

Here are some...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GB-postage-stamps-100-x-50p-3-values-new-gummed-unused-100-legal-/251056665374?pt=UK_Stamps_BritishStamps&hash=item3a7424b31e

Cheers
--
Syd

[Zapp Brannigan]

"Syd Rumpo" <use...@neonica.co.uk> wrote in message
news:joe994$taj$1...@dont-email.me...

AKA : Item 251056665374

[Neil Williams]

Owen Dunn <ow...@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:

> Some stamps sold on ebay are not in fact unused, even though they bear
> no marks (franks, postmarks etc.) of having been used. (Most of the
> adverts I can find do actually say that the stamps are only for stamp
> collectors.)

Is there a law that prevents Royal Mail putting an expiry date on stamps,
or selling them by value rather than by class as they used to?

Neil
--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK. Put first name before the at to reply.

[Mark Goodge]

On Wed, 09 May 2012 20:15:02 +0100, Neil Williams put finger to keyboard
and typed:

>Owen Dunn <ow...@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
>
>> Some stamps sold on ebay are not in fact unused, even though they bear
>> no marks (franks, postmarks etc.) of having been used. (Most of the
>> adverts I can find do actually say that the stamps are only for stamp
>> collectors.)
>
>Is there a law that prevents Royal Mail putting an expiry date on stamps,
>or selling them by value rather than by class as they used to?

Nothing at all. The choice not to is a matter of administrative
convenience.

The probability of people stockpiling stamps prior to a price increase was
foreseen when the decision was made to switch to unvalued standard stamps.
But using unvalued stamps means that the price can be changed without
needing to change the design, which is not only a saving in itself but also
means that neither the Post Office nor any other stamp retailer is now left
with unsold and practically unsalable stock when the price does change.

Much the same applies to an expiry date; the only way it could
realistically be used is if it's applied just before the stamps are sold,
since otherwise people won't buy stamps that are too close to being out of
date. But that significantly increases the complexity of the retail
operation, particular for independent retailers who only sell stamps as a
sideline and may not have a particularly high turnover.

Mark
--
Blog: http://mark.goodge.co.uk
Stuff: http://www.good-stuff.co.uk

[Syd Rumpo]

On 09/05/2012 20:15, Neil Williams wrote:
> Owen Dunn<ow...@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
>
>> Some stamps sold on ebay are not in fact unused, even though they bear
>> no marks (franks, postmarks etc.) of having been used. (Most of the
>> adverts I can find do actually say that the stamps are only for stamp
>> collectors.)
>
> Is there a law that prevents Royal Mail putting an expiry date on stamps,
> or selling them by value rather than by class as they used to?
>
> Neil

That's the thing. These stamps are all priced - in my case all either
20p or 20.5p. I'm not much of an investment guru, but buying a stamp in
1983 for 20p and selling it in 2012 for 18p doesn't make sense, and I
assume the seller is making a profit.

Either that or it's the hobby of an eccentric millionaire philanthropic
philatelist.

Cheers
--
Syd

[Graeme]

In message <jodqlu$1p4$1...@dont-email.me>, Syd Rumpo
<use...@neonica.co.uk> writes

>Very pretty and unusual. I asked the seller, and he buys GBP 50 worth
>of unused old stamps for GBP 44 from ebay. Of course, they're legal to
>use as long as you round down any halfpennies.
>
>But it doesn't compute. Why? How?

Are you asking whether old stamps are legal, or how they are being sold
for less than face value?

The former. Yes, they're fine. A stamp with a value of 20.5 pence is
worth 20p in terms of postage (rounded down), but TWO at that price will
be OK for 41p.

The latter. I guess they have been used, but not franked.
--
Graeme

[Syd Rumpo]

On 09/05/2012 21:05, Graeme wrote:

<snip>

> Are you asking whether old stamps are legal, or how they are being sold
> for less than face value?
>
> The former. Yes, they're fine. A stamp with a value of 20.5 pence is
> worth 20p in terms of postage (rounded down), but TWO at that price will
> be OK for 41p.
>
> The latter. I guess they have been used, but not franked.

