Update 21-01-2025

 

Beware of new Counterfeit Stamps being sold on Popular Internet Platforms

 

Apologies it has been quite some time since I posted any news here, but what I say below is extremely important and will help you avoid buying fake stamps.

 

It has come to our attention that there are several apparently small online sellers offering for sale complete sheets of very modern counterfeit commemorative stamps. Unusually these stamps are in sheets with lick and stick gum. The prices reported to us are simply too good to true at around 40% to 50% face value, or even less, with free Special Delivery on all orders. It could be that there are unlimited supplies of these fake stamps. It is simply impossible to purchase, never mind sell genuine stamps at such low prices.

 

It is possible that most if not all of these small traders (none being registered as businesses) are acting as the front end to a much bigger operation. Their plan is to get people to buy small amounts (just a few sheets at first) but when you receive the fake stamps also included is marketing material encouraging you to purchase larger quantities by dealing direct. Our sources say that stamps are being sent from a different company to the person you purchased them from on the Internet Platform. In our scenario the platform is eBay. We have no doubt that there will be a serious investigation going on behind the scenes, involving various authorities.

 

As experienced, recognised and professional stamp dealers we know that you just can't buy any modern stamps issued from say 2020 to 2025 in wholesale quantities. They just don't exist, end of story. Many of the recent higher face value stamps we perhaps only see 10 to 20 examples per month. Genuine stamps really are that scarce. There could be the odd exception to that rule (e.g. a stamp dealer selling off their own stock) but there is just no guaranteed regular supply of any genuine postage stamps. We never know what we will get offered from one day to the next.

 

The Royal Mail just don't give big discounts, and you only get very small numbers of modern stamps from splitting up genuine stamp collections. There are very few really modern stamp collections out there these days and as a result we perhaps only get offered one such collection per month. Most collectors stopped collecting stamps between 1999 and 2010 (mainly due to the rising cost of buying stamps and the ever-increasing number of varieties needed to complete a collection). There have been very few new collectors since then and most of them are becoming very selective in what they now purchase or collect.

 

There are FRAUDSTERS out there who seem to be able to copy just about any stamp at will, generally the most popular themes which they think will sell well to the public. Typically, it is topics like Cat's and Dog's, Kids TV and other well-known TV/Cinema and Music themed stamps, which are being offered. We hear rumours through the philatelic trade of large quantities of fake stamps being imported from the Far East. If true, this makes the practice very hard to stop. I was invited by the BBC Rip of Britain in 2024 to give advice on how to spot fake stamps.

 

This is an extremely worrying development as to our knowledge only stamps with self-adhesive gum were known to exist up until now. Also, more alarmingly the quality of printing and ink colour dyes used are almost indistinguishable from the real Royal Mail stamps. They now even have proper phosphor ink bands printed on them, which react purple, as expected when viewed under UV light. Without a shadow of doubt, these current fakes could easily trick even the most experienced stamp dealers. 

 

One way you can tell the difference is to examine the paper surface at an angle to a good light source, preferably daylight. Most genuine Royal Mail stamps are printed on quality coated paper and the stamps tend to have an overall slightly matt sheen. The counterfeit stamps tend to be printed on much poorer quality thinner paper which has a more glossy/shiny surface. This is easily seen when the fake stamps are compared to genuine stamps when held at an 90 degree angle to your light source.

 

Under ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT the fakes also look quite convincing, that is until you look a bit closer. The phosphor ink bands appear wider than the bands on the genuine stamps. They do react to UV light which was never the case before. Sometimes it was just a varnished strip on the stamps. The biggest giveaway for us is the four margins around the sheets of stamps, these have a distinct mottled look under UV light, whereas the genuine stamps have an even all over flat uniform tone, no mottling at all. A real issue with fakes is that they keep changing and known information goes out of date very quickly.

 

Please DO NOT BUY ANYTHING from these fake traders, they do not give purchase receipts or provide any contact information. They do not give refunds or answer any complaints. It’s just like throwing your money away. Buying from them could potentially damage the genuine and trusted real philatelic market we and other good stamp dealers work in. It is certainly damaging to the Royal Mail and Post Office. If you use fake stamps your mail could be surcharged by Royal Mail or even confiscated if you are caught using large quantities of the fake stamps. It is likely that when these fraudsters are eventually caught (and they will be) they will get quite lengthy jail sentences. Stamps are legal tender just like bank notes so copying, selling, handing or using them is a very serious matter, with severe consequences.

 

This is an area where the philatelic trade and public in general should and can work together to help the Royal Mail and stop the fraudsters for good. We must call these people out and get rid of the scourge for ever. If not, we could possibly see an end to the use of postage stamps altogether. Rest assured we will weed out all the bad eggs, it just seems to get harder and harder as technology improves. Just imagine if this was your own business and criminals were continually copying and selling your products at will. I know I would be devastated and heartbroken id that were the case.

