On July 14, 2024 the price of a forever stamp increased to 73 cents.

Let’s be honest, it’s still not that bad considering the price is the same no matter where in the USA you mail to or from. You can send a whole lotta love, joy, and support in one little sparkly paper hug – aka our cards – for only 73 cents.

That’s why forever stamps exist and are so popular, because even if the price of mailing a letter goes up 5 cents, you already have the forever stamp which still works to mail a card. No more buying various face value stamps, and having to add them up to the right postage amount to mail a letter, unless you go overweight on the mailing.

I don’t know about you, but I prefer to stick to reading and writing when it comes to cards, not math.

But what if you are like me, and you don’t like the stamp designs your post office has? And sure there are a couple nice ones on usps.com but nothing jumps out and says buy me.

I’ve found in recent years my liking for the new stamps is not as much. Have you experienced this?

You may think this really isn’t an issue, just use the flags OK?!

I mean I hear you, but to me even the detail of the stamp design is a method of expression.

The stamp you choose shows your recipient that you think they are special because you took time to be thoughtful about stamp choice. Maybe it’s to coordinate with the color of the envelope or sentiment of the card, and maybe the designs contain things you and your recipients love.

Oh how I wish deep down in my sparkly designer heart, that I could go back to 2017 and load up on my favorite skywriting love and halloween forever stamps. Shit, I’d even go back and do 2020 ALL OVER AGAIN to get my fav espresso drinks stamps… pandemic and all.

This little issue of not being able to buy my favorite stamps at USPS, led me to an incredible discovery.

No friends, I don’t have a time machine (yet), but this is almost as good:

You can buy forever stamps on Ebay.

Don’t get me wrong here. I’m in NO WAY suggesting we stop supporting the USPS. In fact, I think we need to keep supporting them more! I still buy plenty of stamps from USPS, and ship most of our orders with them, too. I love the USPS!

If you think about it… someone way smarter than me probably came up with a formula to predict what percent of forever stamps produced will actually be used in X years. I’m going to guess they err on the high side here.

Also, if someone happens to be sitting on 20 books of your favorite forever stamp design I see abso-fucking-lutely no harm in saving those stamps from that person’s junk drawer, so you can use them to spread some love instead. Plus that person already paid the USPS. You are just giving them their money back in exchange for those precious stamps, and ideally you are buying them under the current forever stamp value. I’ve also paid more for Marilyn Monroe stamps

If you don’t feel the same, no worries! I’m not trying to pressure you. Keep buying your forever stamps at USPS.com or your local post office.

If you are looking for some specific designs and want to buy on Ebay, I hope you find these tips helpful!

If you’re in my picky stamp design boat + are interested in buying stamps on Ebay:

  • Only use reputable buyers with high positive feedback.

  • Be sure the stamps are sold as UNUSED stamps. There are some stamps (especially vintage) being sold that have been used/canceled. Some people collect these or use them as styling props.

  • Search for the stamps with your closest guess of the name, if you don’t know the actual stamp design name. For instance “western forever stamps unused.” This can help you discover the actual name and circulation year fro the results that come up. Then adjust your search to the actual name and year “western wear 2021 forever stamps unused” to find more options for that design. PS – if you like these western ones, stock up because Cowboy Carter (Beyoncé) made country cool again!

  • Sort by listings price with shipping to see the total price. Keeping the total price with shipping helps you determine if you’ve got a good deal, and ideally you score a find with free shipping

  • You’ll get the most postage for your bucks if you plan to order at least 3-4 books/sheets of 20 stamps at a time. Many sellers have an incentive to buy more and save, so you get to score a deal and get some fun designs which might not be available on USPS.com anymore.