What Forms of Payment are Accepted?

Accepted:

• VISA®
• MasterCard®
• Discover®
• American Express™
• Debit cards are accepted if a PIN is not required
• PayPal™ (limited to Click-N-Ship® and The Postal Store®)
• Apple Pay
• Prepaid Cards (limited, see below for exclusions)

Not Accepted:

• Checks, Money Orders, and Traveler's/Cashier's Check
• Virtual MasterCard®
  • The Virtual MasterCard is distributed by PayPal. It does not have a 3-digit verification number as there is no physical card, making this form of payment unsatisfactory
• Gift cards
• Click to Pay (Discontinued in November 2025)
• Prepaid cards for:
  • Premium Forwarding Service (PFS)
  • Change of Address / Movers Guide Online Verification
  • Labels API Transactions
  • Stored / Saved Cards (cannot add or modify a prepaid card as a saved payment method on any USPS application)

• U.S. currency and coins (See Penny Rounding Policy)
• Checks made payable to U.S. Postal Service or to Postmaster (title only) for the exact amount of the transaction. (see check requirements)
• Money Orders (postal and non-postal) when presented with valid photo ID.
• Traveler's/Cashier's Check only when at least 50% of the face value is used to purchase Postal Service products or services.
• Credit Cards (see credit card exclusions)
• Debit Cards
  • Debit cards are accepted for all services, except passport fees paid to the Department of State (debit cards may be used to pay the USPS® processing fee). Cash back allowed in $10 increments up to $50. If a "checking" or "debit" card has a VISA or MasterCard logo on it, then it should be treated like a regular credit card.
• Contactless Payments, such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, etc. (subject to credit card exclusions)

• Collect on Delivery (COD)
• Money Orders
• Passport fees payable to U.S. Department of State (only the Postal Acceptance Fee payable to "Postmaster" can be paid with a credit card)
  • Please note that a separate fee must be paid to the U.S. Department of State with specific methods of payment. Please visit passport fees and payment methods on the Department of State's website.
• Payment for bulk mailings
• Trust accounts (pre-canceled stamps, permit imprints, periodicals, Business Reply Mail®)
• Credit cards are not acceptable for purchases made by phone, except on the Stamps by Phone™ line
• See USPS® Credit Card Signature Policy

• Personal or Business checks must be made payable to U.S. Postal Service or to Postmaster (title only) for the exact amount of purchase.
• For Collect on Delivery (COD) packages:
  • Senders may use checks payable to U.S. Postal Service or to Postmaster to purchase COD services at the time of mailing. 
  • Recipients picking up COD packages may use checks made payable to the sender to pay the COD amount due to them.
• The Post Office™ will only accept checks when photo ID is presented. Only the following are acceptable photo IDs:
  • Valid state-issued driver's license
  • State-issued non-driver identification
  • Passport
  • Military ID
  • Other U.S. government-issued identification [Must have the customer's picture and signature. See Acceptable Forms of Identification]
  • Checks are not accepted just because the customer is well-known.
• Checks cannot be accepted if they are written for more than the exact amount of purchase.
• Checks cannot be accepted for the purchase of money orders.
• Personal checks are accepted at all postal facilities.
• Business checks are accepted at all postal facilities.

Effective 12/12/2025 due to the discontinuation of penny production, change due on all cash transactions will be rounded to the nearest nickel if pennies are unavailable. Pennies will still be accepted.

How rounding works:

• If the total cash purchase amount is less than 5¢, it will be rounded up to 5¢ unless paid with exact change.
• Amounts ending in 1¢, 2¢, 6¢, or 7¢ will be rounded down.
• Amounts ending in 3¢, 4¢, 8¢, or 9¢ will be rounded up.