The listing says '100% legal, new, gummed and unused', and a package
delivered to me today shows that they work. While you might get the odd
stamp not franked, these are packs of many and as far as I can see, all
commemorative stamps. Not only less than face value, but less than
their face value of in some cases nearly thirty years ago.

The seller must have access to a time machine, but I can't even work out
how that could do it.

Maybe someone inherited a collection of picture stamps and decided they
were worth no more than face value, which is probably true - AIUI,
franked 'first day covers' are what is collectable.

Cheers
--
Syd

[GB]

Mark Goodge wrote:
>
> The probability of people stockpiling stamps prior to a price
> increase was foreseen when the decision was made to switch to
> unvalued standard stamps.

I am sure you are right, and in the past I have often bought stamps prior to
the increase, rather than just after. However, I suspect that the decision
was made by Royal Mail at a time when the typical increase was 1-2p. This
latest increase was 30 to 40% (depending on which type of stamp you bought),
and the rush of purchases was to be expected.

--
Register as an organ donor with the NHS online. It takes 1 minute and
saves you carrying an organ donor card with you.
http://www.uktransplant.org.uk/ukt/how_to_become_a_donor/how_to_become_a_donor.jsp

[GB]

Syd Rumpo wrote:

> Maybe someone inherited a collection of picture stamps and decided
> they were worth no more than face value, which is probably true -
> AIUI, franked 'first day covers' are what is collectable.

Royal mail, and many other post offices in other countries, long ago worked
out that they could sell little bits of paper to stamp collectors for
significant chunks of money. That is the main reason why Royal mail keeps
producing lots of new stamp designs.

I can only presume that a lot of these oldish unused stamps have next to no
collector value, as they were produced in such large numbers.

[Chris R]

>
>
> "Syd Rumpo" wrote in message news:jodqlu$1p4$1...@dont-email.me...

Clearing out in-laws' house I found lots of old stamps, some 20 years+.
People are now getting letters from me festooned with low-value stamps to
make up current postage rates, many of the Christmas or commemorative
stamps, or old black 1st stamps (no idea how old those are).
--
Chris R

[GB]

Fredxx wrote:

> I have a stash of stamps I bought 2 years ago, so I could make a tidy
> profit. RPI of stamps is higher than any interest I can get.

For personal use that is fine. The cost of selling them on would make this a
less good investment.

[Adam Funk]

On 2012-05-09, Mark Goodge wrote:

> The probability of people stockpiling stamps prior to a price increase was
> foreseen when the decision was made to switch to unvalued standard stamps.
> But using unvalued stamps means that the price can be changed without
> needing to change the design, which is not only a saving in itself but also
> means that neither the Post Office nor any other stamp retailer is now left
> with unsold and practically unsalable stock when the price does change.

Another consideration is that when people stockpile stamps, Royal Mail
gets the smaller amount of money now but sits on it until it provides
the services later (or not at all, to the extent that people lose the
stamps).

[Roland Perry]

In message <apgs79x...@news.ducksburg.com>, at 11:20:02 on Thu, 10
May 2012, Adam Funk <a24...@ducksburg.com> remarked:

>> The probability of people stockpiling stamps prior to a price increase was
>> foreseen when the decision was made to switch to unvalued standard stamps.
>> But using unvalued stamps means that the price can be changed without
>> needing to change the design, which is not only a saving in itself but also
>> means that neither the Post Office nor any other stamp retailer is now left
>> with unsold and practically unsalable stock when the price does change.

As opposed to, for example, a newsagent who ends up with practically
unsaleable stock daily, weekly or monthly (depending on the publication
date of the relevant newspaper/magazine).

>Another consideration is that when people stockpile stamps, Royal Mail
>gets the smaller amount of money now but sits on it until it provides
>the services later (or not at all, to the extent that people lose the
>stamps).

But with 30% price rises and 3% inflation, it's a no-brainer (for
customers) this year.
--
Roland Perry

[Janet]

In article <4fab8487$0$12262$5b6a...@news.zen.co.uk>,
NOTso...@microsoft.com says...

