LetterAgent
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The safest place to buy stamps online is the USPS website itself, followed by authorized retailers such as major grocery, drug, and warehouse stores, online or in person. Stamps sold at steep discounts on marketplaces are the danger zone: the Postal Inspection Service has seized millions of counterfeit stamps, and mail bearing them can be returned or charged postage due.
Rank them this way. First, the USPS online store: genuine by definition, with the full catalog of current issues. Second, authorized retail partners: big grocery chains, drugstores, warehouse clubs, and office-supply stores sell legitimate stamps at face value, in person and through their own websites. Third, your bank: some bank branches and ATMs still sell stamp booklets, which surprises people who have not looked in years.
In Canada, the equivalent safe sources are canadapost.ca and Canada Post retail outlets, including the postal counters inside drugstores and convenience stores. The same marketplace warnings apply north of the border.
Because they are fake. Legitimate postage is never sold below face value by authorized sellers: nobody discounts a product the issuer sells at a fixed price unless they are losing money or the product is not real. Listings offering Forever stamps at 40 or 50 percent off are counterfeits, and they are common enough that the Postal Inspection Service has run public warnings about them.
There is one narrow exception: collectible and vintage stamps sold by reputable dealers can trade below or above face value as collectibles. But if someone is advertising current-issue postage at a steep discount for mailing use, walk away.
Genuine US stamps have fine microprinting, precise perforations, and specific paper with a particular feel. Fakes tend to get the paper wrong: it feels too smooth or too thick, the colors look slightly off, and the perforations may be uneven. The designs are often convincing at a glance, which is exactly why the scam works: nobody inspects a stamp closely when sticking it on an envelope.
The practical rule is simpler than any inspection guide. If you bought them from USPS or a major retailer at face value, they are real. If you bought them at a discount from a marketplace seller, assume they are not.
USPS can return the mail to you, deliver it postage-due with the recipient charged, or confiscate the counterfeit stamps. You are unlikely to face penalties for an innocent one-off use, but the letter will not travel normally, which defeats the purpose of mailing it. Businesses that unknowingly bought bulk counterfeit postage have had entire mailings seized, which is the expensive version of the same lesson.
| Source | Genuine? | Price | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| USPS website or post office | Yes, guaranteed | Face value | None |
| Major grocery, drug, warehouse, or office-supply stores | Yes | Face value | None |
| Bank branches and some ATMs | Yes | Face value | None, though availability varies |
| Marketplace sellers at a discount | Almost certainly not | Below face value | High: mail returned, postage due, or seized |
| Reputable stamp dealers (collectibles) | Yes, as collectibles | Varies | Low for collecting; verify before mailing use |
If you rarely mail anything and do not want to keep stamps around, LetterAgent removes the question. You describe the letter to your AI assistant, approve the exact quoted price, which already includes postage, and the letter is printed and mailed. No stamp drawer, no counterfeit risk, no trip to buy postage.
Ready to mail it? Send your letter with LetterAgent: describe it to your AI assistant, approve the exact quoted price, and it is printed and mailed.
LetterAgent is a working name. Prices include print, postage, and our service fee. US prices in USD, Canadian prices in CAD (Canadian prices exclude applicable sales tax, added at checkout). Currently in private testing.
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