I sell discounted postage on eBay--regular U. S. postage stamps at discounts from face value, such as 1000 forever stamps (costing $440 at the post office) for $420. I've been listing them in the "right" category--the U. S. Postage category in the Stamps area. But I'd pay less in final value commissions if the listing were in the Computers & Networking category instead.

I'm tempted to put an auction for discount postage in that category, with a headline like "Save Shipping Costs on Your Computer Sales!" I'm dealing with very slim profit margins and every little bit helps.

Is that OK, or will I run into trouble with eBay for doing that? I don't want any trouble with eBay!

It is not ok. If you are not selling something directly related to the category you are using, it s search manipulation and is highly annoying to bidders. Miscategorized items if reported are either moved (and appropriate fees charged) or taken down. See the policy here.

Where does one buy forever stamps at under face value - AND pay eBay and Paypal fees but still making a profit!?!?!

This almost sounds like counterfit forever stamps. Something fishy about buying postage for under the going rate (unless they "Fell Off" the truck).

If your profit margin is so thin, is it really worth selling them?

Stoned said:Employee discount?

Probably not. I know a couple (relative) that works for USPS and never heard anything about employee discount. My grandfather worked for the USPS for about 2-3 years back in the 90s and he never said anything about that.

I bought the Forever Stamps using the 30% Live Search CashBack last year, combined with a 5% CashBack rewards card (promo period of 3 months). The Forever Stamps were priced at 42 cents each then; they're 44 cents each now.

Check out the Postage category in Stamps/United States. You'll find many offers below face value. Plenty of misguided investors buy stamps hoping for a profit and then find that they have to sell below face value since the post office won't buy back the stamps. Discounts of 15% or so are common in the eBay offers for mixed lots of older stamps (because it's a pain to use accumulations of odd values). The Forever stamps get more because they're the current rate for a one-ounce first class letter. I get orders from office managers responsible for buying stamps for ordinary mailings. I suspect they bill their bosses for the full post office price. Perhaps I'm overly suspicious--you know, like those posters who think I'm selling counterfeits or stolen stamps! (I'm too old and too boring and too anal to do that. Would I even have asked the original question if I was like that?)

Why do you think expenses are "20% or so" selling on eBay with PayPal? You don't get the 8% Bing CashBack unless you use BuyItNow! Suppose a lot is offered for BuyItNow! on eBay with payment through PayPal for a fixed price of $2500. The basic PayPal fee is $72.80. The eBay fee varies with the category of the lot offered. The cheapest eBay commission is with Computers & Networking category and that cost is $53.97 (including the 35 cent listing fee). So the total selling cost is $129.77. That's a little over 5% of the sale price. You only need monthly sales over $3000 to hit a lower pricing tier on both eBay and PayPal. Shipping is $4.80 (Priority Mail online) with delivery confirmation and $6.75 with signature confirmation. (The stamps easily fit into a small flat rate Priority box.)

And why do you assume that those who are selling are making a profit anyway? If you have lots of stamps and need cash, you have to sell below face value. Also, remember that the Forever stamps were issued in April 2007 for 41 cents each; they're 44 cents today at the post office.

As I said in the OP, the margins are slim. But there are profits. Throw in the 8% Bing CashBack and a rewards card for the purchase and you can even make some money buying at a discount on eBay and then reselling the same way.

Sure, people don't like to take a loss. But many do, just as people sell stocks at a loss. (Many would have been best off taking the first loss on a stock rather than holding on hoping to break even!) People die and stamps are found--the executor sells at best price. A company loads up on Forever stamps for a planned mailing--it goes under and its assets are liquidated. Or it does a trial mailing and decides the results mean the idea was lousy--it sells the stamps.

Those are just a few scenarios. Fact is that people sell assets below cost for many reasons. In today's economy, needing cash to meet a margin call or a payroll or pay a doctor's bill or make a mortgage payment are hardly unusual. Selling assets is one way to do that. No real investor gets fixated on his cost--once the decision is made to sell, the market determines the price.

eBay is filled to the brink with merchandise that was bought at one price and is being sold at a lower price. Think of books or baby clothes or CDs or computers or virtually anything else that's sold used. I'm going to list a few hundred CDs on eBay. No buyer will care about my original cost. I know I'll take a loss. But I haven't listened to any of them in years--I use MP3s on my iPods instead of CDs. So why keep them? They'll sell for something, and I can use the cash.

BTW, no one is his right mind would be selling counterfeit ordinary postage on eBay. You'd be looking at five years in jail:

http://www.thecre.com/fedlaw/legal3b/counte.htm

There's deception with some selling rare stamps--all sorts of fakes, regumming, repairing,reperforating, misidentification. But counterfeiting U. S. postage good for mailings? Nope.

And do you REALLY think you could counterfeit U. S. Forever Stamps on self-stick full booklets and panes for $25 in printing costs? The things our government does to prevent counterfeiting are interesting, ranging from special security paper to microprinting to hidden designs. See:

http://www.linns.com/howto/refresher/security_20000605/refreshercourse.aspx

rhino850 said:Okay, somewhere someone is getting these stamps and listing them on eBay for the first time. This person would have paid Face Value for them. They did not buy on eBay and use the CB deals.

This first seller is going to take a loss, even if only 5% on a $2500 order or about $125 bucks.
From what I understand, most people do not like to take a loss on anything. So to sell stamps and loose $125 a pop, seems unwise. (If anyone likes to loose money, PM and I'll send you my PP e-mail to send me funds!)

But I do see a few cases where it works out nice!
1. Stamps are stolen. Cost to seller, $0. Profit on $2500 sale = $2500 - $125 = $2375 (Good deal for seller!!!)
2. Stamps are fake. Cost to seller (say $25 in printing costs?) Profit on $2500 sale = $2500 - $125 - $25 = $2350 (Still a great deal for the seller!)
3. Grandma died, and had $25,000,000 in Forever stamps, which were found stuffed in her matress. The family decided to eBay them, and was happy to take a $1.25 million dollar loss.

I understand you are not the "first" seller, and make a little $$$ by buying of eBay with CB and reselling. That has been addressed. But as far as I can tell, no one can say where they come from in the first place. I have yet to meet anyone wanting to loose $125 on each sale. (Not saying this is the only "questionable" item on eBay, just the one in this topic.)
Happy 4th to all!

You forgot one and the most likey source of US postal stamps on eBay...Stamps purchased at the Post Office from automated vending machines and kiosks using stolen credit cards. When my wife retired from her Postmaster job last year that was by far the the USPS's biggest fraud problem. The USPS' credit card fraud problem was so bad in 2008 the USPS was considering discontinuing accepting credit card payments completely for deferred postage products sold in the US(ie stamps, prepaid mailers etc.). However they ended up settling on just removing the credit card payment option from USPS owned automated stamp machines. In known high fraud locations they completely removed all the stamp dispensing kiosks and stamp vending machines from those locations.