Stamps You Shouldn’t Buy Online Without a Certificate
If there’s one thing seasoned collectors know, it’s this: in stamp collecting, trust is worth more than gum and centering combined. Whether you’re buying from a booth at a major show or scrolling through eBay at 2 a.m. while convincing yourself this is the last bid of the night, the difference often comes down to one word: reputation.
The Reputation Game
With traditional dealers, reputation is built the slow, old-fashioned way. Decades of work. Careful presentation. Better stamps under the glass with a knack for knowing exactly which stamps will stop collectors in their tracks. And most importantly — the trust of buyers who’ve learned over years (and thousands of dollars) that this person knows their stuff.
eBay isn’t so different — it still runs on trust — but the ecosystem feels like two parallel worlds:
Premium “boutique” dealers — the ones who always seem to have the exact stamp you’ve been hunting for, in top condition, at a price that reflects that scarcity. I think of sellers such as Doug Weisz, Stu Katz or Eric Jackson within this group. The item isn’t cheap, but you won’t be able to find it elsewhere.
High-volume movers — the sellers who can list a hundred stamps before breakfast. They churn through boxes, collections, and estate lots, offering much of it at low prices. They keep the marketplace moving and provide liquidity to the collector to sell quickly when the time comes. They sell lots of material, but occasional sliders get through. These are honest dealers, but they handle so many stamps that occasional bad stamp falls through the cracks. The pinnacle of these type of dealers are NYStamps and CKStamps. They never try to be perfect, but they have very liberal return policies so when the occasional mistake happens, they offer a quick refund after the stamp is returned.
We need both types. The volume sellers keep material flowing. The boutique sellers help us check off those impossible want-list boxes when no one else has the goods.
My eBay Life: From Mass Seller to Boutique Seller
I’ve been on both ends. Early in my career, I was a volume seller. At my peak, I was moving around $500,000 in stamps per year, about $10,000 a week. And much of it started at 99¢.
Sounds great — and in some ways it was — but it also meant running a miniature factory:
1–2 people scanning and photographing.
1 person answering emails and managing complaints.
1 person writing descriptions.
1–2 people shipping.
A friend to help with extra descriptions when the pile got too high.
It worked… but it was exhausting. My hat’s off to mega-sellers like NYStamps and CKStamps, who’ve kept that model alive for decades in an eBay landscape that’s far more crowded now than 25 years ago. Back then, the site had around a hundred thousand listings for U.S. stamps. Now? Millions.
That “start at 99¢” business model just doesn’t scale the way it used to. Fixed prices dominate. And eBay’s free listing policy has opened the floodgates for sellers who put up common, low-value material at outrageous prices, often sprinkled with descriptions like “RARE” and “SCARCE” in all caps.
Which brings me here — to the reason for this article. There are certain stamps that should never be bought on eBay (or anywhere online) without a certificate from a recognized expertizing service.
1. The “It’s Old, So It Must Be Rare” Scam
This one has become epidemic on eBay lately, and it’s the lowest barrier-to-entry scam in the stamp world. No tools. No knowledge. No effort. Just take a common stamp from the early 1900s to 1930s, take a few pictures from different artistic angles from your phone, and declare it “RARE!”
How it works:
The seller digs up a common Washington/Franklin, some 1930’s Bureau issues, or any other late 19th to early 20th-century workhorse.
They claim that the stamp is rare because they have never seen it before — as if that automatically makes it valuable.
No Scott number is provided so they don’t get tagged by the eBay AI bots.
No mention of condition.
Often no actual details at all beyond “Antique” or “Rare.”
And almost always: no return policy.
Why it works:
It plays on the assumption of newer or casual buyers that age equals rarity. Truth is, most stamps from that era were printed by the millions. They’re common. Dirt common.
The new eBay AI writing assistant isn’t helping matters—it takes this flood of misleading listings and folds them into its auto-generated descriptions. As a result, many newer amateur philatelists end up unintentionally scamming people, simply by relying on the algorithm to help write their listings.
My personal rule:
I don’t buy from sellers who don’t offer returns unless I am absolutely certain the stamp is genuine and worth the risk. A seller refusing returns might as well just put “I’m a scammer” in their profile description.
How to protect yourself:
If the stamp isn’t identified by Scott number, that’s a red flag.
If the seller says “old” or “rare” but doesn’t explain why it’s rare, walk away.
If there’s no return policy, assume the stamp is worthless until proven otherwise.
2. Rare Shades
Color can be subjective — and scanners, cameras, and monitors only make it worse.
The danger: Most classic stamps exist in multiple shades. Sometimes there are a half-dozen official listings and countless subtle variations in between. Identifying them often requires comparison with certified reference copies under proper lighting.
Common scam: Sellers post two stamps side by side, pointing to a difference in shade and claiming one must be rare. In reality, both may be common shades with slightly different aging or oxidation.
I see this constantly with Carmine Lakes. Yes, there’s a genuine rare shade — and yes, it can be worth a premium — but there’s also a vast ocean of perfectly normal shades that look “different enough” in a scan to trick the unwary.
