Counterfeit Forever Stamps

Does ebay remove it or does the seller remove it?

@StampSlacker: I deliberately left the seller's name out because I wanted this discussion to focus on how ebay handles suspected counterfeit stamps and feedback, rather than turn it into a public accusation against a specific seller. If you'd like to know which seller it was, feel free to send me a private message.

@eyeonwall: Fair questions, and you caught an error in how I described the timeline. I did not discover the problem and then go back for seconds.

Purchase #1 was a block of four for under $10. Only a few hours later, before receiving or inspecting it, I placed Purchase #2 for three booklets. For the larger purchase, I had actually intended to buy sealed booklets from a different seller so I could be confident they were genuine, but I mistakenly ordered from the same seller again.

I received and inspected Purchase #1 afterward, found the problems, and later found similar problems when Purchase #2 arrived. I've corrected the timeline in my original post.

As for needing more stamps, I build multiple topical collections, so I often need more than one example of the same stamp. For stamps I didn't already have, I also compared against canceled examples shown on USPS cancellation pages.

@revcollector: ebay removes it. The seller cannot directly remove feedback. The seller can request removal from ebay, and ebay decides whether to remove it. In my case, ebay Customer Service told me the feedback could be removed because the seller had worked with me and refunded the transactions.

Here is ebay official policy regarding counterfeit postage stamps (worth a read):

https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/...licy?id=4276

Is ebay following its own policy?



John

Clearly the policy is directed at items such as counterfeit clothes and handbags, etc. as always, stamps are such a small part of their business that they really don't care very much.

sochummy - that makes more sense now

Yet, stamps are mentioned at least twice on the page that I quoted above. In a "perfect" world (according to ebay policy), a seller would be suspended or kicked off ebay if, after investigation, it is determined that they are selling counterfeit stamps repeatedly. Their policy states as much ...

John

The policy vs. the reality is that they really don't care a whole lot about something that they have no knowledge of how to prove. If they haven't done anything by now, the odds are very slim that anything will change. Especially from collector complaints, since we are not likely to ever be large buyers.

There are miles of difference between suspected counterfeit and actual proven counterfeit.

ebay's policy is for actual counterfeits not suspected counterfeits.

If one wants to try to take ebay to task for the sellers activity, I would full support ebay stopping all sales if mint postage stamp of all countries and eras. As as been pointed out, mint stamps are no a big part of ebay's profit and wit the level of counterfeits it would be a wise decision to ban the sale of mint (unused) postage. If the US is not policing small sellers ebay is not responsible for doing the same.

Again the drivers of the counterfeit stamp trade are the end buyers who "are trying to get a deal." Until, for US material, our country as the political will to go against China the problem will continue unabated.

By your logic, they should also shut down ALL sales of coins, trading cards, antiques, women's handbags and anything else that is faked.

ebay generated 11 billion in revenue in 2025 but can't fund a program to make even a half-hearted attempt to root out fraud such as counterfeit stamps or any goods for that matter. Everyone knows that ebay is the Wild West for criminal activity. They are the punchline to jokes. A supplement manufacturer currently runs tv adds warning that their are over 150 bad actors on ebay selling counterfeit versions of their products. The company has purchased these goods for testing and found everything from soil to lead in the capsules. ebay has done nothing. Meanwhile there are companies that trade in secondhand luxury goods such as purses and watches that have experts to ensure authenticity. ebay hides behind it's "big flea market, let's have some fun!" BS while people get hurt and ebay rakes in the cash. How about ebay puts a tenth of the resources into fraud prevention that they do into reworking their shipping programs for the ten thousandth time.

HOW ABOUT THIS: When a buyer does the work and shows that something is fake, ebay refers the claim to LE.

Yes, now you understand.

And they should if the cost to them ( ebay) is not worth the trouble. The flood of fake forever stamps has killed the market for reselling modern stamps. If that affects the hobby for you, ask our government to take strong action against China, or just surrender to their policies.

Folks who support fakes by knowingly buying them are the driver of the issue.

Actually ebay "hides" behind a strong federal law which was designed to protect internet firms from third party actions nor does the law require any particular action. What ebay does is done as a favor to the buyers.

Do not like it? Then do not buy nor sell on ebay, HIP, Facebook, Amazon or other internet market place.

Buyers knowingly seeking unrealistically cheap postage are certainly part of the problem. But they are not the only driver. Sellers who buy counterfeit stamps cheaply and resell them for profit are just as important. And if a marketplace repeatedly allows those sellers to continue operating after authenticity complaints, it also plays a role in allowing the problem to persist.

This is the same criminal model as with illicit drugs. The criminal act begins with just a few individuals and increases exponentially as you get to the end user. We all know how that war has gone. You cannot play whack-a-mole and expect to have any impact. It takes testicular fortitude on the part of politicians (not seen much) to go after in this case the CCP backed industry. China has a long game and undermining U.S. institutions is as much a part of this as is making money. The fentanyl saga is another component. Buying up farmland, killing our auto industry and infiltrating politicians are others. ebay are the perfect useful idiots for China dumping the goods through greedy capitalists. ebay wants the fees, the seller wants their cut, the middleman gets their cut and of course the buyer wants cheap goods. The rest of us subsidize all of this behavior by paying higher postage costs to offset all of the services provided in exchange for phony stamps.

There is zero space here for excusing any of the behaviors. Each party along the way knows at some level that it is wrong.