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There's no faking it.

The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries.

There's a saying that if something is too good to be true, it probably is.

There are often large quantities of First Class postage stamps offered for sale on eBay
at prices far below the current rate. The Postal Service doesn't give quantity discounts,
so where did they come from?

They may have been stolen, in which case the buyer is receiving stolen property.

Or they may not really be stamps at all, but counterfeits. Some may be crude imitations,
obvious fakes when you open the package… by which point it's too late to get your money
back.

Or they may look good, but be missing the marker, the thin phosphorescent coating that
tells the automated postal machinery which stamps are genuine. Your mail won't be
delivered and you may even be questioned by Postal Inspectors.

It IS possible to buy stamps at a discount, from a stamp dealer. These are almost always
older issues that someone bought in quantity, thinking they'd go up in value — like Elvis
or Batman. Just make sure you're buying from a legitimate stamp dealer, a member of a
national stamp collecting organization.

I’m Lloyd de Vries of The Virtual Stamp Club. For more on stamps and stamp collecting,
visit virtual-stamp-club-dot-com.

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