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

HonestJohn

NBLondon said:

Money_Grabber13579 said:

NBLondon said:

darkh0rse said:

So we can still stockpile? 😂

If you think the price will go up again - then yes stockpile now.

Or buy swappable stuff under face value (with a bit of eBay hunting); swap those and stockpile the barcoded ones.  (This is my current approach)

As long as you’re confident that what you’re buying on eBay is genuine - some fake stamps will say they are fake, others won’t…

I'm not buying the business sheets or bulk stuff - I agree too many fakes about.  But I do buy booklets under face when I spot them.  Older prestige booklets are a good target now.  You get some usable values and some oddments; previously the oddments would have just piled up but now they can be swapped.

My strategy is the same. I think a lot of collectors are cashing in before their stamps lose value. I did get caught out by one seller who sent me some fakes but ebay protects the purchaser and I got a full refund. I have a small UV torch which helps.

Doc_N

If anyone has a load of fake stamps to get rid of, knowing full well that Royal Mail would reject them if they tried to exchange them, eBay would be a very obvious first port of call!

HonestJohn

Doc_N said:

If anyone has a load of fake stamps to get rid of, knowing full well that Royal Mail would reject them if they tried to exchange them, eBay would be a very obvious first port of call!

ebay does protect the buyer but you have to be careful with all goods, not just stamps. I once heard it described as the fence of the 21st century.

andy_geo

I  have seen this mentioned earlier in this thread  but I still can't see anything about the 31st of July extension on Royal Mail's website. I saw the articles in MSE and other websites but nothing official from RM. Very confused. I managed to swap most of stamps but I do have a few I discovered later. 
Is there any official announcement from RM about the deadline for using non barcoded stamps?

KeithP

andy_geo said:

I  have seen this mentioned earlier in this thread  but I still can't see anything about the 31st of July extension on Royal Mail's website. I saw the articles in MSE and other websites but nothing official from RM. Very confused. I managed to swap most of stamps but I do have a few I discovered later. 
Is there any official announcement from RM about the deadline for using non barcoded stamps?

Did you see my post on this thread on 18 November at 2:21PM?

That has the detail you are looking for.

andy_geo

KeithP said:

you see my post on this thread on 18 November at 2:21PM?

That has the detail you are looking for.

Thank you - RM tried really hard to make it obvious!

Louise135

I sent 12 first class stamps to be swapped before I noticed the deadline had been extended.

I’ve received only 5x 1st class and 7x 2nd class in return. Not a fair swap I don’t think!

Codger1947

I see that Royal Mail are still postmarking letters with the message

"Use up your non-barcoded stamps by 31 January 2023."

MiserlyMartin

Well then, that's the date we should be taking notice of then. Unless they change their website to be July then we should act accordingly. The same with the swap outs. My leaflet from RM says "Use up your non-barcoded, regular stamps by 31st January  2023 or swap them out". There is nothing that says you can swap them out beyond this date.

KeithP

MiserlyMartin said:

My leaflet from RM says "Use up your non-barcoded, regular stamps by 31st January  2023 or swap them out". There is nothing that says you can swap them out beyond this date.

Maybe not on your leaflet, but...

Their website currently states...




That same webpage also says...