You'd be surprised. I collect used postage stamps which I deliver to an
area collection point for Oxfam (most of the stamps are ordinary British
stamps with the Queens head). OXFAM sorts and sells them on the
international market to raise funds. £5,000 in just one year from our
collection point alone.

Janet.

[Nightjar]

On 09/05/2012 23:40, Syd Rumpo wrote:
....

> The listing says '100% legal, new, gummed and unused', and a package
> delivered to me today shows that they work. While you might get the odd
> stamp not franked, these are packs of many and as far as I can see, all
> commemorative stamps. Not only less than face value, but less than their
> face value of in some cases nearly thirty years ago.
>
> The seller must have access to a time machine, but I can't even work out
> how that could do it.
>
> Maybe someone inherited a collection of picture stamps and decided they
> were worth no more than face value, which is probably true - AIUI,
> franked 'first day covers' are what is collectable.

You are, of course, assuming that they were obtained legally.

Colin Bignell

[dochol...@gmail.com]

On Wednesday, May 9, 2012 8:15:02 PM UTC+1, Neil Williams wrote:
> Owen Dunn <ow...@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
>
> > Some stamps sold on ebay are not in fact unused, even though they bear
> > no marks (franks, postmarks etc.) of having been used. (Most of the
> > adverts I can find do actually say that the stamps are only for stamp
> > collectors.)
>
> Is there a law that prevents Royal Mail putting an expiry date on stamps,
> or selling them by value rather than by class as they used to?

I was once told that before decimalisation any unused stamps back to the later Victorian ones were still valid - but I suspect most of the older ones were worth more sold to collectors than used for postage. These days there may not be an expiry date printed on but self-adhesive stamps will have a limited life before the glue degrades and won't stick.
You can (or at least you could last time I tried) still get stamps with a value printed on, for making up postage on items that don't fit the standard 1st, 2nd and large letter categories - though even for that their use seems to be declining as post offices print stamps to order.

[GB]

That's amazing for just ordinary used postage stamps. Well done, indeed!

I remember as a child using my pocket money to buy packets of overseas
stamps. I don't think that I paid a fortune, but what I was buying was
basically landfill. This gave me hours of fun, so it was a win-win
situation.

[Roland Perry]

In message
<5545222.9.1336658607604.JavaMail.geo-discussion-forums@vbtf35>, at
15:05:02 on Thu, 10 May 2012, dochol...@gmail.com remarked:

> These days there may not be an expiry date printed on but self-adhesive
>stamps will have a limited life before the glue degrades and won't stick.

Pritt (stick). Clever name, innit.
--
Roland Perry

[Mark Goodge]

On Thu, 10 May 2012 11:55:02 +0100, Roland Perry put finger to keyboard and
typed:

>In message <apgs79x...@news.ducksburg.com>, at 11:20:02 on Thu, 10
>May 2012, Adam Funk <a24...@ducksburg.com> remarked:
>>> The probability of people stockpiling stamps prior to a price increase was
>>> foreseen when the decision was made to switch to unvalued standard stamps.
>>> But using unvalued stamps means that the price can be changed without
>>> needing to change the design, which is not only a saving in itself but also
>>> means that neither the Post Office nor any other stamp retailer is now left
>>> with unsold and practically unsalable stock when the price does change.
>
>As opposed to, for example, a newsagent who ends up with practically
>unsaleable stock daily, weekly or monthly (depending on the publication
>date of the relevant newspaper/magazine).

Actually, no, they don't, at least not normally. Provided that the unsold
stock is a reasonably small percentage of the total (typically, around
15%-20%) then they don't pay for the ones that didn't sell.

This is a deliberate move by the publishers to encourage newsagents to have
enough stock to serve all possible customers (within a predictable margin
of error), and thus maximise circulation (which is more important to
publishers than sales, as advertising revenue depends on it). Otherwise,
retailers will tend to under-order so as to avoid wasting money on unsold
stock, thus reducing the maximum circulation.

(That only works for periodicals because, as a general rule, it's the
advertising revenue which makes money for the publisher - the cover price
is merely to offset the costs of printing and distribution, and also to
provide a profit margin for the retailer).

