Stamps some were slightly Marked and AP picked it up Can i go to seller as Item Not Discribed

[spottymeg53]

Just received a letter today stating the stamps I used were not valid for postage. The stamps I purchased were Un franked No Gum. I used them for postage as we all do. Where do I stand? Where does the seller stand that sold them to me? Who is responsible for the fine.  The seller of the original List did state unfranked cheap postage contact Me. AP stated the stamps have been canceled. I bought the stamps in good faith thinking Cheap Postage.. I now have to outlay the original 70 Cents plus $4.90 Admin. costs and delivery fees Total $5.60 ??????????????????? Can I pass this to the seller of the stamps?. In my work Place There is a chain Of Responsibility

[harley_babes_hoard]

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@bigbrickshop wrote:
"used them for postage as we all do"

I think you will find we don't all do that!

We re-use cartons and bubble wrap if they are clean but I have never heard of someone re-using stamps.

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I agree
never done that in my life just to save a few cents.

[griffinvale]

Sorry spottymeg but you CANNOT use previously used stamps that have already been through the postal system a second time, that is FRAUD!

If a seller has unfranked or no gum or on paper stamps then they have been used.

You can legally post items using old stamps as long as they are brand new unused ones.

IMO you will have to wear this one and put it down to experience.

[i-love-my-sheep]

I think in the OP's defence, he didn't know they were used until he got the letter from AP. I read the comment "used them for postage as we all do" that he bought them to use for posting letters as opposed to keeping them for a collection.

That said, I would have been suspicious of stamps with no gum/adhesive. They all come with one or the other, even collector stamps. I think in this instance, it's a case of buyer beware. Not everything is as it seems. 

It would be interesting to know if that seller is still selling these so called unfranked, no glue stamps. It would be worth reporting to eBay, I think, if he was.

[lyndal1838]

You only have to put "unfranked, no glue stamps" into the search bar to see that they are definitely being sold on ebay by many, many sellers.

I think this is a case of the OP not knowing what they are buying....not the fault of the seller.

[essel_emporium]

This is all a bit triffling really. I would have done this as a kid without a second thought. For the price of a stamp soaking it off an old envelope is not woth spending the time and effort. Though, I have to equate it to, for example, of picking up an old video disk (DVD) you might have found at the local dump. If the DVD works for you then you have now have a nice piece of recycled technolgy. If the person who disposed of the DVD didn't want it used again by anyone they would have damaged it in some way. In reference to postage stamps I think it fair game to reuse them so long as there is no ink from the PO stamp/frank on them. The act of the PO covering them in ink invalidates any further use; its their way of damaging it. Sometimes the ink misses its target and if that's the case its still good in my view. Interesting notion about invisible (UV) ink! Put it this way, if you have a gift voucher (credit card thingy) to be used for a store purchase, and the attendant who was meant to scan the vourcher to deduct the value of your purchase from the $ amount that is on the card, but didn't scan it, then from my perspective you go on buying things while $s remain no the card. There must have been a mark on the stamp that caught the eye of someone at the PO.

[lyndal1838]

essel, the OP has acknowledged that all her stamps have ink marks on them.

Do you really think it is triffling to try and defraud AP by reusing hundreds of used stamps?

An ebay seller is a bit different to a kid picking up the odd envelope and soaking the stamps off...that is how many a stamp collection started.

I am not sure how it equates to finding a DVD on the dump....obviously someone did not want it.  Nothing wrong with that.  It is the same as picking something up from the local rubbish collection...one man's trash is another's treasure.

That is different to buying used stamps and then trying to use them again.

[putney32]

This is all a bit triffling really.

one 70c stamp reused by a kid may be (it is still PO fraud) but a couple of hundred dollars worth is not triffling and is in fact, a Federal Offence,

many people over th last 15 years have been taken to court, had washed stamps confiscated from their homes / offices, and in one case that I know of have actually gotten a jail term (it was a huge stamp washing operation going on).

believe me it is not triffling

[onekiwi0]

Hi in response to Padi's comment about 20 stamps being on his parcel assuming recycled. I use lots of stamps that I buy from a trustworthy seller I found on q ksales (originally when they were oztion). Until then I had bought a lot of no gum like the OP until I found out they were illegal and then found this seller. He sells mint stamps with gum unmarked, however they are old stock. He buys them from auctions or other contacts and sorts them for resale. he must buy other peoples old stamp collections!. they are mint, just old, so sometimes I glue them to the shurtuff jiffy satchels for fear of AP saying I underpaid if they fall off the plastic! those ones are legal tho padi.- don't assume "a lot of old stamps" are recycled - people pay good money for them.

[cherry*135]

How long ago did you buy them spottymeg? Can you still leave followup feedback for the seller, stating the stamps were not un franked as claimed.

Won't help you get your money back, but will warn other prospective buyers for that seller.

[annies_fancy_dress]

Apparently many people try to scam postage.

The manageress at my little PO once told me that lots of people try to reuse old envelopes with the same stamps on them.

They get quite shirty when the PO refuses to take them without new stamps on them.

I was inquiring about a letter I had posted the day before (all addressed correctly) that had arrived in my letter box. That is, it had been sent to the (my)return address instead to the addressee.

It couldn't be reposted without a new stamp either and I was shirty because it was their screw up.

Now ALL my return address stamps go on the front, top left corner, NOT on the back. Saves confusing the postal sorters!