US Personalized / Personalised Photo /Zazzle /Endicia Stamps

I modified a title off of ebay for part of my title because collectors call these stamps by differing names:

Personalized Stamps. (personalised in Britain / Australia, etc)
Computer Stamps.
Photo Stamps.

Private companies that make them or sell kits to make them yourself (I think) are:
Stamps dot com
Endicia dot com
Zazzle dot com

Some (or all?) of these can be personalized with your own photos / drawings / creations or you can use creations made by others and, I believe, pay a bit of a surcharge for that privilege (but it's worth it to get that special stamp, isn't it?)(Yup.)

There were other companies that started off the personalized trend / craze / choice in choosing your own personal message to send to family and friends, businesses, customers and clients, or just as a personal statement.

These stamps usually cost a bit more than regular postage at the Post Office does. There may be certain rules and certain stamps / labels that do not. I would love to hear from anyone who knows more.

To start off with, here is a Stamps.com stamp featuring the BidStart girl is a classic pose (and dress and accessories). (from the stamp and coin and all things auction and buy web-site www dot bidstart dot com )

I don't know too much about them myself.

As with most stamp collectors, this is a part of the hobby that few have much interest in, mainly because they cannot be catalogued, as the number of images reaches into infinity, as they are only limited by the creativity of the purchaser's use of different images for the so-called "stamps".

For the few that have crossed my desk in terms of collecting, I do know that the adhesive used on many of these "stamps" prohibit soaking and/or removal of the piece from the mailing (mainly to discourage re-use, I would assume).

As for cost, the software for it costs $24.99 and includes 20 "free" stamps, so for the $8.80 in value of stamps, you pay $24.99, which is 184% of the cost of a traditional postage stamp, which to me seems a lot more than "a bit more than regular postage at the post office", as quoted above.

Anyway, the USPS web site offers those so inclined with all of the material needed to create these stamps at this link -- and they have even gone a step further as to create "standard" designs "priced above face value" at $20.99 for 20 stamps, which comes out to only a mere 139% over the cost of a traditional postage stamp:

https://shop.usps.com/webapp/wcs/st....ac=10001322

Today's issue (04/21/2011) of The Postal Bulletin has announced that all post offices with remaining stock of the "Photo Stamp" packet with coupon for 20 "free" stamps will be reduced in price to $16.99, effective April 29, 2011. That puts the item at 93% of the cost of a traditional postage stamp, essentially bringing the price to $0.85 per stamp.

I almost ordered some custom stamps from Zazzle, but couldn't justify the extra cost. Maybe someday I will try them... I like the idea of having my own photo on mail!

You could make up a Cinderella and glue it close to a regular stamp; chances are that both will be cancelled or not depending on the postal service.

True, that would be an option, though they would have to hold up to wet weather... and let me clarify: by "my own photo", I mean a photo I have taken, not a photo of me. I HATE seeing photos of me!

Laser printing is usually water resistant, but inkjet ink is water soluble; I am not sure about colour photocopies.

The other possibility is to make up your own postcards and/or maxicards; that way one would really be able to appreciate your photography.

):

Does anyone know if you can do 20 different images or do they all have to be the same?

I was thinking that if you could do 20 different designs and used them on SASE, you would end up with quite a nice collection. You might also make most of your money back this way if you then listed them on ebay. They seem to be selling for quite a lot on there.

I guess you could do 20 different images on 20 different orders and then you would have 20 sets to sell/keep...not sure about the possibility of making a profit on the whole deal, seems unlikely, but it would be fun.
:)

I just happened to have purchased a sheet of Zazzle stamps from a fellow club member here in Oregon.

The story behind this is that he and another club member were researching the 1933 National parks issues and wanted to learn more about the 3c Mt Rainier stamp. In particular, where was the photo taken that was used for the stamp?



After researching the stamp and the photographer, he finally found the answer ... a small pond off the beaten track called "Mirror Lake".

After months of planning, he finally got a chance to visit Mirror Lake. The following stamps depict a photo he took in 2006. I'm pleased to have it along side my National Parks issues :)

Enjoy!

Now that is really cool. Nice One.

Riley,

Those are beautiful! What a neat story.

I have specialized in designing personalized stamps, in general, and zazzle stamps in particular. :)

For example:

May I show in this thread ALL my personalized stamps from USA that I designed AND bought. And sold, from most of them. :)