>>Another consideration is that when people stockpile stamps, Royal Mail
>>gets the smaller amount of money now but sits on it until it provides
>>the services later (or not at all, to the extent that people lose the
>>stamps).
>
>But with 30% price rises and 3% inflation, it's a no-brainer (for
>customers) this year.

Yes, this year is unusual.

[Roland Perry]

In message <65vnq7t89dqshmujs...@news.markshouse.net>, at
18:50:02 on Thu, 10 May 2012, Mark Goodge
<use...@listmail.good-stuff.co.uk> remarked:

>>>> The probability of people stockpiling stamps prior to a price increase was
>>>> foreseen when the decision was made to switch to unvalued standard stamps.
>>>> But using unvalued stamps means that the price can be changed without
>>>> needing to change the design, which is not only a saving in itself but also
>>>> means that neither the Post Office nor any other stamp retailer is now left
>>>> with unsold and practically unsalable stock when the price does change.
>>
>>As opposed to, for example, a newsagent who ends up with practically
>>unsaleable stock daily, weekly or monthly (depending on the publication
>>date of the relevant newspaper/magazine).
>
>Actually, no, they don't, at least not normally. Provided that the unsold
>stock is a reasonably small percentage of the total (typically, around
>15%-20%) then they don't pay for the ones that didn't sell.

{whoosh]

And the same would be true of dated postage stamps.
--
Roland Perry

[Mark Goodge]

On Thu, 10 May 2012 20:15:03 +0100, Roland Perry put finger to keyboard and
typed:

Possibly, but there's no guarantee that it would be. At the moment,
retailers buy stamps on a firm sale basis, and any that they don't sell are
their own loss. The same applies to a lot of dated products - fresh food,
for example, with a mandatory sell-by date.

The reason why many periodicals are different is because of features
specific to that particular type of product, not just because they're
dated. And the particular feature in question is that the publishers are,
in most cases, financially better off accepting the loss on unsold copies
than they are accepting the reduction in sales that not accepting it would
cause. But that's only the case because the cover price isn't the most
important part of a newspaper's revenue - the advertising revenue is. If
advertising revenue was lower, then there would be no benefit in accepting
unsold returns. For that matter, there are quite a lot of magazines which
don't, precisely because they don't carry a lot of advertising.

[Roland Perry]

In message <595oq71cbfdnu7hor...@news.markshouse.net>, at
20:35:03 on Thu, 10 May 2012, Mark Goodge
<use...@listmail.good-stuff.co.uk> remarked:

>>>>As opposed to, for example, a newsagent who ends up with practically
>>>>unsaleable stock daily, weekly or monthly (depending on the publication
>>>>date of the relevant newspaper/magazine).
>>>
>>>Actually, no, they don't, at least not normally. Provided that the unsold
>>>stock is a reasonably small percentage of the total (typically, around
>>>15%-20%) then they don't pay for the ones that didn't sell.
>>
>>{whoosh]
>>
>>And the same would be true of dated postage stamps.
>
>Possibly, but there's no guarantee that it would be.

It would have to be for the business model to work.
--
Roland Perry

[S]

On May 10, 11:55 am, Roland Perry <rol...@perry.co.uk> wrote:
> In message <apgs79x6fd....@news.ducksburg.com>, at 11:20:02 on Thu, 10
> May 2012, Adam Funk <a240...@ducksburg.com> remarked:

Depends how much you buy. I remember my parents stockpiling stuff in
the 70s, they still had some of it 10 years later. I am not convinced
it was a sound investment.

[Roland Perry]

In message
<36e89d19-5971-48ac...@e20g2000vbm.googlegroups.com>, at
21:15:03 on Thu, 10 May 2012, S <s_pick...@yahoo.com> remarked:

>> >Another consideration is that when people stockpile stamps, Royal Mail
>> >gets the smaller amount of money now but sits on it until it provides
>> >the services later (or not at all, to the extent that people lose the
>> >stamps).
>>
>> But with 30% price rises and 3% inflation, it's a no-brainer (for
>> customers) this year.
>
>Depends how much you buy. I remember my parents stockpiling stuff in
>the 70s, they still had some of it 10 years later. I am not convinced
>it was a sound investment.

