Who Buys Unused Postage Stamps? Finding a Buyer

Somebody always ends up with the stamps. A parent downsizes, a business closes, an office finally clears the supply cupboard, and there they are: hundreds of dollars in postage nobody is ever going to mail.

The post office will not take them back. So who will, and what should you expect to be paid?

The Kinds Of Buyer And What Each One Pays

Four distinct kinds of buyer exist for unused United States postage, and each kind of buyer values the postage on a different basis.

A postage buyer purchases unused stamps in order to resell the unused stamps as usable postage, and a postage buyer therefore values the stamps at a percentage of face value. Face value is the postage the stamps will actually pay for, so a postage buyer is interested in quantity and condition rather than in rarity.

A stamp dealer purchases stamps in order to resell the stamps to collectors, and a stamp dealer therefore values the stamps at catalogue value rather than at face value. Catalogue value applies only to stamps that collectors want, which is a small minority of the postage most people hold. Modern Forever stamps printed in the hundreds of millions carry no catalogue premium at all.

An auction house sells stamps on behalf of the owner of the stamps and takes a commission on the sale, and an auction house is therefore suitable only for material valuable enough to justify the commission and the delay. A collection of ordinary modern postage will not clear the threshold most auction houses set.

A private buyer on a marketplace purchases stamps for personal use or for resale, and a private buyer sets whatever price the private buyer chooses. Selling to a private buyer removes the middle party and introduces the risk of non payment, because a private buyer offers none of the protections a business transaction carries.

Why Face Value Is The Benchmark

Face value is the total postage the stamps will pay for, and face value is the figure every honest offer is quoted against. A hundred Forever stamps have a face value of 82 dollars, because each Forever stamp is worth the current First-Class rate of 82 cents.

No buyer of unused postage pays the full face value of that unused postage, and no buyer reasonably could. A buyer who paid the full face value would earn nothing on the transaction, because the buyer can only ever resell the postage for what the postage is worth as postage. Every offer is therefore a percentage of face value, and the percentage is where buyers differ from one another.

The percentage offered reflects how easily the buyer can resell the stamps. Modern Forever stamps resell easily to customers buying discounted postage, and modern Forever stamps therefore attract the highest percentages any buyer offers. Stamps in small denominations resell poorly, because a customer buying discounted postage has to stick a great many of them on an envelope, and low denomination stamps therefore attract lower percentages.

What Affects The Rate You Are Offered

Condition is the factor most within the control of the seller, and condition is worth attending to before the stamps are sent anywhere. Stamps that are clean, unstuck, undamaged and still gummed command the stated rate. Stamps that are torn, stained, stuck to one another or stuck to paper command less, because damaged stamps cannot be resold as usable postage.

Denomination determines the rate as much as condition does, because denomination determines how useful the stamp is to the person who eventually buys the postage. A First-Class Forever stamp carries the highest rate because a First-Class Forever stamp is the stamp most buyers of discounted postage want. A stamp worth less than the current First-Class rate carries a lower rate, because that stamp has to be combined with other stamps before it can pay for anything.

Quantity matters considerably less than most sellers expect it to matter. A larger quantity is more convenient to handle and may shorten the process, although a larger quantity does not generally change the percentage offered on a given type of stamp.

Our own rates are published in full rather than negotiated case by case, which allows any seller to calculate an offer before sending anything. Unused First-Class Forever stamps, Global Forever stamps and the two and three ounce Forever stamps are paid at 50 percent of face value. Any stamp with a face value above 82 cents is paid at 40 percent. Any stamp with a face value below 82 cents, which includes postcard Forever stamps and additional ounce stamps, is paid at 30 percent.

What Happens To Stamps That Are Stuck Together

Stamps that have stuck to one another are the single most common problem in collections stored for many years. Humidity reactivates the gum on the back of a stamp, and reactivated gum bonds one stamp to the next until the sheet becomes a solid block.

Stamps stuck together are not necessarily worthless. Stamps stuck together can sometimes be separated by a buyer with the right technique, although separation is slow and the recovery rate is never complete, and stamps stuck together are therefore valued below loose stamps of the same denomination.

Attempting to separate stuck stamps without experience usually makes the situation worse. Pulling stuck stamps apart tears the paper, and soaking stuck stamps removes the gum entirely, and a stamp without gum cannot be used as postage by the next owner. Sending stuck stamps as they are, and letting the buyer assess them, produces a better outcome than attempting a rescue at home.

Storing Stamps You Intend To Sell Later

Stamps intended for sale should be kept dry, flat and out of direct light. Humidity causes the gum problem described above, direct light fades the printed inks over time, and pressure from stacked objects creases the paper.

A sealed plastic container holding the stamps loose, kept at room temperature and away from a window, preserves the condition of the stamps indefinitely. Rubber bands should be avoided entirely, because rubber bands cut into the paper and leave permanent marks across every stamp in the bundle.

Warning Signs Worth Noticing

A buyer who will not quote a rate before seeing the stamps is worth approaching carefully. A published rate allows a seller to calculate the offer before sending anything, and a buyer who declines to publish a rate removes that ability from the seller.

A buyer who requires the stamps to be sent before any valuation is agreed places the entire risk on the seller. The stamps have left the possession of the seller, and the seller has no agreed figure to hold the buyer to.

A buyer who quotes an unusually high percentage is worth questioning rather than celebrating. The resale value of unused postage sets a hard ceiling on what any buyer can pay, and a quote that approaches face value cannot be sustained by the economics of reselling postage.

How A Sale Normally Works

A straightforward sale follows the same sequence regardless of which buyer is used. The seller counts the stamps and calculates the face value, the seller checks the published rate and calculates the expected offer, the seller sends the stamps with tracking, and the buyer verifies the count and pays.

Counting is the step most often skipped and the step most worth doing. A seller who knows the face value before sending can check the offer against the published rate and can query any discrepancy immediately. A seller who does not know the face value has nothing to check the offer against.

Tracking is the other step worth insisting on, and tracking costs very little against the value being sent. Unused postage is effectively cash in paper form, and sending unused postage without tracking leaves the seller with no evidence of delivery if the package goes missing.

Ready To Find Out What Yours Are Worth?

Count what you have, work out the face value, and compare it against what we pay. That is the whole calculation, and you can do it at the kitchen table in twenty minutes.

Our face value rates page lists every rate we pay with no negotiation and no small print. When you are ready, start a sale on our sell stamps for cash page, and you can read what other sellers have said on our testimonials page.

Stamps do not spoil. But they do not grow either, and a drawer full of postage you will never mail is just money sitting still.