Is it possible to exchange royal mail stamps of a high value to more of a low value?

gjd0496

With regard to the new swap scheme Royal Mail have announced whereby they will exchange old stamps for the new bar coded variety, we have a number of high value stamps (£5, £3 etc) we no longer need and wonder if these can be changed to, for instance, an equivalent quantity of first or second class stamps?

I couldn't find anything on this subject on the Royal Mail website but I imagine the stamp swap scheme is like for like (as the name suggests!) so guess we would need to change these to lower denominations first, then swap them.

NBLondon

It is like for like - so if you send them a non-barcoded £5 (various shades of blue or picture of Windsor Castle) you will get a barcoded version back.

If you have obsolete values that don't now come in a barcoded version - these get rounded up and refunded as barcoded 2nd class.

If you know you are never going to use these high values for postage then your only options would be to sell them now either to a dealer or on eBay and take a loss or swap them now and then sell the barcoded versions.

If there's a possibility of needing a few for postage in the future - then swap now then keep a few and sell the rest perhaps?

gjd0496 said:

 so guess we would need to change these to lower denominations first, then swap them.

There's no mechanism for changing to lower denominations apart from selling them and buying what you need - in which case you'd not need to swap, just buy barcoded stamps in the value you now need.

gjd0496

NBLondon said:

It is like for like - so if you send them a non-barcoded £5 (various shades of blue or picture of Windsor Castle) you will get a barcoded version back.

If you have obsolete values that don't now come in a barcoded version - these get rounded up and refunded as barcoded 2nd class.

If you know you are never going to use these high values for postage then your only options would be to sell them now either to a dealer or on eBay and take a loss or swap them now and then sell the barcoded versions.

If there's a possibility of needing a few for postage in the future - then swap now then keep a few and sell the rest perhaps?

gjd0496 said:

 so guess we would need to change these to lower denominations first, then swap them.

There's no mechanism for changing to lower denominations apart from selling them and buying what you need - in which case you'd not need to swap, just buy barcoded stamps in the value you now need.

Thanks for that, I have never tried to sell (or buy) stamps on ebay is that legal?

user1977

gjd0496 said:

NBLondon said:

It is like for like - so if you send them a non-barcoded £5 (various shades of blue or picture of Windsor Castle) you will get a barcoded version back.

If you have obsolete values that don't now come in a barcoded version - these get rounded up and refunded as barcoded 2nd class.

If you know you are never going to use these high values for postage then your only options would be to sell them now either to a dealer or on eBay and take a loss or swap them now and then sell the barcoded versions.

If there's a possibility of needing a few for postage in the future - then swap now then keep a few and sell the rest perhaps?

gjd0496 said:

 so guess we would need to change these to lower denominations first, then swap them.

There's no mechanism for changing to lower denominations apart from selling them and buying what you need - in which case you'd not need to swap, just buy barcoded stamps in the value you now need.

Thanks for that, I have never tried to sell (or buy) stamps on ebay is that legal?

It would make stamp collecting much harder if it was illegal to buy or sell stamps!

Flight3287462

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifestyle/money/martin-lewis-royal-mail-stamps-26205065

gjd0496

user1977 said:

gjd0496 said:

NBLondon said:

It is like for like - so if you send them a non-barcoded £5 (various shades of blue or picture of Windsor Castle) you will get a barcoded version back.

If you have obsolete values that don't now come in a barcoded version - these get rounded up and refunded as barcoded 2nd class.

If you know you are never going to use these high values for postage then your only options would be to sell them now either to a dealer or on eBay and take a loss or swap them now and then sell the barcoded versions.

If there's a possibility of needing a few for postage in the future - then swap now then keep a few and sell the rest perhaps?

gjd0496 said:

 so guess we would need to change these to lower denominations first, then swap them.

There's no mechanism for changing to lower denominations apart from selling them and buying what you need - in which case you'd not need to swap, just buy barcoded stamps in the value you now need.

Thanks for that, I have never tried to sell (or buy) stamps on ebay is that legal?

It would make stamp collecting much harder if it was illegal to buy or sell stamps!

Fair point I guess but then most stamp collectors don't use them to post letters!

TELLIT01

There may be no formal way of exchanging high value stamps for more usable ones but you could ask at your local Post Office if they can do so.

Olinda99

A long time ago you could cut the stamp into two or even three '(bisects' or 'trisects') and use each piece separately.

NBLondon

gjd0496 said:

Fair point I guess but then most stamp collectors don't use them to post letters!

Depends on the collection.  Some collectors only want postally used.  Some want mint examples in all the many variations. Some who are also dealers will use up old stock that isn't selling by using it for postage.

RM keep changing the rules and the forms so keep an eye on https://www.royalmail.com/sending/barcoded-stamps for the latest info.

TELLIT01 said:

There may be no formal way of exchanging high value stamps for more usable ones but you could ask at your local Post Office if they can do so.

If you have a good relationship with the local staff already then they might do something for you unofficially but I'd guess there's no PO process for doing so