Postage Stamps

pilotteacher

Would it be legal for me to buy a large quantity of postage stamps at their present prices and then after 30th. April sell them (eg. on Ebay) for a slightly discounted new price?

1st .class buy @46p. sell@ 58p. profit 26%.
2nd. class @36p. @48p. profit 33%.

Worth emptying the Building Soc. account and having a go.

Blackdog

Not sure about the law on this but have you taken into account the ebay/paypal selling fees and of course the cost of postage!

See this thread which explains more https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3873671

innovate

I think it is legal (not 100% certain) but an equally huge question is whether it is worth it.

Almost everybody, especially those people sending lots of letters, will stock up at the current prices. They will probably buy in discount shops such as Superdrug or Costco. Some will just stop sending letters alltogether and switch to email / ecards etc.

How many people would buy their stamps on ebay because they can save 2p on stamp?

Then there will be a huge number of ebayers who think they can make a quick buck.

So the demand will be low, and supply will be high. This usually leads to price cuts - - or you need to sit it out and wait for demand to increase / supply to reduce. Your figures seem to assume instant sales - - is that realistic? Are your prices realistic?

Good luck if you still see a profit potential in this - - to me, it sounds just like one almighty gamble.

Gromitt

It's not worked for me in the past. I bought a book of stamps and since I don't use many, they lasted me through a payment hike period. The post office told me that letters and parcels are based on the amount of postage, not a single stamp, so if I wanted to use up old stamps I would have to purchase other ones to cover the cost of the new postage or they would class them as 2nd class.

Not sure how much truth there is in that. It was from counter staff, but we all know they can talk crap.

If its true however, then your 46p stamps would still only be worth 46p, and you would need an additional 14p in stamps to use them as first class after April.

custardy

Gromitt wrote: »

It's not worked for me in the past. I bought a book of stamps and since I don't use many, they lasted me through a payment hike period. The post office told me that letters and parcels are based on the amount of postage, not a single stamp, so if I wanted to use up old stamps I would have to purchase other ones to cover the cost of the new postage or they would class them as 2nd class.

Not sure how much truth there is in that. It was from counter staff, but we all know they can talk crap.

If its true however, then your 46p stamps would still only be worth 46p, and you would need an additional 14p in stamps to use them as first class after April.

stamps with no value,are valid for the current postal rates
so in current form 1st,2nd class,and 1st,2nd class large letter

lisyloo

The post office told me that letters and parcels are based on the amount of postage, not a single stamp, so if I wanted to use up old stamps I would have to purchase other ones to cover the cost of the new postage or they would class them as 2nd class.

If you buy a book of stamps that say 36p or 46p then you will have to add additional postage.
If you buy stamps that say 1st or 2nd then they are still valid for that service when prices rise.

I'm guessing but in the past the stamps were sold with monetary value so perhaps that what you had.
For a while they've been sold with 1st and 2nd on them.

sabretoothtigger

If sending parcels, even 1p less then needed will incur an excess charge of 1 pound. So its a good idea to buy the penny stamps also.
Only a letter of set size weight is covered through the price rise, otherwise the stamp just makes up part of the cost

SnowTiger

pilotteacher wrote: »

Would it be legal for me to buy a large quantity of postage stamps at their present prices and then after 30th. April sell them (eg. on Ebay) for a slightly discounted new price?

1st .class buy @46p. sell@ 58p. profit 26%.
2nd. class @36p. @48p. profit 33%.

Worth emptying the Building Soc. account and having a go.

Probably not worth it, unless you can afford to sit on the stamps for a few years. And then inflation would probably (more than) wipe out any potential profits.

Everyone knows the price rises are coming and still have a month to stock up. I don't send that many letters, but probably more than most. I bought 60 second class stamps a few weeks ago and will probably buy another one hundred, or so, during the next few weeks.

And don't forget that those on ESA and Incapacity Benefit will get another chance to buy stamps at their current price before Christmas. I see they're limited to buying 36 stamps at a time, but I don't think there's anything to stop them buying additional blocks of 36 stamps.

There are plenty of cheap unfranked stamps on eBay which have already gone through the postal service. Quite a saving for those willing to take the risk.

MoneySaverLog

Yes I bought about a thousand 2nd class stamps back when they used to be worth like 20p. I don't bother with first class but I can still use them and still have around 800 left :-)

Wont be needing any stamps anytime soon and with the price going up to 50p each that's not a bad return :-)

moneylover

presumably eventually and if the Royal Mail is privatised the RM could issue new stamps and say that the 'old' first and second class stamps could only be used up till a certain date and would then need top up so I dont thhink I will be buying five years worth

It made me realise that I use hardly any stamps now except at Christmas and I think that more and more people will send less seasonal cards than in the past.

MoneySaverLog

Doubt it they have always said that they will be valid as long as they have 1st or 2nd on them rather than the monetary amount.

A lot of people bought them in advance knowing that and to not honour them would be going back on their word. If they did that then they would have to buy them back at the new rate too :-)