Where to Buy Stamps, In Person or Online

The short answer

You can buy stamps at any Post Office counter or self-service kiosk, online at The Postal Store on usps.com, by phone at 1-844-737-7826, or by mail with PS Form 3227-A. Many stores sell them too, including Approved Postal Providers, grocery stores, pharmacies, warehouse clubs, and office supply stores. USPS charges face value, $0.82 per Forever stamp or $16.40 for a book of 20 (prices effective July 12, 2026); stores set their own prices, and stamps sold online at deep discounts are likely counterfeit.

Mail a letter online Mail a letter without the Post Office

Where can I buy stamps?

USPS lists four ways to buy stamps directly: in person at a Post Office or an approved postal provider, online at The Postal Store, by phone, and by mail. Some Post Offices also take orders by fax. Beyond USPS itself, many stores sell stamps under agreements with the Postal Service, so you can often pick up a book at the same place you buy groceries or office supplies.

The short list:

A Post Office retail counter, or the self-service kiosk in many Post Office lobbies.
The Postal Store at store.usps.com, delivered to your door.
Stamps by Phone at 1-844-737-7826, Monday–Friday, 7 a.m.–3:30 p.m. Central time.
Stamps by Mail, using PS Form 3227-A from your local Post Office.
Approved Postal Providers: Village Post Offices, Contract Postal Units, and national retailers.
Stores that resell stamps, such as grocery stores, pharmacies, warehouse clubs, office supply stores, and pack-and-ship stores.

USPS: Postage Stamps – The Basics

Can I buy stamps at the Post Office counter or a kiosk?

Yes. USPS sells stamps at face value to everyone, so a book of 20 Forever stamps costs $16.40 (20 × $0.82) at a Post Office counter, at USPS prices effective July 12, 2026, which the October 4, 2026 price list left unchanged for letters and postcards. Stamps come in booklets, sheets, and coils, and you can also buy low-value stamps, such as 1¢ and 3¢, to top up older stamps after a price change.

If the line is long, look for a self-service kiosk. USPS says kiosks let you buy stamps, weigh packages, print and pay for shipping labels, and mail letters and packages, among other tasks. Kiosk stamps come as “sheetlets,” one of the standard formats USPS lists. To find a Post Office or kiosk near you, USPS points to the Post Office Locator on usps.com: enter a city, state, or ZIP Code and search.

How do I buy stamps online from USPS?

Use The Postal Store at store.usps.com. It carries Forever stamps in dozens of designs along with 1¢ to 10¢ stamps, 29¢ additional-ounce stamps, 65¢ postcard stamps, $1.31 nonmachinable stamps, and $1.75 international stamps. A booklet or sheet of 20 Forever stamps is listed at $16.40, the same face value you pay at the counter.

A few practical details from USPS:

You can pay with Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, PayPal, or Apple Pay. Debit cards work if they don’t require a PIN.
Stamps qualify for guest checkout, so you don’t need a USPS.com account, unless the order totals $250 or more or includes items such as stamp subscriptions or pre-orders.
The Postal Store ships only to addresses in the US, US territories, and APO/FPO addresses.
For questions about an order, call 1-844-737-7826 or email sfsdelivery.confirmation@usps.gov.
Check the order total in your cart before you pay.

Can I order stamps by phone, mail, or fax?

Yes, and these older options still help people who don’t want to shop online or can’t easily get to a Post Office.

Stamps by Phone: call 1-844-737-7826 Monday–Friday, 7 a.m.–3:30 p.m. Central time. The line is closed on weekends and postal holidays.

Stamps by Mail: pick up PS Form 3227-A at your local Post Office, fill it in, and mail it with a check or money order payable to “USPS” or “United States Postal Service.” Your local Post Office fills the order and your letter carrier delivers the stamps, 2–3 days after the order is received.

Stamps by Fax: not every Post Office offers it, so call yours first. USPS says there’s no extra charge for delivering the stamps, payment works the same as at the counter, and the stamps ship only after payment is received. Orders can take longer in December.