How much of the "stuff" was stamps?

I buy some things in bulk, and it can last for years. I don't call it
stockpiling, but it does save money because the retail mark-up on some
items (compared to industrial/catering versions) is huge.
--
Roland Perry

[Syd Rumpo]

On 11/05/2012 07:45, Roland Perry wrote:

<snip>

> I buy some things in bulk, and it can last for years. I don't call it
> stockpiling, but it does save money because the retail mark-up on some
> items (compared to industrial/catering versions) is huge.

ebay item 180872200882 is interesting. 50 new second class stamps for
GBP 33.95 + 1.30. That's only 70.5p each! Well worth stocking up.

As the listing says, why pay more?

Cheers
--
Syd

[dochol...@gmail.com]

I've had trouble trying to stick things that used to be self adhesive with it.
I'm sure that there are glues that would work but there's a limit to how much effort I'd go to to recover 60p.
I suspect they might well look as if you were tying to re-use stamps that had been through the post but not been postmarked, too.

[Sara]

In article
<27163115.872.1336735346022.JavaMail.geo-discussion-forums@vbmd2>,

AFAIAA that doesn't matter. According to an ex-postie I know, a stamp
that has been used and not franked by the post office can be re-used. I
suppose RM didn't think it was enough of an issue to try to prove the
case against people who claimed to have stuck a stamp to an envelope
that they then didn't post.

--
Sara

Peeps squeaks, Billy is silly and as for Armageddon...

[GB]

We all know that half the population is of below-average intelligence.
Nevertheless, preying on them is akin to shooting a sitting duck.






>
> Cheers

[S]

On May 11, 7:45 am, Roland Perry <rol...@perry.co.uk> wrote:
> In message

> <36e89d19-5971-48ac-a4ef-d115b6972...@e20g2000vbm.googlegroups.com>, at
> 21:15:03 on Thu, 10 May 2012, S <s_pickle2...@yahoo.com> remarked:

>
> >> >Another consideration is that when people stockpile stamps, Royal Mail
> >> >gets the smaller amount of money now but sits on it until it provides
> >> >the services later (or not at all, to the extent that people lose the
> >> >stamps).
>
> >> But with 30% price rises and 3% inflation, it's a no-brainer (for
> >> customers) this year.
>
> >Depends how much you buy. I remember my parents stockpiling stuff in
> >the 70s, they still had some of it 10 years later. I am not convinced
> >it was a sound investment.
>
> How much of the "stuff" was stamps?

I think they realised that there was no profit in buy 5 1/2 p stamps
and using them as 5 1/2 p stamps later. Non-denominated stamps only
came in later. But they had bags of sugar which had turned into rock.

[GB]

>> We all know that half the population is of below-average
>> intelligence.
>

> or maybe just that some Usenet posters don't know an average from a
> median.

Given that the usual assumption is a normal distribution of IQs, I find
your comment hard to follow. Care to help a poor feeble-minded fellow out,
please?

[Roland Perry]

In message <f35f01d3-208b-4878...@d10g2000vbw.googlegroup
s.com>, at 21:25:02 on Fri, 11 May 2012, S <s_pick...@yahoo.com>
remarked:

>> >I remember my parents stockpiling stuff in
>> >the 70s, they still had some of it 10 years later. I am not convinced
>> >it was a sound investment.
>>
>> How much of the "stuff" was stamps?
>
>I think they realised that there was no profit in buy 5 1/2 p stamps
>and using them as 5 1/2 p stamps later. Non-denominated stamps only
>came in later. But they had bags of sugar which had turned into rock.

There was a "sugar shortage" in 1974, and this reminded many people of
wartime rationing and there was quite a bit of stockpiling going on.

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2010/jul/09/archive-rationing-
sugar-shortage-looms>

>> I buy some things in bulk, and it can last for years. I don't call it
>> stockpiling, but it does save money because the retail mark-up on some
>> items (compared to industrial/catering versions) is huge.

