Is it illegal to sell postage stamps?

marcusjclifford

As per subject is it illegal to sell postage stamps?

With the price rise coming in, say I was to buy 5,000 first class stamps at 46p - so a cost of £2,300 now could I sell them in the future for (to give a bargain to people) at say 55p, as they would cost 60p if bought from the post office...

This would make me say £450 - I guess this could be scaled up, but not sure of stamps are a special category of item that cannot be re-sold etc.

sarahb

If you were thinking of selling on eBay you would lose virtually all of your profit in ebaY and paypal fees.

loobylou232

Sound like a large layout of cash and more importantly time for £450.

Barbapapa_2

You'd also have to pay tax on any profits, buying purely to sell on would mean you'd have to register as a business seller on eBay/similar platforms. The grasping gov will still want their pennies.....

pob1976

They could also change their minds at the last minute and you would be stuck with loads of stamps. It could also be a tactic to get people to panic buy stamps so they make a huge profit in a short time. I would keep an eye out for WHS, who sometimes sell them for 5% less and stock up for personal use.

antrobus

marcusjclifford wrote: »

As per subject is it illegal to sell postage stamps?

...

If it is then Stanley Gibbons are in deep trouble.

hmo

I thought I had read or heard somewhere that you can only buy a small quantity at the current price which would mean many trips to post office or various shos so time consuming for such a small prifit

monkeymo

For a 20%ish return I would say this is quite a good idea...

How and to who would you sell them?

DA63147

Legal to sell
Not covered in any forms of postal insurance.
One third of recorded delivery items not signed for, if you sell in bulk and send by Special delivery insurance not covered but less likely to be nicked. If you sell in bulk people will want a good discount due to the high discounts covered by franking machines. I am quite a big ebay seller, dishonest buyer's trying to get a free lunch has increased rapidly over last few years due to buyer dishonesty and ease to claim money back through Paypal. 'Losted in the post' - One in 2,000 according to research was probably one in 1,000 when 10 years ago for my business, past 1,000 sales 17 buyer's claimed hadn't received item. Only one successively got their money back, others got screwed over:rotfl:
Ebay / Paypal and increased postage fees in April. Also, packaging fees and fuel to Post Office.
Sell locally: Friends will try to get a bargain not a few percent off, local papers put an advert for a bulk amount they will flag you as a business seller and only allow you to list if you pay business rates.
Tax on profits.

Myself, I have bought 2nd class stramps and will be buying 1st class stamps before price rise, no intention to sell until they hit the £1 mark:D

Most people I know if I offered stamps to them at 5p off they would think I am nuts, most people avoid bargains or at least don't like to be seen as taking interest in bargain's. Maybe buy and hold, regulation suggests 1st class stamps will hit £1 soon. I bought in bulk rolls of the stuff paid for 2nd class stamps 20p several years ago still sitting on them 50p in April woop:D

mo786uk

lots of people wil ltry this so coudl take a while to sell them all, and most peopel wil lnto want to buy them in big quantities.

akane_2

if it has first class or second class then they will ok to buy in bulk, i am using stamps from over ten years ago that i found in our desk, my husband and myself get free stamps every year as we work for royal mail, but the future of royal mail is not certain and you may get stuck with them or swap them for face value in the future.