 

For me this current situation is all a bit soul destroying, especially when we have spent many years building up a genuine discounted postage stamp business and have gained the trust of so many regular and valued customers. Perhaps this is should be trigger for us to stop selling stamps for postage, but would that not just let the fakers win? We have been saying for years that one day genuine stamps from stamp collections will eventually run out, but that never seems to come. I suppose when the real do run short they will become collectable again and sell above the basic face value.

 

The biggest worry and deep concern for me is that genuine Royal Mail stamps somehow get misidentified as being counterfeit and as a result a few packages sent by our customers, using genuine stamps, end up getting surcharged. If that were to happen frequently it would pretty much spell the end of the discounted postage market. The result would be a loss in confidence by the public and businesses to use any postage stamps on their mail and perhaps they would go down the route of buying postage labels instead. That would be the saddest of days for the true philatelic trade. We can already see that happening to a certain extent.

 

Let us know if you have any interesting stories to share.

 

Until the next time, Dave - MD Philatelink Ltd

 

 

Update 24-08-2022

Royal Mail announce POSTAL STRIKES for Summer/Autumn 2022

 

Being Stamps Dealers currently all of our customer orders are dispatched using Royal Mail stamped mail services, therefore we want to make customers aware of the significant disruption the planned Royal Mail strike dates will have on these services resulting in longer delivery times. I would not be surprised if 7 to 10 day delivery times become the norm for first class packages and longer for second class mail.

The planned strike dates are: 26th & 31st August and 8th & 9th September.

On these dates we can in theory still dispatch orders by Royal Mail however, there will be no collections or deliveries, or on the 25th & 30th August. Mail will just sit in the Post Offices waiting to be picked up. Some smaller Post Offices may refuse to take mail if they lack storage space.

As a result delivery times will be much longer for all Royal Mail packages (see above) and we expect the delays to span not only the strike days, but also for a number of days following each strike day. If things get really bad we will probably send orders of £100 and above by courier.

We kindly ask customers to plan well ahead when making orders and where possible avoid the strike dates all together. As a business, just to be safe, we may not dispatch any orders on the confirmed strike dates. We cannot afford our valued customer orders to go missing.  Unfortunately we cannot give refunds for any late deliveries, at least not until 30 business days have passed following the date of dispatch.

Lets hope the situation gets resolved soon and services get back to normal.

 

Update 04-03-22 from first post on 1st Feb 2022

The Royal Mail have finally done it. All existing definitive stamps from 1971 to date including 1st Class, 2nd Class are being phased out and replaced with new stamps which have barcodes. These will be known as "Barcoded Stamps".

Importantly all existing Commemorative picture style and Christmas stamps from 1971 to present day are not affected by the move to barcodes so they will remain fully valid for use after January 2023.

There will be a Royal Mail "Swap Out" old for new scheme details to follow including terms and conditions. We will actively advise customers on the best options when we know more information.

From today the Royal Mail will no longer produce the standard definitive first and second class stamps, which were first introduced in 1989. The old format stamps are only valid for postal used up to 31st January 2023 after which they can no longer be used for postal service in the UK. Up until the 31st January 2023 they can be purchased, used and sold just as before (so no need to panic - we a a full year to get organised). From 1st February 2023 any mail sent using the the old stamps may result in your mail being surcharged (payable by the recipient) or your mail returned.

The good news it that The Royal Mail are introducing a "Swap Out" scheme so this should allow any genuine old stamps, which are surplus to requirements to be exchanged for the new barcode stamps. This definitely be exchange only with no cash alternative. The "Swap out' scheme has still to be finalised and will be introduced sometime in March 2022. We will keep customers updated as soon as we know the terms and conditions.

In the meantime we can continue to buy and sell the old stamps without any issues, although there is bound to be some impact on postage values as the older stamps are sold to the market on mass. we have already lowered some of our buying and selling prices in anticipation. As full members of the Philatelic Traders Society (London) we are well placed to help collectors and stamp dealers liquidate their collections or existing stocks stamps which are affected.

The move by the Royal Mail does not affect the commemorative or picture stamps as new issues of those special stamp sets are not going to have barcodes and therefore the millions of existing stamps sitting in collections are still going to be valid for postal use. This includes 1st and 2nd class non value indicated commemorative stamps.

 

Update 02-11-2021

Beware of fake website WWW.DISCOUNTEDSTAMPS.NET

This bogus company has been selling counterfeit 1st and 2nd class stamps via it's website by tricking people into thinking they are buying genuine stamps from our company. This company has stolen our identity in the pursuit of selling counterfeit stamps which are illegal to use and have no commercial value or validity to be used for any postal services in the UK. We have opened an investigation case with Police Scotland to try and resolve this matter. We only sell 100% genuine stamps from this website only with proper invoices and receipts provided for every order.

