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Small paper coupons given to customers by merchants in loyalty marketing programs
Trading stamps are small paper stamps given to customers by merchants in loyalty programs that predate the modern loyalty card. Like the similarly issued retailer coupons, these stamps only had a minimal cash value of a few mils (thousandths of a dollar) individually, but when a customer accumulated a number of them, they could be exchanged with the trading stamp company (usually a third party issuer of the stamps) for premiums, such as toys, personal items, housewares, furniture and appliances.

The practice of retailers issuing trading stamps started in 1891 at Schuster's Department Store, Wisconsin. At first, the stamps were given only to customers who paid for purchases in cash as a reward for not making purchases on credit. The program was successful. Parke established showrooms in their headquarters buildings in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh where customers could inspect and obtain premium goods.

In 1896 the Sperry and Hutchinson Company was created as an independent trading stamp company in the United States. By 1957 there were approximately 200 trading stamp companies in operation. The intent was to get customers to be loyal to the merchant, so that they would continue shopping there to obtain enough stamps to redeem for merchandise. While one of the most popular brand of trading stamps in the US were S&H Green Stamps, informally known as "green stamps", other large brands included Top Value Stamps, Gold Bond Stamps, Plaid Stamps, Blue Chip Stamps, Quality Stamps, Buccaneer Stamps and Gold Strike Stamps. Texas Gold Stamps were given in Texas mainly by the H E B grocery store chain, and Mahalo stamps in Hawaii. Even the comic book publisher Marvel Comics entered the trading stamp field in the 1970s, with what were known as "Marvel Value Stamps". Each Value Stamp featured artwork of a Marvel character (the first one featuring Spider Man), and were generally featured in the letter pages of Marvel titles (with certain titles, primarily reprints, consequently not offering Value Stamps). Buyers were encouraged to clip out the stamps and collect them (this practice was annoying to future comic collectors, with the price of comics declining if they were cut up for their Value Stamps), with Marvel offering a stamp book by mail for 50 cents; if a person managed to collect all 100 stamps in a book (the 100th Stamp was kept a mystery until it was featured in Sub Mariner #72, featuring the image of Galactus), they were entitled to discounts at comic book shops and conventions (including the San Diego Comic Con). A further series of stamps were released known as "Series B", which in lieu of singular stamps featuring only one character, were instead akin to a jigsaw puzzle; when put together, the stamps would create an entire image, typically of a Marvel star (or in one case, Stan Lee himself). The concept was revived in 2006 for a run of stamps in Marvel Spotlight, and again in 2017 as part of the Marvel Legacy initiative.

The use of trading stamps grew with the spread of chain gasoline stations in the early 1910s and the then new industry of chain supermarkets in the 1920s. Merchants found it more profitable to award them to all customers rather than cash only customers. Legal challenges regarding the use of trading stamps were raised in various jurisdictions around the US but were often struck down. Some merchant groups disliked trading stamps and actively worked to have them banned in their areas. Following WWII the use of trading stamps expanded when supermarkets began issuing them. By 1957 it was estimated that nearly 250,000 retail outlets were issuing trading stamps, with nearly two thirds of US households saving trading stamps. During this time trading stamp companies had between 1,400 1,600 retail centers where consumers could redeem their stamps for consumer goods. During the 1980s there was a brief resurgence in the popularity of trading stamps, but overall their use continued to decline. Their role has been replaced by coupons, rewards programs offered by credit card companies and other loyalty programs such as grocery "Preferred Customer" cards. Through the 1990s and early 2000s the majority of the remaining trading stamp companies either ceased operations or converted to an online format. In 2008 the last operating trading stamp company in the United States, Eagle Stamps, closed.

The use of trading stamps began in Canada circa 1900 but their use was banned by the Canadian government in 1905. In 1959 the grocery chain Loblaws introduced their Lucky Green Stamps program and a trading stamp program was started by an IGA grocery store in Winnipeg. Although faced with legal challenges the use of trading stamps in these instances was upheld as legal since they did not meet the definition of trading stamps in the Canadian Criminal Code. The Criminal Code provisions against trading stamps were deleted, among other obsolete provisions, by Bill C 51 in 2018 during the 42nd Canadian Parliament

By the 1960s the use of trading stamps had spread to the United Kingdom. Entrepreneur Richard Tompkins established Green Shield Stamps in the United Kingdom. Although based along a similar model, the Green Shield Stamps were independent of S&H Green Stamps but carried a similar trademark. Tompkins' company began selling stamps to filling stations, small retailers and had signed up the Tesco supermarket chain to the Green Shield Stamp franchise in 1963. The S&H Company began offering their stamps in the United Kingdom as well but with the color changed to pink. In 1965, the British co operative movement began offering trading stamps as a new means of allocating patronage dividends to its consumer members.