Want to use photos that I took at my hometown as postcards
Is it ok if I just sending photos like postcards?
Hello! Photopaper is quite flimsy and the surface of photographs do not tolerate as much as items meant for mailing. The better solution would be to get your photos printed as postcards. There are many printing services that do that. Many postcrossers use their own photos on professionally printed postcards.
Thank youïŒ
As it is little bit expensive to print my photos as postcards in here
Thinking of print out it as photo paper and put inside envelope
Itâs photo, not a postcard
Itâs not ok.
You can send the photo, but you must include a postcard too.
Here (what can I send on Postcrossing):
Might I suggest you use one of the Taobao sellersâ services to print your photos into postcards?
This is what I personally do as well, and the results are quite good
I have designed the photo layout and made it into a postcard, but I have not sent any individual photos. I sent photos in envelopes and protected them with plastic wrap.
No, thatâs definitely not okay and not what Postcrossing is made for.
Maybe you should search for online printing services or if you cannot find any postcards of your hometown just choose other postcards.
Is a photo a postcard? No. There is your answer. You cannot simply send a photo and expect people to register it.
If the photo is printed on cardstock then you can send it as a postcard. The normal thin photo paper as such is not suitable. Many photofinishers offer the printout as a postcard that you can use. There is also the possibility of mounting a photo on a solid paper. For example, such stickers : https://www.amazon.de/Postkartenaufkleber-100-StĂŒck/dp/B00SFT3HI0
Iâve used something similar to these for using photos as postcards. You basically just adhere the photo to the card and voila! Postcard!
Note - this is just an example and there are many iterations of this type of product out there.
Photographerâs Edge, Do-it-yourself Photo Postcards, Self Adhesive, Pack of 50, 4" X 6" https://a.co/d/3gYtNOa
No. Please read the guidelines about what to send.
There is a topic about printing your own postcards, with experiences, maybe it could interest you @ahnok123
(I personally think photo with a sticker is still a photo with a sticker so I suggest making them to ânormalâ postcards, to cardstock. )
Here is the topic:
(I have received cards printed by the moo and the quality is super good
personally I didnât know what was what side, so I got nervous ordering, and didnât.)
Maybe you could search for shops printing A6 sized cards? In Malaysia there are shops that sell wedding invitation cards that have exactly the same specifications as postcards (not folded), and they tend to be cheaper than those shops that labels their product as âprint postcardsâ. A downside to this is that youâll end up printing 100 of them instead of just a few. Youâll also have more liberty to design the written side of the card. Just make sure the thickness is at least 260gsm.
I second @Seracker 's idea of buying from Taobao too. Some sellers print postcards in quantities of 9 or 10 and you can add on special shiny effects to the paper which is fun! The price seems to be very affordable before shipping too
I use Zazzle.com which I love. The designing tool is pretty easy to work with and there are a ton of options, including designing the back side. I monitor Zazzle for sales and usually get 30-50% off. Finally, their printing quality is very good and delivery is very efficient.
As examples: my photo printed as a postcard:
US-9079817
A friendâs photo:
US-9043840
A card using free photos from NASA:
US-8783989
You could maybe offer to swap here in the forum, maybe some members would like to have a photo (if you show some examples) and they would be willing to send you a postcard in return, but not at the official page.
https://community.postcrossing.com/c/trades-requests-offers/13