Sugar is one of those commodities where the price *doesn't* reflect the
bulk in which it is bought. Indeed, buying 5kg or 10kg bags of it can be
more expensive than regular ones. That's in contrast to other common and
relatively non-perishable commodities such as rice or olive oil, where
buying a year's supply at once (at a cash and carry) can be a massive
saving.
--
Roland Perry

[Martin]

On 11/05/2012 22:35, Anthony R. Gold wrote:

> On Fri, 11 May 2012 20:45:02 +0100, "GB"<NOTso...@microsoft.com> wrote:

>> We all know that half the population is of below-average intelligence.
>

> or maybe just that some Usenet posters don't know an average from a median.

Blimey. There are lots of "averages" the mean, median and mode being the
main ones.

The median IS an average, and most usenet posters to UKL are bright
enough to know the difference between the three usual ones (I think/hope).

[S]

On May 12, 2:10 am, Martin <use...@etiqa.co.uk> wrote:
> On 11/05/2012 22:35, Anthony R. Gold wrote:
>

> > On Fri, 11 May 2012 20:45:02 +0100, "GB"<NOTsome...@microsoft.com>  wrote:
> >> We all know that half the population is of below-average intelligence.
>
> > or maybe just that some Usenet posters don't know an average from a median.
>
> Blimey. There are lots of "averages" the mean, median and mode being the
> main ones.

The mode is not an average.

[Adam Funk]

I think it was in the 1940s that my great-grandfather, who was a
serious fan of sugar, noticed the price rising, panicked, & stockpiled
quite a few 25 lb sacks of the stuff --- I think he kept chipping away
at the contents into the 1960s.

[Ian Jackson]

In article <aeb69055-b2ed-4de2...@ec4g2000vbb.googlegroups.com>,

S <s_pick...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>The mode is not an average.

You have failed to edit Wikipedia to support your point of view :-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Average

--
Ian Jackson personal email: <ijac...@chiark.greenend.org.uk>
These opinions are my own. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~ijackson/
PGP2 key 1024R/0x23f5addb, fingerprint 5906F687 BD03ACAD 0D8E602E FCF37657

[Humbug]

On Sun, 13 May 2012 20:35:02 +0100, Adam Funk <a24...@ducksburg.com>
wrote:

A couple of years ago, someone at work said to me: "You'd better fill
your car up on the way home, because people are panic-buying".

Bah!

--
Humbug

[brenda...@gmail.com]

On Wednesday, 9 May 2012 14:20:03 UTC+1, Syd Rumpo wrote:
> I'm not sure if this is a legal question really, but it does seem odd.
>
> I bought an item on ebay, and when it arrived, I noticed that the stamps
> were very old, four different types, all commemorative, and dating from
> 1983 to 1996, all either 20p or 20.5p. The item was posted second class
> but arrived promptly the next day.
>
> Very pretty and unusual. I asked the seller, and he buys GBP 50 worth
> of unused old stamps for GBP 44 from ebay. Of course, they're legal to
> use as long as you round down any halfpennies.
>
> But it doesn't compute. Why? How?
>
> Cheers
> --
> Syd

Hi, Was the item military by any chance, because I had the exact same experience.

[Serena Blanchflower]

I have no idea whether Syd's purchase, in 2012, was military but it
isn't uncommon.

So long as old stamps are unused, they remain legal to use for postage.
This covers both stamps for a named value and 1st or 2nd class stamps,
which can be used even if the cost of 1st or 2nd class postage has risen
significantly since they were first produced.

There are a number of stamp dealers who sell cut price stamps both on
eBay and elsewhere (I regularly buy discounted stamps from
<https://www.philatelink.co.uk/>, as I have a serious postcard habit).
I don't know if Royal Mail sells off remaindered stamps to dealers but I
assume that most of them are, in effect, the sweepings from philatelic
auctions. They are the low value stamps left over, after the dealers
have harvested the more valuable ones.