 

Update 29-04-20

Special Offer! Royal Mail Special Delivery for just £4.95

Today due to the ever growing Royal Mail delivery delays we have decided to offer Royal Mail Special Delivery for just £4.95. A typical postage package costs £7.50 to £14.00 by special delivery so this is a great offer for customers. Special Delivery mail is treated as essential mail by Royal Mail and therefore most packages get delivered next day, even in these trying times. This service is fully tracked and provides a minimum £500 insurance cover.  IT WILL CERTAINLY GIVE YOU PEACE OF MIND.

To make this even more cost effective it would be best if customers make bigger orders, but perhaps less frequently so as to keep the volumes of mail down.

 

Update 23-04-20

Some First Class post and Signed For mail has been taking up to six weeks to be delivered.

We have received communications today from two delighted customers stating that their postage orders have now been delivered some six weeks after we posted their packages. This demonstrates how patient you need to be under the current COVID-19 restrictions. First class and signed for mail items are now categorised as non essential mail so please be warned.  If you need stamps quickly or next day please pay the extra £6 for Special Delivery. It would appear that all mail apart from SPECIAL DELIVERY is now categorised as NON-ESSENTIAL and an 'IT WILL GET THERE SOMETIME' approach has been adopted by The Royal Mail. This is understanding given the pressure Royal Mail Workers are under to stay safe at work.

 

Update 24-03-2020

Coronavirus Restrictions change of business operation and delayed dispatch of orders.

From today 24th March 2020 we can no longer offer same day dispatch of orders. We have put in place an arrangement with our local Post Office to drop off our mail at 9,00 am every morning so this now means customer orders won't be dispatched until next working day. 

Importantly Royal Mail have also cancelled all of their normal postal service guarantees including guaranteed next day special delivery.  We would not be surprised if standard 1st class mail now takes up to a week or longer to be delivered. Please be patient the Royal Mail are doing their best but working with reduced manpower means they now have to prioritise services.

 

Update 15-03-20

Royal Mail change delivery service due to Coronavirus

Until further notice we have been told by the Royal Mail that Postmen will no longer allow recipients to sign for Special Delivery and Signed For packages.  Instead they will ring your door bell to make sure you are in and tell you they have left your mail outside your door. Apparently they have a special code they can use which allows the Postman to sign receipt of delivery on your behalf.  I'm not sure how the emergency practice would stand up in court should a valuable package go missing.

 

Update 09-03-20

Today we have dropped all our selling prices for stamps £1 to £10. This good news for now all customers will receive at least 20% discount on the Post Office counter price.

Buy now and beat the Royal Mail price rises which come into force on 23rd March 2020

 

Update 29-01-2020

We are closed on Friday 31st January 2020 through to Monday 3rd February.

Due to a family event we are having this entire weekend off so apologies for any delays in advance.

Update 28-01-2020

Postage deadline now 3.30 pm daily, we need last orders by 1.00 pm daily.

Our local Post Office is now demanding that we have our daily mail dropped off with them by 3.30 pm each day. Some days we can have over 100 packages to dispatch and this has been making it difficult for our local Post Office to process all of our mail before their daily deadline of 4.30 pm.  The knock effect is that we will now need to receive customer orders before 1.00 pm daily instead of 2.00 pm so that we can can all orders packed ready for the 3.30 pm drop off. If you are needing stamps in a hurry please try to place your orders in the morning, or the day before.

Update 15-01-2020

New lower selling prices on all stamps £1 to £5.

We have recently noticed on the run up to Christmas that there has been a drop off in demand for the higher value stamps. As a result we are now offering a full 15% discount on stamps purchased individually and 20% discount where we are able to offer stamps in bags of 100.

Update 19-12-2019

I would like to wish all customers a Very Merry Christmas and Happy and Prosperous New Year.

Update 04-12-2019

Christmas post delays are getting worse so please allow at least a week for 1st Class Post to arrive.

Update 28-11-2019

Christmas post delays have started already - please order stamps early.

Update 19-11-2019

Closed for business on Friday 22nd to Sunday 24th November

We are having a long weekend break this weekend and we are only working Monday to Thursday this week. We kindly ask customers to place orders early (before noon this Thursday) or wait until Monday 25th before ordering so that we are not inundated with too much work when we arrive back late on Sunday evening.
 

Update 05-11-2019

Royal Mail delivery performance beyond a joke!

Customers please note we are experiencing very poor delivery performance on a growing number orders delivered by the Royal Mail.  In the last month we have had at least a dozen first class or first class signed for packages which have taken 7 to 12 days to be delivered. What's more a lady customer contacted us today to inform that an order containing 100 x 1st class stamps, which we posted first class on 14th October just arrived today. That means the Royal Mail took 21 days to deliver a standard first class package. This is very concerning as the Christmas rush has not yet started.

Update 31-10-2019

'E' NVI stamps are confirmed valid for postal use on UK mainland packages

There has been some confusion regarding issues with Royal Mail not taking consistent approach to businesses using 'E' stamps on their internal UK packages. A recent article in the Philatelic Exporter confirms that 'E' rate stamps are perfectly valid for use on UK packages. This Royal Mail Policy should be applied by all Post Offices and Royal Mail Depots in the UK.