USPS: How can I buy stamps?

Where can I buy stamps besides the Post Office?

Start with an Approved Postal Provider. Through these agreements, USPS says you can buy stamps, mail a letter, or ship a package without visiting a traditional Post Office. In the USPS locator, choose “Village Post Office,” “Contract Postal Unit,” or “National Retailer” from the Location Types menu to find one.

Many other businesses sell stamps through USPS’s Stamps to Go program, which USPS describes as an ordering system for companies that sell stamps at checkout counters, bank teller stations, department stores, pharmacies, and grocery stores. Look for stamps near the register or ask at the customer service desk.

Some retailers that say on their own websites that they sell stamps:

Costco (warehouse club): a 100-count of Forever stamps, five booklets of 20, available at local warehouses, with a limit of 10 per member.
Office Depot (office supply): booklets of 20 Forever stamps at $16.40, with a $1.00 processing fee per booklet added at checkout on delivery orders.
Staples (office supply): booklets of 20 Forever stamps, at a price above face value (details in the next section).
The UPS Store (pack-and-ship): the company says its stores sell stamps, and its location pages list full stamp booklets and sheets.

Can stores charge more than face value for stamps?

They can. USPS sells stamps at face value, but it says it has no control over the pricing of private businesses that resell its products. On October 9, 2026, staples.com listed a booklet of 20 U.S. Flag Forever stamps at $28.99, which is $12.59 more than the $16.40 face value. Office Depot adds a $1.00 processing fee per booklet on delivery orders.

Prices can also run slightly under face value. The Postal Inspection Service says legitimate big-box and warehouse retailers sometimes give very small discounts, through resale agreements with USPS. A discount of a few cents per stamp from a well-known store is normal; a large one from an unknown seller isn’t (see the next section).

To pay exactly face value, USPS suggests buying at a Post Office, through Stamps by Mail, by phone, online, at a self-service kiosk, or from a retailer in its consignment programs. Before paying at a store, divide the price by the number of stamps: anything over $0.82 per Forever stamp is a markup.

Are discounted stamps sold online real?

Probably not. USPS doesn’t sell stamps below face value, and the Postal Inspection Service warns that a big discount is the telltale sign of fakes. Counterfeit Forever stamps are sold on social media marketplaces, through third-party sellers on e-commerce sites, and on stand-alone websites, often in bulk and at a deep discount. The Inspection Service adds that stamps sold at a substantial discount or by a vendor outside the United States are more than likely counterfeit.

The scale is large. In a June 16, 2026 audit, the USPS Office of Inspector General said its contractor found 8,895 instances of counterfeit stamps being marketed or sold online over nearly two months. Many of the offers came from outside the US, imitated Forever stamps, and were priced 20–50% below face value, and most fakes are now good enough that consumers have trouble telling them from real stamps.

Using them costs you more than you saved. Under the Domestic Mail Manual, mail bearing counterfeit postage is considered abandoned and disposed of at the Postal Service’s discretion, and the Inspector General notes this happens even if you used the fake stamps unknowingly. The Inspection Service also points out that using or selling counterfeit postage is unlawful under 18 U.S.C. 501. If you come across a seller, report it to the Postal Inspection Service through its online Counterfeit Postage Reporting System.

Which way to buy stamps is best?

It depends on whether you need stamps today, want a particular design, or want to avoid a trip. Here is how the options compare.

