Submitted by Donald Sones on Fri, 07/27/2012 - 21:19
Forums:
i have some questions concerning usda food coupons. in the may/june 2011 issue of Paper Money there was a very good column by peter huntoon and tom conklin on the subject. recently i acquired a few $1 food coupons and decided to list them on ebay. that was a mistake! the listings were up about 3 or 4 days and had bids and then poof, they went away. according to the all-knowing folks at ebay, it is illegal to sell food coupons. the column by peter and tom does contain the section from the food coupon act supporting this fact. the column also states that food coupons are now "fair game for numismatists now that they are demonetized". apparently ebay does not think so. has an official statement ever come from the usda stating that it is ok to buy and sell food stamps? it would be interesting to hear from some of the collectors in this relatively new area of collecting.
Re: USDA Food Coupon, Food Stamp
Donald:
The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 excised paper food coupons as an obligation of the United States government and gave them no redeemable monetary value. They now are essentially nothing more than collectibles!
Ebay, however, fails to listen to the law, or the repeated attempts of knowledgable members, and refuses to change their stance regarding food coupons. To them, the notes are a restricted federal item and not legal for sale. Hopefully, one day they will change their minds.
Jamie Yakes
Re: USDA Food Coupon, Food Stamp
ebay is terrible and getting worse all the time. This is just one example of their micromanaging their customers business from a position of ignorance.
I believe that the solution is for collectors to take their business to other markets and leave eBay to their own devices. Two that come immediately to mind are ecrater.com and delcampe.com. There are others as well who will charge less and take a much less paternalistic approach to your business.
Re: USDA Food Coupon, Food Stamp
Although there was no fanfare, eBay has finally come around and is now allowing sellers to post "food coupons" and "food stamps" for sale. If you do a search in the Paper Money category you'll find a good number.
I would be interested to know whether a catalog or comprehensive article has ever been published on this subject. SPMC seems like the perfect venue.
Just for fun, here is one of the first food coupons issued -- a 50¢ piece, series 1967, printed by the BEP.