Royal Mail barcoding stamps - existing stamps valid only until 31 Jan 2023

NBLondon

BooJewels said:

I can only assume that you bought your stupendously large amount of stamps for purposes slightly outside their intended remit, so this exchange is somehow curtailing your activity or profitability. That's hardly Royal Mails fault.

Like a collection?  Your logic is sound if the stamps were bought for the purposes of postage.  If they were bought specifically as booklets to be collected or possibly traded at some point in the future then exchange of booklets for sheets does have an impact.  The question then becomes - was that made clear to RM at the point of purchase?  (Pretty obvious that it wasn't part of the original purchase agreement).

molerat

Just been sorting out the house of a relative who has gone into care.  They were a collector and have folders full of these booklets which currently do have a value other than as a collectible.  From next year they will become pretty much worthless.  We had another relatives' collection valued after they passed several years ago and it was valued at less than £1K but had cost many many times that to accumulate.

Olinda99

i genuinely don't understand this. If the booklets were bought for collection then they won't be used for postage and so no point swapping them out anyway

also, since some people will be swapping out their old booklets then there will be fewer around and so the remainder will become more valuable

NBLondon

molerat is right.  Before barcoding the booklets have both value as a collectible and a backup value as they could be broken up for postage.  After Jan 2023; that backup value has gone.   The collectible value is a movable thing too - it might have more value to the original purchaser than to anybody wishing to purchase it at a later stage.

Olinda might have a point - if enough collector/dealers cash in their stocks and duplicates then there will be fewer around and prices might rise for some.  But that's a gamble if you decide to keep them in the hope of realising that rise; because the backup value will have gone.

What I'm reading in philatelic circles is that many are deciding to swap out duplicates because they will no longer be able to use them for postage.

Olinda99

thanks for the clarity. One question - if you decide not to take the risk of keeping the old booklets and decide to swap them out, then does it matter if you get sheets or booklets in return? It may do but I can't see how - but maybe i am missing something ?

izawa

This whole idea of barcoded stamps just seem nonsense. I haven't heard of other countries having this barcoded stuff.

NBLondon

izawa said:

This whole idea of barcoded stamps just seem nonsense. I haven't heard of other countries having this barcoded stuff.

Germany introduced them last year...
Belgium, Italy and France all use some form of barcode on stamps.  US machine-vended stamps have had them for 20 years!

NBLondon

Olinda99 said:

thanks for the clarity. One question - if you decide not to take the risk of keeping the old booklets and decide to swap them out, then does it matter if you get sheets or booklets in return? It may do but I can't see how - but maybe i am missing something ?

If you want them for postage - the difference is negligible. If you want to then sell them on - it may affect the price you get for them.

SpideressUK

Having posted for advice on a different thread within the MSE site and having spent a long time reading all the posts on this thread and generally feeling that it was unlikely I'd get my special delivery postage refunded in the "swap out" for the over £1K of "face value" none-bar coded stamps I have I took the plunge and sent them off to UK Stamp Company Ltd who trade under webuyanystamps and am reassured to be able to report this company is legitimate and has paid the £851.51 today. 

I posted the stamps Friday they were received Monday and I was paid by the Tuesday.  So if you have more stamps to "swap" than you are ever likely to use and if you bought them long enough ago to be able to lose about 50% of their current "face value" and either still make a profit or at least not too much of a "hit" I'd recommend using their service.

JWM

SpideressUK said:

Having posted for advice on a different thread within the MSE site and having spent a long time reading all the posts on this thread and generally feeling that it was unlikely I'd get my special delivery postage refunded in the "swap out" for the over £1K of "face value" none-bar coded stamps I have I took the plunge and sent them off to UK Stamp Company Ltd who trade under webuyanystamps and am reassured to be able to report this company is legitimate and has paid the £851.51 today. 

I posted the stamps Friday they were received Monday and I was paid by the Tuesday.  So if you have more stamps to "swap" than you are ever likely to use and if you bought them long enough ago to be able to lose about 50% of their current "face value" and either still make a profit or at least not too much of a "hit" I'd recommend using their service.

Sorry I don't understand.

You said you had over £1,000 of stamps but didn't want to swap with Royal Mail as you feared you wouldn't get the SD cost of £6.45 refunded.

So instead you sold them for £851 which is a loss of at least £150??

That makes no sense.