Ways to buy stamps compared (USPS prices effective July 12, 2026; retailer details from their own sites, October 9, 2026)
Where	Price	Best for	Keep in mind
Post Office counter	Face value: $0.82 per Forever stamp, $16.40 per book of 20	Any stamp type, help choosing postage	Limited to the Post Office’s retail hours
Self-service kiosk	Face value	Skipping the counter line	Not every Post Office has one; stamps come as sheetlets
The Postal Store (store.usps.com)	Face value	Choosing designs, postcard and low-value stamps	Delivered, not instant; US, territory, and APO/FPO addresses only
Stamps by Phone	Face value	Ordering without a computer	Weekdays 7 a.m.–3:30 p.m. Central
Stamps by Mail	Face value	Ordering without going out	Check or money order; 2–3 days after the order arrives
Approved Postal Provider	Face value or very close	Buying stamps away from a Post Office	Find them with the USPS locator
Other retailers	Set by the store; can be above or slightly below face value	Picking up a book while shopping	Check the per-stamp price before paying
Unknown online sellers	Often 20–50% off	Nothing	Likely counterfeit; mail can be disposed of

USPS: Postage Stamps – The Basics

Where can I buy postcard stamps?

Postcard stamps are sold at Post Offices and at The Postal Store. A postcard stamp costs $0.65 and shows the word “POSTCARD” instead of a price; like a Forever stamp, it stays valid for the postcard price in effect when you mail it. The Postal Store currently lists Vibrant Leaves postcard stamps at $13.00–$65.00 depending on the format, and a postcard roll subscription at $65.00.

If a store only has Forever stamps, one Forever stamp still mails a postcard, but you pay $0.82 for $0.65 of postage, 17 cents more. A postcard to another country takes $1.75, the price of a Global Forever stamp, which USPS says covers a postcard or a 1-ounce letter to any country.

Only cards within the USPS postcard size limits qualify for the postcard price. Size limits and what a 5 × 7 or square card costs are covered in the postcard stamp guide linked below.

Which stamps should I buy?

For most people, a book of Forever stamps is enough. A Forever stamp always equals the current 1-ounce First-Class Mail price and never expires, so stamps you bought years ago still cover a standard letter today. Heavier, square, or rigid letters need extra postage, which you can add with additional-ounce or low-value stamps; the letter cost guide shows how many stamps each weight needs.

Common USPS stamps and what they cover (prices effective July 12, 2026)
Stamp	Price	Covers
Forever	$0.82	A standard letter up to 1 ounce
Additional ounce	$0.29	Each extra ounce on a letter, up to 3.5 ounces
Postcard	$0.65	A postcard within USPS size limits
Nonmachinable	$1.31	A 1-ounce square, rigid, or lumpy letter ($0.82 + $0.49 surcharge)
Global Forever	$1.75	A postcard or 1-ounce letter to any country
1¢ to 10¢	Face value	Topping up older stamps after a price change

Can I mail a letter without buying stamps?

Yes, if you’d rather not buy stamps at all. IRIS Postal Forms is an independent print-and-mail service, not USPS. You upload a US Letter-size PDF, enter the sender and recipient addresses, and review the document, addresses, options, and total before paying. IRIS prints the letter and mails it by USPS First-Class Mail to a US address, with postage included, so you don’t need stamps or an envelope.

A one-page black-and-white letter costs $3.20: a $3.00 service-and-postage fee plus $0.20 per black-and-white page ($0.40 per color page). Full-color postcards cost $3.49 for 4 × 6 or 5.5 × 4.25 and $4.49 for 6 × 9 or 8.5 × 5.5, First-Class postage included.

IRIS doesn’t sell stamps and can’t mail anything you hold, such as a check, cash, or an original document, and it mails to US addresses only. If you mail a lot yourself, a book of Forever stamps from one of the places above is still the cheapest choice.

Sources & further reading

Product details checked against the IRIS API contract when this article was published. Platform references can change; consult the linked documentation when implementing.

Published by IRIS Postal Forms, operated by Great Lakes Computing Office LLC. Send a correction.

Put it into practice

Mail a letter without buying stamps

Upload a finished PDF, enter the sender and recipient addresses, and review the total before paying. IRIS prints your letter and mails it by USPS First-Class Mail to a US address, postage included, from $3.20 for one black-and-white page.

Mail a letter online ↗Mail a letter without the Post Office ↗