About Bizsupplyhub

Who we are

Bizsupplyhub sells genuine United States postage online. We supply First-Class mail stamps to households, small businesses, corporations and online retailers at prices below face-value retail — tax free, with free shipping inside the US.

As an authorized retailer we stand behind every stamp we ship: 100% authentic postage, at the best price we can source it for.

Where our stamps come from

We buy in volume on the secondary market, which is what makes the pricing possible. Our sources are ordinary and entirely legal: overstock from retailers such as Costco and CVS, inventory released by businesses that have closed or liquidated, unused blocks from wedding and event organizers, and collections sold by collectors and the public.

Buying at that scale, from that many directions, is the whole model — it is how we source authentic postage efficiently and pass the savings to the customer rather than to a middleman. Our purchasing, handling and resale processes are reviewed by our legal counsel, and every transaction is conducted in compliance with United States law.

What we are not

To be clear about what "authorized retailer" means here: it describes our position as a retailer of authentic postage, and nothing more. Bizsupplyhub is a privately held company. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or represented by the United States Postal Service or any other government institution, and we make no claim to operate or to provide products or services on their behalf.

A short history of United States postage

The first adhesive stamps used in this country were not federal at all. Alexander M. Greig's City Despatch Post, a private carrier in New York City, issued them on February 1, 1842. The Post Office Department bought Greig's business later that year and kept the stamps in service for carrier mail in the city.

When postage rates were simplified in 1845, several postmasters — Robert Morris of New York City among them — began issuing their own stamps and markings to show that postage had been paid. Collectors know these today as Postmasters' Provisionals.

Congress authorized national postage stamps in 1847, and the first general issue went on sale in New York City on July 1 of that year: a five-cent Benjamin Franklin and a ten-cent George Washington. Sheets came pregummed but unperforated, so clerks cut each stamp apart with scissors.

Prepayment of letter postage became compulsory in 1855, and from January 1, 1856 mailers were required to prepay using U.S. postage stamps.

Commemorative stamps

Commemoratives mark people, events and pieces of American culture, and they are typically larger than the everyday stamps — called definitives — that carry most of the mail.

The first American commemoratives appeared in 1893 for the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Both the subject, Columbus's voyages, and the format were departures: at 7/8 inches high by 1-11/32 inches wide, they were close to double the size of anything issued before.

Shapes and sizes have kept expanding since. The first triangular U.S. stamp was issued in 1997 and the first round stamp in 2000. In 2017 the Postal Service produced its first stamps with tactile features — the Have a Ball! set, textured to imitate the surface of sports balls, and the Total Eclipse of the Sun stamp, printed in heat-sensitive ink that revealed the moon when touched.

The best-selling U.S. commemorative to date remains the 29-cent Elvis Presley stamp of 1993.

Nondenominated stamps

Stamps without a printed value exist because rate changes do not always arrive on schedule. The first two were Christmas stamps issued on October 14, 1975: the Postal Service had asked to move the rate from 10 to 13 cents and did not know when the Postal Rate Commission would rule. The decision was delayed, so the stamps sold at 10 cents.

The same problem produced the nondenominated stamps of May 22, 1978, which carried the letter "A" in place of a value. Letter-designated issues ran through "H," each tied to a rate change, until 1998.

Forever stamps

The first Forever stamp was issued on April 12, 2007: nondenominated, nonexpiring, and intended for First-Class Mail. It sells at the current First-Class rate and remains valid for the first ounce of First-Class postage no matter how many increases follow. The original purpose was simply to smooth the disruption around price changes. For the first three and a half years only one design existed — the Liberty Bell.

Popularity settled the question. Two further designs arrived in 2010: Holiday Evergreens on October 21, and Lady Liberty and U.S. Flag coils on December 1. From 2011, every new commemorative issued at the one-ounce First-Class rate has been a Forever stamp, and since 2014 that has applied to all new stamps at that rate.

The idea then extended outward. The Global Forever stamp arrived in 2013, covering a one-ounce First-Class international letter to any country in the world — or up to two ounces to Canada — at a single price. From 2015, Forever stamps were issued for postcards and for letters requiring additional postage as well.