--
Happy hibernating,
best wishes, Serena
Be yourself, everyone else is taken (Oscar Wilde)

[Clive Arthur]

On 03/04/2020 11:21, Serena Blanchflower wrote:
>
> So long as old stamps are unused, they remain legal to use for postage.
> This covers both stamps for a named value and 1st or 2nd class stamps,
> which can be used even if the cost of 1st or 2nd class postage has risen
> significantly since they were first produced.

<snip>

I buy these, usually £7.50 for a minimum £10.00 face value, and I have a
sheet of new 1p and 2p stamps to fill in the cracks. TBH the time spent
making up the right value probably exceeds the saving, but it's fun. I
make sure to reserve all the Royal Family stamps for Christmas cards to
ROI. The variety of stamps is quite astounding to a non-philatelist.

I imagine - with no evidence whatsoever - that these are from dead
people's collections and the stamp merchant's children sort them out for
pocket money.

One thing I don't know - does for example 8.5p + 8.5p = 17p or 16p?

--
Cheers
Clive

[Serena Blanchflower]

On 03/04/2020 13:16, Clive Arthur wrote:
> On 03/04/2020 11:21, Serena Blanchflower wrote:
>>
>> So long as old stamps are unused, they remain legal to use for
>> postage. This covers both stamps for a named value and 1st or 2nd
>> class stamps, which can be used even if the cost of 1st or 2nd class
>> postage has risen significantly since they were first produced.
>
> <snip>
>
> I buy these, usually £7.50 for a minimum £10.00 face value, and I have a
> sheet of new 1p and 2p stamps to fill in the cracks.  TBH the time spent
> making up the right value probably exceeds the saving, but it's fun.  I
> make sure to reserve all the Royal Family stamps for Christmas cards to
> ROI.  The variety of stamps is quite astounding to a non-philatelist.

I generally buy single value bundles, which may be slightly more
expensive but much easier. There's also the challenge, when using them
on a postcard that, if you have to use too many different stamps to make
up the value, it doesn't leave much space for a message! Just using
two, or sometimes three, stamps is more manageable. At the moment,
1x1st class plus 1x66p adds up to the correct airmail postage for an
international postcard.

> I imagine - with no evidence whatsoever - that these are from dead
> people's collections and the stamp merchant's children sort them out for
> pocket money.

I'm sure that's where some of them come from. A lot of the cards I get
from Philatalink are still in strips and are mint condition.

> One thing I don't know - does for example 8.5p + 8.5p = 17p or 16p?
>

I think it's only 16p but I'm not certain of that.

--
Happy hibernating,
best wishes, Serena

It actually doesn't take much to be considered a difficult woman. That's
why there are so many of us. (Jane Goodall)

[Nick Odell]

Does anybody know the mark-up involved when stamps are purchased for
resale by card shops and newsagents? Could these eBay sellers simply
be working on a smaller margin?

Nick

[Serena Blanchflower]

I don't think so. A lot of them are pretty old; I've got a few which
date back to the London 1980 international stamp exhibition. I'm pretty
sure that, if Royal Mail is still selling those to dealers, it'll only
be as part of a remaindered job lot, not as part of their standard range.

[Roland Perry]

In message <2gcf8f5em2uo782eg...@4ax.com>, at 19:02:31 on
Fri, 3 Apr 2020, Nick Odell <ni...@themusicworkshop.plus.com> remarked:

>Does anybody know the mark-up involved when stamps are purchased for
>resale by card shops and newsagents?

<https://www.royalmail.com/sites/royalmail.com/files/2020-03/retailer-
stamp-prices-23-march-2020.pdf>

£10 discount on an order for £390 worth of 2nd Class (etc).

Don't all rush at once.
--
Roland Perry

[Saxman]

On 03/04/2020 11:21, Serena Blanchflower wrote:

I contacted Stanley Gibbons with a view to selling my collection dating
from the Coronation. The advice was to use them as postage stamps.
Wish I could get rid of them.

[Paul Cummins]

In article <2gcf8f5em2uo782eg...@4ax.com>,

ni...@themusicworkshop.plus.com (Nick Odell) wrote:

> Does anybody know the mark-up involved when stamps are purchased for
> resale by card shops and newsagents? Could these eBay sellers simply
> be working on a smaller margin?

