Posted 30 December 2023

Stamps with Queens Head and Bar Code are they still Legal?

Sent my Christmas cards using stamps with the Queens Head but all had a bar code as well one person has told me they had to pay £5.00 as the stamp was no longer valid is this true (I hope not as I bought quite a lot before the price rose)?
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  1. AMaky's avatar
    did you buy them of some ebay deal? lol
  2. AndyRoyd's avatar
    £5 fee is "no postage paid/counterfeit stamp" but interpret whatever you wish from RM fee structure:
    • Letters/Large Letters - no postage paid/counterfeit stamp - £5.00
    • Letters/Large Letters - insufficient postage paid - £1.50
    • Letters/Large Letters - non-barcoded stamp used - £2.50
    Misslovely's avatar
    Wow they charge £5 for receiving the letter if someone uses fake stamps
  3. melted's avatar
    It was only non-barcoded stamps (excluding picture ones) that are no longer valid.

    royalmail.com/sen…mps
  4. bozo007's avatar
    The barcode is the new stamp. The old ones didn't have one and hence open to counterfeiting.
    NCIS's avatar
    There are loads of counterfeit new barcoded stamps on eBay and Amazon.

    If the OP purchased them from there it could be the reason they got flagged as counterfeit and hence the fee to pay.
  5. mutley1's avatar
    only the ones with the bar code are now accepted so you should be ok unless your stamps are fakes. i would think that they can tell fakes easier now with the bar codes as they can read that.

    old christmas and presentation stamps are still valid as they didn't need to be swapped out.
  6. spyke3003's avatar
    Probably counterfeit stamp
    mutley1's avatar
    RM must be losing a lot of money from counterfeit stamps. With the new system, they will probably suddenly become very profitable
  7. Satchmo's avatar
    I hope so, I have quite a lot from when I did Post Office work for Kantar, as they paid in stamps, but nowadays I hardly send many letters except for Birthday cards etc. I even have given some to relatives , but I still have loads.
    jsac's avatar
    If the stamps you have are non-barcoded, you can 'swap them out' with Royal Mail for free, you just need to complete and return a form:

    royalmail.com/sit…pdf
  8. IAmATeaf's avatar
    Big question is where did the OP purchase the stamps from and I thought this move was supposed to stamp out, pardon the pun, fake stamps?
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