Ethics Of Selling/Buying Unused No Gum Postage?

Buck, I agree with what you're saying. At the risk of veering wildly off topic, I'm actually not a moral absolutist, I'm just pointing out an example that might be a problem for someone who thinks they are one - that things are always cut and dried, black and white. I'm not a complete moral relativist, either, as far as that part goes.

So as to keep some semblance of being on topic , here's a stamp picturing the philosopher Immanuel Kant.

Quote: If YOU want to make sure that YOUR stamp that YOU paid for is not re-used; Then Cancel it YOURSELF!
I have a Permit to cancel stamps, and I use my own rubber stamp to cancel my mail before I even send it.
So, no theft of my postage!

What is the USPS permit #? And what does you cancellation device look like? Very interesting. So anyone holding this permit could ostensibly use any cancelled stamp on postage claiming he/she cancelled them themselves. Or do the requirements of the permit dictate that you cancel the stamps in front of the clerk? Just curious. Wolf-==-

My original question drifted way off topic with an extensive discussion of ethics. Some very interesting comments I might add. I guess my obfuscation with comments like "How would they know?" really clouded the issue. Question again…"Is it unethical/illegal to sell un-cancelled no gum stamps?" I have no idea what the buyer will do with them, nor do I personally care. Is it my ethical/moral responsibility to police any potential buyer from violating the law? Is it my ethical/moral obligation not to market such? I have hundreds of unused US stamps that I soaked off of album pages that I know have never been used to send mail. Oscar Wilde once said "There is a little bit of larceny in all of us" Cheers! Wolf-==-

stampwolf. Nobody is stealing - or can steal - your postage off an item that's gone through the mails. You got your value out of it, and if the post ofice didn't cancel it then it's fair game to use again. Them's the rules.

This link should answer many of your questions on the topic:

http://www.mppclub.org/WhatIs.htm

No, no, and no.

If you sell with the knowledge that the buyer plans to re-use previously used stamps, then in the US, a federal prosecutor probably would regard you as trafficking in fraudulent United States securities; there's another statute for that and the definition of "security" is broad. (Google can find it for you; I've done my share of third party free research for the day.)

You've used the term "uncanceled" here again. In the US, the question is whether the stamps were previously postally used. Cancellation, or not, is irrelevant to criminal liability. If they were bought, used once on a mail piece in the mail stream, and you (not your customer) use them again, canceled or not, it's a crime. If you know your customer will do the foregoing, you're a trafficker.

Then I guess it'll be ok fro me to take your car if you fai to lock it.

Not if the post office has cancelled the car to indicate the car is used.

Chuckle

This is something I have been thinking about recently so I did a search and found this topic. Trying to stay away from deep philosophy, here are my thoughts:

1. If I have reason to believe that a stamp has been used to frank an item for postage I will not attempt to re-use it for postage.

2. I should take reasonable precautions to avoid misleading anyone else into attempting to re-use stamps which I know or believe have already been postally used.

3. Stamps that arrive attached to mail delivered to me, even if they are not cancelled, have obviously been used for postage. Recent stamps on paper found in cheap mixtures should also be assumed to be used, even if not cancelled.

4. There seems to be a market on ebay for recent stamps in used but uncancelled condition.

5. If I clearly state in the listing that such stamps are used, it is not my responsibility to speculate on what buyers may choose to do with them.

Is this creating too much temptation for the ethically challenged? Would it be better if I tore up all such stamps and threw them in the trash?

If there are other topics that have already addressed this, please direct me to them.

I guess the right answer is that if the potential for re-use bothers you, then don't sell them on ebay, and don't worry about what others think about it. If it's that big of a conundrum, it's a good sign it's something you would be troubled with.

I don't collect US stamps and I periodically sell the clippings from my mail on ebay. I throw everything into one pile, canceled and uncanceled. Some collectors may want the uncanceled stamps for their collections. After all, it would be a cheap way to get an unused-appearing stamp once you get it off paper. The point is that I'm clearly selling used US stamps, aimed at the collector market, not the postage market, and the majority of stamps are always canceled. A more "ethically challenged" listing would be, for example, selling an entire lot of nothing but uncanceled stamps on paper with a wink and a nudge mentioning total face value.

Just sent those ungum stamps to me. I prefer collect mint because I want to see the maximum of the detail. So if a stamp have no cancel and been use its just as perfect as new for me

Last month a guy from Ottawa send me my ebay purchase with canceled stamps that pass true Canada Post. This week I receive one from US . What if the postal office have catch it. I wil no receive and probably have to fill a complain to get my money back. I pay good money for the stuff and the shipping so the seller receive a nice negative feedback

ArtfulHinger, thanks for your thoughtful response to my post.

I would feel comfortable offering used but uncancelled material in a way that is "aimed at the collector market" to people like area66 who just want to "see the maximum of the detail."

Area66, after I have enough posts to use the email system I can let you know when I have such stamps. At the rate I am going, that will be at least another month though.

I once purchased a lot and in it was a large amount of the US 'wedding' stamps adhered to envelopes. But they were unaddressed and clearly had not been sent through any mail system, they appeared to be 'extras' from someone's wedding invitation effort. Since there were about 40-50 of them and they were consuming a lot of storage space, I tore them from the corners of the envelopes. (I could have used the fancy-dancy envelopes for plain mail, but didn't want my correspondents to think I was getting strange in my old age!)

I guess my question is, how would anyone differentiate these from ones that had past through a mail system uncancelled?
Don