a designated operator and is legal. The two systems
complement rather than compete with each other.
Where can I find stamps registered in the WNS?
Visit the WNS website:
www.wnsstamps.ch or www.wnsstamps.post.
There you will find a copy of each stamp, a brief
description and its WNS number. The WNS website is
in English and French and accessible to everyone.
What are the advantages of the WNS?
The WNS is the only system through which designated
operators can certify the legality of their stamps in the
philatelic community.
60 stamps per year sells 50,000 copies of each issue at
0.20 CHF each, its total sales will be 600,000 CHF. In
this example, the cost of registering the stamps in the
WNS amounts to 0.5% of the sales. And we all know
from experience that this sales would fall quickly if the
market lost confidence in your products.
The 2012 Doha Congress adopted a proposal to study
ways of lowering this cost even further. The results of
the study will be presented at the next UPU Congress,
in 2016.
How do I get involved?
• To become a member or for more information,
please contact Jean-Francois Thivet
at [email protected] or Louis Virgile
at [email protected].
• Once you are a member, send us your annual
philatelic programme as soon as you have it.
• Send your postage stamps to the WNS team as
soon as they are issued. If that is not possible, send
quarterly mailings along with a list of the issuing
dates, face values and technical explanations of
each postage stamp.
As there is no international legal instrument for
combatting illegal and improper issues, the WNS is the
only tool available for doing so.
WNS
WADP Numbering System
• Don’t forget that for booklets or miniature sheets
in which every stamp is different, each stamp must
be treated individually.
Moreover, the WNS acts as a global stamp display for
designated operators and puts customers in direct
contact with your web boutiques.
Is the WNS expensive?
Registering a postage stamp in the WNS costs
50 CHF per issue. For an operator that issues
60 stamps per year, this amounts to 3,000 CHF. It is
important to consider this cost in the context of the
sales guaranteed by publishing your stamps on the
WNS website. For example, if an operator that issues
UNIVERSAL
POSTAL
UNION
WNS – The world numbering system
for postage stamps.
A WADP success story
Launched in 2002 the WADP Numbering System
(WNS) had 195 members at the end of 2012. The
WNS is a register of all official postage stamps
issued by its members. It is the only system that
provides collectors with a guarantee that a given
stamp is official.
The system can therefore serve as a powerful tool to
support your marketing strategy, and will help you
reach your sales target.
What is the WNS?
The WNS is open exclusively to UPU members
(under article 3 of the UPU Constitution) and to the
United Nations Postal Administration.
For this reason, postage stamps must be sent by
designated operators, not by agents or printers. This
is the only way to guarantee their authenticity.
The system makes it possible to:
• officially register every postage stamp issued by
WNS members;
• assign each stamp a unique number.
Through the WNS website, information can be
shared among the various philately players.
Why was the WNS created?
WNS – The WADP
website that guarantees
the authenticity
of your stamps for
collectors everywhere.
The WNS was created with two main objectives:
• To combat illegal stamp issues. These illegal
issues harm the image of your stamp business
and undermine the confidence of collectors. And
it goes without saying that it is much easier to
hold on to customers than to attract new ones!
The WNS is the only tool that authenticates your
stamp production.
• To become a reference website for collectors and
resellers.
The WADP is made up of the following partners:
What is the aim of the WNS?
The WMS aims to stimulate the legal stamp market
and curb the market for illegal issues through the
creation of a central register of official issues.
UNIVERSAL
POSTAL
UNION
INTERGRAF
The WNS complements the stamp numbering
systems in commercial philatelic catalogues,
which aim to provide clients with an overview
of all the philatelic products sold on the market.
The WNS, meanwhile, seeks to guarantee clients
that the postage stamp of interest was issued by