Normally when we purchase stamps in bulk from Costco, we get between 4%
and 9% off.

--
Paul Cummins - Always a NetHead
Wasting Bandwidth since 1981

There are two kinds of people in the world,
Those who can draw conclusions from incomplete data...

[Peter Johnson]

On Fri, 3 Apr 2020 13:16:00 +0100, Clive Arthur
<cli...@nowaytoday.co.uk> wrote:

>
>One thing I don't know - does for example 8.5p + 8.5p = 17p or 16p?

17p. You'd only lose the 1/2p when using them singly.

[Peter Johnson]

On Fri, 3 Apr 2020 14:26:17 +0100, Serena Blanchflower
<nos...@blanchflower.me.uk> wrote:

>
>> I imagine - with no evidence whatsoever - that these are from dead
>> people's collections and the stamp merchant's children sort them out for
>> pocket money.
>
>I'm sure that's where some of them come from. A lot of the cards I get
>from Philatalink are still in strips and are mint condition.
>

Some of them will be from collectors who've bought sets in complete
sheets in anticipation of big gains, and been disappointed.

[Peter Johnson]

On Fri, 03 Apr 2020 19:02:31 -0300, Nick Odell
<ni...@themusicworkshop.plus.com> wrote:


>
>Does anybody know the mark-up involved when stamps are purchased for
>resale by card shops and newsagents? Could these eBay sellers simply
>be working on a smaller margin?
>

I think the max discount is 10%.

[Peter Johnson]

On Sat, 4 Apr 2020 09:38:35 +0100, Saxman
<john.h.willia...@gmail.com> wrote:


>
>I contacted Stanley Gibbons with a view to selling my collection dating
>from the Coronation. The advice was to use them as postage stamps.
>Wish I could get rid of them.

I have a neighbour who thinks his first day cover collection is worth
a small fortune. I haven't attempted to disabuse him because I know he
won't believe me.

[Peter Johnson]

On Fri, 3 Apr 2020 11:21:32 +0100, Serena Blanchflower
<nos...@blanchflower.me.uk> wrote:



>I don't know if Royal Mail sells off remaindered stamps to dealers

No they don't.

[Peter Johnson]

On Sat, 4 Apr 2020 08:32:24 +0100, Roland Perry <rol...@perry.co.uk>
wrote:

Ignore my posting on this subject, which I made before I read this.

[Theo]

Peter Johnson <pe...@parksidewood.nospam> wrote:
> Some of them will be from collectors who've bought sets in complete
> sheets in anticipation of big gains, and been disappointed.

Does anyone us stamps as currency any more? I'm thinking of the things
there used to be:

"For more information, send four first class stamps and a stamped
self-addressed envelope to PO Box 1234, London SW1A 1AA"

What did the recipient do with so many stamps if they didn't use them on
their own correspondence? Could you (and can you still) turn them into
postal orders or something?

Theo

[spuorg...@gowanhill.com]

On Saturday, 4 April 2020 23:28:33 UTC+1, Theo wrote:
> What did the recipient do with so many stamps if they didn't use them on
> their own correspondence? Could you (and can you still) turn them into
> postal orders or something?

You could take them back to the post office and get money for them. I think there was a small deduction.

Or sell them to any office that used lots of stamps but didn't have a franking machine.

Owain

[Martin Brown]

The odd rare one is. The first day cover from a stamp fair in Prague on
the day that the Russian tanks appeared on the streets for instance.

ISTR there were some rocket flown first day covers too which have rarity
value well beyond the norm.

Stamps that were withdrawn due to technical proofing errors but where
some escaped into the wild like one of the Xmas stamps series a few
years back have significant rarity value too. Not massively valuable but
still sought after by collectors who like such oddities.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

[Saxman]

On 04/04/2020 15:11, Peter Johnson wrote:

He could always do a search on Ebay.

[DerekF]

On 03/04/2020 11:21, Serena Blanchflower wrote:

I buy some mail order items from a company in Jersey and the large
envelopes have had up the 35 low value stamps of different issues.
Derek