Is it illegal to sell postage stamps?

terra_ferma

DA63147 wrote: »

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

Doesn't sound like such a great plan to me, considering that you are sitting on your money for years. If you take into account inflation, loss of potential interests if the money was in a bank account, fees paid to wherever you sell (ebay, paypal or credit cards fees etc) + tax, I can't see this being a great money-making scheme...

techspec

antrobus wrote: »

If it is then Stanley Gibbons are in deep trouble.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

G'Meister

terra_ferma wrote: »

Doesn't sound like such a great plan to me, considering that you are sitting on your money for years. If you take into account inflation, loss of potential interests if the money was in a bank account, fees paid to wherever you sell (ebay, paypal or credit cards fees etc) + tax, I can't see this being a great money-making scheme...

A close relative of mine called me up a few weeks ago asking where he might sell his stamps, left over from a business he no longer runs. He had about £4000 worth of 1st Class stamps, purchased at 5% discount about 10 years ago. I seem to recall he'd made about a 40% return on his investment. He was in a rush to sell them so he ended up selling them to a stamp merchant of some descript, who offered him 1/3 less than today's face value, which he accepted without hesitation...
I agree that the price of postage will continue to rise at a good pace and that they're a good investment, but think carefully about how many others might be doing this, and to whom you might sell to several years down the line.