Without certificates, these stamps must be assumed to be misidentified. The fact that the second seller cannot spell Carmine and has 0 feedback should be another clue.
Quick tip to spot trouble:
Realize scanners can lie. The stamp may not be the same color when you receive it in person.
If the seller doesn’t name the expertizing body for their claim (“PF cert,” “PSE cert,” etc.), assume it’s just a guess.
Bottom line: Unless the seller is a known expert with a documented reputation, get the cert first.
3. Easily Altered Stamps
Some stamps practically invite fakery because they can be made from cheaper versions with basic tools.
Perf 12 Coils (Washington/Franklin issues)
One snip with scissors and a common perforated issue becomes a “rare coil” in a scammer’s hands.
The more advanced crooks use re-perforating machines to mimic genuine coil perfs or to add perforations to imperfs.
Only one of these stamps has a certificate; the other two are highly dubious and will likely be difficult—if not impossible—to sell when you sell your collection.
First Issue Revenues (Imperforate or Part-Perforate)
Worth a big premium if genuine.
Easy to fake by trimming perfs from a common perfed example.
I once knew of a guy who’d clip perforations off of early revenue stamps at shows — right in front of customers! The buyers probably had no idea they were purchasing something that would be worthless when it came time to resell. A real stamp would have only been issued in among the first printing run. Unless the stamp is in a multiple or has a very early cancel and on the first paper type, I typically skip it.
If it can be easily faked with scissors, don’t buy it raw.
4. Outright Forgeries
Here we move from “altered genuine stamps” into “completely fake from scratch.”
The amateur level: Photocopies or inkjet prints from auction catalogs. Easy to spot, usually laughably bad. Fakes made with modern printers can be detected with a simple 10x loupe. Modern printing typically look like dots or is blurry when compared to earlier engraved or lithograph printing techniques.
The master level: People like Jean de Sperati 1, who used lithographic plates, custom paper, and genuine-looking perforations to create forgeries so convincing that some are now collectible in their own right. In fact, Sperati forgeries can sell for as much (or more) than genuine stamps in some cases.
Some of the most fascinating “fakes” weren’t scams at all — they were tools of war.
Take Operation Cornflakes. During WWII, the U.S. Office of Strategic Services printed anti-Nazi propaganda disguised as German mail and dropped it near bombed mail trains. The idea? The Deutsche Reichspost would scoop up the mailbags, sort them, and deliver the propaganda right alongside normal correspondence.
The Germans weren’t innocent either — they produced counterfeits of Allied stamps to undermine morale.
These are highly collectible today, not because they’re rare postage per-se, but because the stories behind them are irresistible.
The Scott U.S. Specialized Catalogue even includes a section devoted to famous forgeries, because there’s a thriving niche market for them — provided they’re sold as what they are.
Tip: The Scott Catalogue is very helpful in finding known forgeries. Most deception can be avoided by reading your catalogue and buying reference books about your collecting area. Invest in books about rare stamps before buying expensive stamps!
How to Read a Certificate Without Getting Burned
A certificate is only as good as your ability to interpret it.
Here are a few quick guidelines:
Check the date — older certs might not reflect modern expertizing standards.
Read the fine print — a cert might confirm authenticity but note a flaw (thin, tear, reperf) that drastically affects value.
Who wrote the certificate — not all experts are knowledgeable about everything. Make sure the certificate is written by a recognized expert of the stamp area you are purchasing.
Verify online — some expertizing bodies have a database to confirm the cert number matches the stamp.
Who to Trust for Expertizing
If you’re buying a stamp that’s on this “cert required” list, you want one from a recognized body. For U.S. stamps, that’s usually:
PF (Philatelic Foundation) — one of the most respected in the field.
PSE (Professional Stamp Experts) — especially known for grading and condition analysis.
APEX (American Philatelic Expertizing Service) — good for many U.S. and worldwide issues.
Avoid relying on “certificates” from obscure, unknown operations with no track record.
The Collector’s Takeaway
eBay can be a goldmine or a minefield. It’s full of opportunity — but also flooded with listings from sellers who either don’t know what they’re selling or are hoping you don’t.
If you take nothing else from this article, remember:
“It’s old, so it must be rare” scams — avoid.
Rare shades — cert.
Easily altered stamps — cert.
Classic stamps known to have forgeries — cert.
Certificates aren’t just for peace of mind — they’re insurance that when you eventually sell. Most dealers will not count these stamps when calculating a price when you sell your collection.
And if you’ve run into any other “don’t buy without a cert” candidates, share them. Your story might save another collector from spending $500 on a $5 stamp.
I won’t be writing next week, as I’ll be at the APS Great American Stamp Show. During my downtime, you can probably find me at the PSE booth. If you’d like to meet, feel free to stop by—someone there can let you know when I’ll be back or give me a call so we can connect at the booth.
The next article will be similar to the Westpex article from a couple months ago where I talked about my experience at the show.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_de_Sperati
