Good Question: Are online stamp discounts legitimate?

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Here’s a good question about stamps. Picture this, you’re scrolling through your newsfeed and you see an ad for stamps at a significant discount, a roll of 100 stamps for just $30.

It’s too good to be true, right? That’s what one of you wanted to know. Jim asks: “Are stamps that are sold online at discounts of 20% to 50% counterfeit and what is the liability to purchase them?”

In July 2022, the price of a standard first class one ounce stamp went up from 58 cents to 60 cents.

There are some legitimate discounts online. Stamps.com for example sells stamps for a small discount, three cents less than you would get at the post office.

But the U.S. Postal Service itself does not sell stamps below face value. At 60 cents a piece, a roll of 100 stamps should cost $60.

So if you see 20% to 50% discounts for stamps online? Those are not legit and you’ll want to click away. As far as the liability, if the Postal Service catches a piece of mail with a counterfeit stamp, the mail could be pulled and likely won’t reach its destination.

There’s some good news and bad news for stamp prices this month. The good news is that the holiday shipping rate increase that the USPS implemented back in October is set to end on January 22.

The bad news? Also happening on January 22, the cost of a first class stamp will go up once again from 60 to 63 cents.

If you have a good question, send it to us at goodquestion@whec.com