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Buying Discount Postage Stamps
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Did you know that you can buy postage stamps at a discount? It’s 100% legitimate and there’s nothing unethical or dishonest about it.
Stamp collectors often buy collections at a discount and sell all the non-collection quality stamps at a discount to be rid of them. You can buy postage stamps at a discount by buying these non-collection quality stamps from them. The savings aren’t astronomically huge, usually around 10%, but every little bit counts.
What’s the catch? From what I can tell, nothing. The collectors buy them in bulk at a discount, sort through to find anything of value, and then get rid of the extras. We know the post office isn’t losing money, so where is the loss? The person or estate selling the stamp collection to the collector is the one that bears the brunt of the loss, then it’s the collector if they get with a bunch of junk.
How much? I found one very informative seller, Henry Gitner Philatelists, Inc., and they had some pretty good prices:
| Face Value | Discount % | Shipping |
| $100-$400 | 86% | $3.50-7.50 |
| $500-$1999 | 85% | FREE |
| $2000+ | 83% | FREE |
As you can see, the discount starts at 14% and ends at 17%, with some shipping costs. The prices I listed were for gummed postage (where you have to lick it) and with stamps being six to thirty-nine cents. You can see their whole PDF price list here. It may or may not be worth the effort of buying stamps from a complete stranger, but I wanted to throw it out there if you ever wondered about this kind of stuff. I have no idea who these guys are, I never talked to them, but they were the only people I could find that clearly explained how it all worked. If you do a lot of shipping and don’t get discounts otherwise, buying discount postage stamps may be the way to go.
I’ve never bought discount postage stamps because I was a bit overzealous in buying Forever Stamps when they were first introduced. However, now that I’m going to be doing a lot of shipping because of the Bargaineering Bucks store, I’m trying to find ways to save a little extra on postage.
Have you ever bought discounted stamps?
(Photo: doctorow)
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I don’t really use postage stamps these days. I pay all my bills via my banks online Bill Pay. So I guess I don’t know who would actually benefit from this. Don’t businesses already get a discount for bulk quantity shipping anyways? Does anyone send enough mail to warrant this?
I guess the only problem with this is that the stamps you’d be buying are generally lower denomination. So you’d be dealing with 6, 8, 12, 20, 29, 32 cent stamps. It could be a hassle to mail something with weird number combination like this.
If you’re just mailing regular 1st class letters then that could be pretty hard to get the right 44c postage amount. Say you bought $200 worth of stamps through such a service and you end up with a pile of 29 cent stamps. How do you use those? Or maybe you’re mailing some books via media mail. So you put the book in a 8×10 envelope and its $2.38 to mail it. But all you’ve got are 6 cent stamps. Will 40 x 6c stamps fit on the envelope?
I should say that I do think this is a great tip. It just has to be the right situation for it to work.
Oh interesting avenue towards purchasing stamps. I didn’t even know you could purchase stamps at a discount. I don’t send much mail out but if I ever do this sounds good. Also nice that there is no catch!
Are the savings from buying discount stamps grater than those offered by places like Endecia or PayPal Shipping or though any small business discounters offered by the post office?
I haven’t seen any official USPS discounts greater than 5%, unless you’re sending bulk mail.
However, there is no way I’d do this as a consumer, piecing together enough stamps to add up to the correct postage would be annoying, and if you’re forced to use incorrect postage – there goes your discount!
But the time involved seems like a waste. You can save so much time and be exact with electronic postage. Plus you don’t have to worry about losing or damaging stamps.
Wow, I actually forgot about gummed stamps. For the casual mailer, the forever stamp is probably the path of least resistance to head down. Business owners might take advantage a little more.
This could be a really cool and cheaper way to get stamps for wedding invitations. Since it normally costs more than what the forever stamp will cover you have to buy specialty $0.58 stamps (or whatever the costs are now) but this way you could get some cool looking stamps and save some money! Cool tip, thanks Jim!
Why not try stamps.com? You would be able to print stamps online. I think they provide free stamps when you first sign up and a free trial too!
I have done this before– I get them at stamp shows (I am a collector).
The nice byproduct of this is it encourages collecting because some of the stamps are older and catch the eyes of young collectors.
I see you are a collector. I have a lot of duplicates and a lot of holes in my collection of U.S. stamps. Any interest in trading? Linda
I could never see myself buying that many stamps. I do love the idea of Forever Stamps though and I buy them whenever I need stamps. I agree with matthew in that stamps.com is a great way to save time by printing stamps at home.
Wow, what a lazy society we have become. It would only take an extra 2-3 minutes -maybe- to piece together and lick some stamps. My dad collects stamps and I LOVE to get his envelopes. They are so neat, half filled with stamps, I usually save the envelopes. I never thought of doing it myself. Thanks Jim!
I’ve done this before, buying stamps at collectors’ shows for 85 – 90% of face value. Take my advice: it’s not worth the trouble.
I still have hundreds of 3¢, 4¢, 5¢, etc. stamps that are a pain to use. You’re not likely to get 29¢ stamps from a dealer by mail. Figure on plenty of very small denomination stamps.
It was fun using the old stamps at first — but that got old real quick. The only exception I’d make is for Christmas stamps, if you want to add a personal touch to your Christmas cards. But you have to go to a collector’s show for them; no dealer will take time to sort out Christmas stamps to fill your mail order.
You only have so many minutes in your life. Don’t waste them sorting thru a box of old stamps, in order to save a few percent. Word up.
where Can I go to collector’s shows for the discount on the stamps