I accidentally bought a few duplicate cards and i am wondering whether to send them on the official site or maybe give them away in a lottery.
What do you do with duplicate cards?
I purposely buy duplicates quite often. I typically choose cards I like and I want to share them with multiple people so I like having multiples. When I only have one of a card I really like, I’m often sad to see it go (though it’s part of the hobby).
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I have such a small collection of cards (I think I only have about 60 right now) so I tend to keep my duplicates. You never know who might have similar tastes and would love the same card.
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I order multiples of almost every card I buy as do many, many Postcrossers.
You’ve only just started your journey on Postcrossing, so sending the same card stands out more, but when you’ve sent 100’s of cards, it’s quite different.
I’ve just passed the 400 sent card mark & I started sending the same cards out around the 250-300 card mark or so. Plus all the swaps, tags etc I do on the Forum.
There’s lots of reasons to have multiples of the same card, especially if it’s a image you like & is special. One of the fun parts of Postcrossing is figuring what cards you like & which ones you’d like to send to others based on what you like.
And think about it - did you imagine you were going to send a different card to everyone on Postcrossing? That would mean you need 100’s of different cards - you might choose to do that, but it’s a lot of money & it will take time to build a collection.
Send those cards to official addresses or use them on the Forum - I’m sure they’ll be well received wherever you send them.
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I often have multiple copies of many cards that I stock for my online store.
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That is a really good point. Duplicates really stand out right now but it won’t always be that way. I don’t want them on my wall right now but I can save the for the forum. I’m a little anxious to send more cards so i joined some Round Robins, lol
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Swapping cards or playing games on the Forum is a good way to send & receive more cards while you’re waiting for your officials numbers to get larger and is highly recommended. Have fun!
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I like duplicates because it makes it easier to part with a card. If I only have one of a card I always think, “What if I send it to this person, then realize it would have been absolutely perfect for the next profile I draw?”
I’m not into the digital side of Postcrossing at all, but if you are, I could see not wanting duplicates on your sent wall. Maybe wait a long time between sending so at least they don’t show on the same page?
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I have duplicates of many of my cards in stock. I happily send them, because for me the message I write is still individual, and they of course are going to different people.
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Yes, I try to keep distance on my wall between the same card. For one thing, I’ve sent a few I expected the other person to really like (serious favorite territory in my opinion) with barely a Thank You, so a chance to try again. 
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I also like to send a card only once, at least officially. But because I already have some cards twice or more, I’m going to send them if fitting to a profile. Or if it’s best fitting.
And I already have sent one card twice officially.
With some special cards with limit edition or so I tend to hold back until a profile really, really, really seems to fit - and then I worry more than usual if it arrives and how it will be received. - So there is something good in having and sending special cards, and there are also good reasons for keeping and sending duplicates.
I also don’t mind receiving a card by someone who sends out the same motive multiple times - in case it does fit and is not the only card send to everybody regardless the receiver.
AND I came across an account that looked like a special project - only sent cards of the same animal, who was said to be the postcrosser. I find this account somehow an artist’s project & absolutely fit&fun that the animal only sends pictures of herself. 
So in this case cards need to be multiple. 
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i don’t really keep duplicates. i already have a problem with buying too many cards because there are so many beautiful cards out there.
very sometimes i buy the same illustration again after a long time, because i love it so much.
and i have several of the same tourist cards and very specific series, like the greetings from. and some topics that are hard to find for me, like rare animals or hobbies.
i would say i wouldn’t care about how it looks on my wall but i once sent the same card out a whole month apart and they are now next to each other on my wall and i have to admit it still bugs me 
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I usually don’t have duplicates in my stock. I always try to find the “right” card for each profile, and so I prefer having a big choice of cards, which means to have very many different cards. Only very few cards, which I really adore, I buy twice or trice. Many cards I can rebuy when having sent, so why should I have duplicates in stock?
Plus: there are SO many beautyful cards in so many great shops (real shops and internet shops) I haven’t bought yet (because they would get too many), so why should I keep duplicates in stock?
But may be in Germany we do have a privileged situation. There is a big amount of postcard-calendars of many types, with 1 postcard for each month or week of a year. We also can buy “postcard books” to certain themes, which means a “bundle” of postcard e.g. “gardens”, “impressionists”, “birds”, “women” etc etc. We do have many internet shops and real shops. In museums, tourist informations, bookstores, souvenir-shops, stationary shops you usually can buy a big amount of postcards of every style or motiv.
So why should I buy duplicates? There are so many great cards …
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Clarification: my duplicates would be mostly cards I have had printed (professionally) from my own photos.
I purchase duplicates on purpose for many of the same reasons people have already mentioned here…mainly that there are some designs that I really like, some that I’ve discovered many people like or collect (for example certain USA state cards…LouPaper, KeepTheFaye, Postcard Fair series), and, yes, if I have multiples I don’t mind so much parting with some that I really love 
Yesterday I purchased many tourist type cards and 5-10 of each design
10 of the stadium, which I think is boring, but many profiles ask for such cards and this was the first time I’d seen them available near me! I don’t worry about repeats on my wall because I do my best to find a fitting card for each person and sometimes the same card seems just right for different individuals (with unique messages and stamps of course)
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There are some cards I buy again and again because they seem to be liked by many Postcrossers and some even write to me because they want to swap for these cards. But these are not very special (to me), it’s just tourist cards from my hometown Potsdam which happens to be UNESCO world heritage and many collect that. They are not expensive so I often have 10 or so of them at home.
Sometimes I see accounts that always send the 3 same cards, and I have seen people complain about it, but I don’t see a reason why. After all, each of these cards is sent to a different person so for the recipient it will be unique. Also maybe these Postcrossers don’t have access to many different cards, for whatever reason. In the end, each Postcrosser themselves decides what to send so even if it is only one card design that they send to everyone, the sending person is not to be shamed for it.
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I send them as officials.
If you buy multiple of a card it means that it’s an especially pretty card.
Why waste such a lovely card by not sending it out? Especially cause it’s very likely that people won’t realise multiples were sent out.
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I love that Mosquito one, if you ever draw my address, you’ll know what to send me!
On topic: I also keep a lot of doubles. I have a lot of doubles by Vincent van Gogh the painter. I also have some Miffy/Nijntje cards double. Those are my favorites to sent, and I believe people like to receive them. Nijntje is very Dutch and people like Nijntje a lot of the times, Vincent van Gogh also seems to be liked. I am not sure if I should go into Johannes Vermeer… Maybe I will sometime. I still have some packs I want to buy. I will go on a shopping spree next month.
I find buying multiple of a pack, usually gives me a wide range of cards. And I carry doubles of the cards I like.
Then try Piet Mondriaan and Willem de Koning. They are a bit challenging for the recipient.
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