Hi! I have bought a series of shaped cards from China and I am a bit confused about whether it is possible to send shaped cards from Germany to other countries without an envelope? (For I have also lived in Japan and in Japan it is not allowed to do so.) And if you do have to send it with an envelope, would the postage still be 95 cents? or does that make it 110 cents in total?
Really appreciate your answers~
(btw these shaped cards are really cute watercolor painting of food. If anyone who is interested in exchanging shaped cards, feel free to send me a message! 
Thanks!
---- Christine
It’s not allowed to send shaped cards here, but I occasionally do so anyway - don’t tell Deutsche Post. 
You’ll have to put them into an envelope and then it’s €1.10.
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haha got it!! Thank you so much for the reply! 
It depends a little bit on the shape of the card. The shaped cards you bought from China probably need to be put in an envelope, as @Axolotl says, and sent for €1,10. Some shaped cards, though, are “square” enough to be sent as postcards even through DeutschePost. For example, I got some “message in a bottle”-shaped cards (these are flat paper cards) and they were OK to send alone because most of the card was rectangular and only the back end was really shaped. If you are using a good Post FIlial they should have a template they can compare your card to and let you know.
I’ve also heard that shaped cards if sent alone often do get through if the postal workers are in a friendly mood and pass them along.
Also, in the other direction (shaped cards coming to Germany) there is no problem.
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If you want to do it like @Axolotl, you should put it into a postbox and not give it to postal workers at a post office since they might say no but the machines will put it forward anyway. Since it is not the correct shape, I would put a 1,55€ stamp on it (3,70€ international) because it might land in the hand-sorting process anyway, so that nobody has a reason to demand money from the receiver.
There is a chance of the card not making it through the sorting machines. So I don’t know whether it’s advisable to send these cards as official postcrossing cards. On the other hand, there is ALWAYS this kind of threat looming over our mail, it is just a bit higher with shaped cards, allegedly. I didn’t have any problems till now and I also haven’t heard of any others receiving shaped cards that were bent or ripped without envelope, maybe the fear is unreasonable. 
Clearly, they are able to forward them. So why do we have to put them into an envelope? Is it just for that bit of protection? Sometimes, the regulations of Deutsche Post make no sense in my mind.
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ahh I see… Thank both of you @Feuerstuhl and @ColorfulCourtney for answering my question!
Exactly!! Some of their rules make me so confused…
Since it depends on the mood of the postal worker and luck 
I will still use an envelope to send it anyway just to lower the risk.
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