What’s wrong with this stamp?

[Louis Balfour]

I had to pay a fine to Royal Mail to receive the bill enclosed within this.

I messaged the sender to tell him to stop using secondhand stamps. I called me indignantly and sent me a photo of the new book that it came from.

So what is the story here?

[dudleybloke]

They get marked with Uv ink when used.

[otherman]

dudleybloke said:

They get marked with Uv ink when used.

I don't think that's right. They have a UV strip so that they can tell a real one from a fake, but the stamp gets marked because the postmark should hit it. They sometimes miss though, and stamps like that will work a second time.

I guess the trouble they have now is that the fakes have UV strips in them too. This is probably an example of them floundering around hoping to deal with it. In reality they need to update their security, ie stop with stamps and just use printed labels with barcodes matching back to their own system. You know, like a delivery company would.

[Louis Balfour]

Jasey_ said:

Ask him where he bought them - loads of fakes on e-bay and Amazon !!

I think he said the corner shop. He is an old chap and quite straightforward.

[Spare tyre]

What a pain, could just be a mistake

Out of curiosity I’d compare this stamp to another under a magnifying glass

[loafer123]

Louis Balfour said:

Jasey_ said:

Ask him where he bought them - loads of fakes on e-bay and Amazon !!

I think he said the corner shop. He is an old chap and quite straightforward.

He needs to have a word with the owner of the corner shop…

…stamps in photo are rather haphazardly lined up…

[Louis Balfour]

loafer123 said:

Louis Balfour said:

Jasey_ said:

Ask him where he bought them - loads of fakes on e-bay and Amazon !!

I think he said the corner shop. He is an old chap and quite straightforward.

He needs to have a word with the owner of the corner shop…

…stamps in photo are rather haphazardly lined up…

Well spotted.

[wolfracesonic]

Well someone needs to be punished for fixing that stamp at such a jaunty angle; it’s not hard people, is it?

[Dogwatch]

Perhaps they just don’t like foreign stamps.

[Nurburgsingh]

Louis Balfour said:

loafer123 said:

Louis Balfour said:

Jasey_ said:

Ask him where he bought them - loads of fakes on e-bay and Amazon !!

I think he said the corner shop. He is an old chap and quite straightforward.

He needs to have a word with the owner of the corner shop…

…stamps in photo are rather haphazardly lined up…

Well spotted.

Help me out… which ones are not lined up?

[Spare tyre]

Nurburgsingh said:

Louis Balfour said:

loafer123 said:

Louis Balfour said:

Jasey_ said:

Ask him where he bought them - loads of fakes on e-bay and Amazon !!

I think he said the corner shop. He is an old chap and quite straightforward.

He needs to have a word with the owner of the corner shop…

…stamps in photo are rather haphazardly lined up…

Well spotted.

Help me out… which ones are not lined up?

My eyes tell me the stamps are straight, the wavy lines behind make them look wonky

[loafer123]

Look at the gap between the top and bottom rows.

They are all at slightly different angles.

If these were stuck down by a machine, you wouldn’t see that, you would see perfectly straight lines.

[rayny]

Was it posted from Wales ?
Are Welsh stamps the same as English stamps ?

[V41LEY]

Nurburgsingh said:

Help me out… which ones are not lined up?

Stamp bottom row second from the left is not straight compared the the others. It’s top right hand corner is higher than the rest in the row.
Have we got hooky stamps being sold by a corner shop ? New one on me but considering the price of a book of 1st class the potential to rake it in - especially for Xmas - is clearly too tempting albeit illegal.

[Sheepshanks]

V41LEY said:

Have we got hooky stamps being sold by a corner shop ?

Not just corner shops: https://www.advertiserandtimes.co.uk/news/probe-in...

[anonymous-user]

As already mentioned, heaps of fake stamps on Ebay. You can buy big sheets of them.

Some of the adverts even try to be 'honest' about it by saying the stamps are for 'Collecting and Philatelic purposes' before going to tell you they are 'great quality and have correct security features'

[Spare tyre]

Lord Marylebone said:

As already mentioned, heaps of fake stamps on Ebay. You can buy big sheets of them.

Some of the adverts even try to be 'honest' about it by saying the stamps are for 'Collecting and Philatelic purposes' before going to tell you they are 'great quality and have correct security features'

Bizarre, you’d assume the PO would be buying them all up to shut it down and then prosecute

[anonymous-user]

Spare tyre said:

Bizarre, you’d assume the PO would be buying them all up to shut it down and then prosecute

The PO have been far too busy erroneously prosecuting innocent post office owners and covering their own arses than be worried about such trivial matters as stamps!

[dudleybloke]

Spare tyre said:

Bizarre, you’d assume the PO would be buying them all up to shut it down and then prosecute

They do investigate it and there has been a few prosecutions.

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-new...

[Spare tyre]

Lord Marylebone said:

Spare tyre said:

Bizarre, you’d assume the PO would be buying them all up to shut it down and then prosecute

The PO have been far too busy erroneously prosecuting innocent post office owners and covering their own arses than be worried about such trivial matters as stamps!

Horizon system?