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What (We Think) We Know
About the New CFN Website

VPS Website Team


Last week, to much fanfare (from your Website Team), the new and improved CFN website came online, following months of “site maintenance” and a ten-day countdown to the grand reopening.

Here are some first impressions gathered from VPS members who have been communicating with the Website Team:

  • Look and feel: the new site is definitely nicer looking, and navigation around the site (including placing orders) wasn’t overly difficult. One comment was the mish-mash of the formats of items: sets, single stamps, and “minisheets” versus “miniature sheets” (souvenir sheets) was a bit confusing. Ordering specific formats was not available (for example, ordering an intact sheet of 10 stamps was not an option). Also, for issues released as minisheets, individual stamps could not be purchased (you need to buy the whole minisheet)
  • Purchase limits: there is a limit of 30 per item for each issue, which is an problem for dealers. It is unfortunate that some accommodations are not made for dealers to facilitate sales, particularly since it is possible some people will never open (or reopen) personal CFN accounts.
  • Shipping costs: much higher than in the past (standard shipping is 24 euros). CFN appears to be using UPS for shipping, which may be partly responsible for of the increase. The shipping costs may discourage some buyers, or force them to place fewer, larger orders to spread out the shipping costs.
  • Product inventories: a new addition, when looking at the items on the ordering pages, is a running inventory for each item. Knowing the inventory gives you some idea regarding the urgency of placing orders, and may also help to gauge stamp demand and get a peek into market conditions. There is a "Details" tab for each issue, which provides production statistics, including the number of stamps printed per item.
  • Limited selection: this is reflected in two ways:
    1. Currently the site only displays the issues from 2024 and 2025. Previously, past year issues were available for longer periods of time.
    2. As of this time, it is disappointing to see that CFN will not be selling first day covers, covers with special postmarks, folders and other philatelic items on the website. The most recent communication with CFN indicated the following:
    ”The CFN will unfortunately sell only stamps and coins, all other items you asked for (special postmarked covers, and folders announced in the Vatican City postal bulletin...[including] commemorative covers for events such as World Peace Day, Easter, Christmas, Papal travels, and philatelic exhibitions can be only requested to the Vatican Post.”
    It is unfortunate that CFN (and the Vatican Post Office) fails to recognize that it has a “captive audience”: when people go to the CFN website, they are there to BUY. The CFN should be putting every available philatelic item in front of this audience for purchase, rather than directing people to the Vatican Post. Also, customer service ("customer care") appears to be limited (and if past history is a judge, it is not very responsive). For those who may be interested, the Vatican Post website is www.postevaticane.va/en.

    So, what is the overall consensus regarding the new CFN? We are glad it is back; the site is better than in the past, but there is still a lot that is lacking from an overall buying perspective. And the issue of setting up an account with CFN, a burdensome process that requires the user to provide a lot of personal data, may make some hesitant to open an account (we have heard that from some of our members). We feel the website’s nine-month hiatus hurt Vatican philately, and it remains to be seen if the opening of the new and improved website brings collectors back.