How would you feel if the recipient was trying to swap a card you sent?

Postcrossing General Topics
41

Honestly, I wouldn’t be too happy if someone traded a card I sent to them.

Of course, I have no control over what happens to a card I’ve sent, but I try to trailor every card for the receiver, do my best to choose a card they might like and decorate it. After all that effort I would be sad to see a card given away.
Also, they often contain so much personal information about me depending on what the person asked to write on their profil. Sometimes (esp. on envelopes) I also include my address. I don’t want anyone to give that away.
But I also understand that sometimes you receive cards you simply don’t like or you can’t (or don’t want to) keep all of them for some reason. And throwing cards away would be a pity.

For me giving used cards away is only OK if :

  • the messages don’t contain too much pesonal/sensitive information about the sender
  • there is no address of the sender on the card
  • the card is really old/vintage/antique (written a very long time ago), I have quiet a few used card I bought from the local flee market form the 1890s-1950s

As for what I would do with used card: I still keep and cherish them. They all still tell an interesting story, are full of pretty handwriting/decorations/etc, and have stunning pictures. I have them in a special separat album.

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42

I’ve seen some profiles say they use their received cards for junk journaling/crafts.

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43

A few of observations here. First, there is absolutely nothing wrong with trading/ buying/ selling stamped and written postcards. Nothing I have acquired through trades (there is a Used card Tag here in the Forum) some really nice stamped and written cards from other members that no longer wanted them. Their cards found a new home rather than the circular file.

Second, once you or others mail a card, it becomes the property of the person the card was mailed to and vice versa. So, yes, go ahead and swap those cards if you wish. Really, if you have the card(s) displayed in an album, most likely it is the picture side you are displaying. One word of Caution; If any of the cards you are swapping still have the Member ID on them, you should block that out with a permanent marker.

Third, I have acquired through purchase thousands of postcards from Postcrossing members who have left the hobby. The majority I have kept; those that are not a fit I have either traded or sold. I generally keep my postcards in photo storage boxes; the Unwritten postcards in plastic sleeves, then into the boxes.

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44

In Russia many postcrossers sell / trade the used postcards they no longer want to keep via the local postcrossing forums and internet chats.
Some people buy them because they like the image on the card. Some use them for scrapbooking, junkjournaling.
A card from a “rare country” can cost a lot of money.
Sometimes they are sold via online auctions.

I bought several used cards because I really liked them and wanted them in my collection. And I don’t care about the address side at all
:slight_smile:

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45

There is similar thread, because I remember writing there, but couldn’t find it.

Once it has happened, my sent card was sold (maybe more often, but this I got to know).
It was a series card.

I think in my case it happened the seller was “bad” (didn’t cover the id, and/or didn’t care there was information not available from anywhere else).

Also, the buyer was strange, they had looked up the id, and that it was from me.
And then they thought it’s good idea to tell what I had told this other member, something like “I know what you do for living” :person_facepalming: I have no idea why they told it, because of course I know what I do, but them telling this, they got the information without me telling it, feels almost like threat.

And of course on top of the two strange members, this buyer got my address, which is a coincidence (or maybe they buy a lot of cards).

So this happening has caused:
I have no interest in buying series cards (because this member had this, and sold mine)
A little reserved attitude towards multi profilers (which this member was, and asks series cards in all profiles, maybe in hope to get more things to sell)
Not interested to share some “personal” things, even when it’s not very serious

So even when maybe it’s legally ok to trade/sell this, I always thought mail is personal, and you either keep it or destroy it (and kept ones are ok and nice time pieces when enoughly long time has passed).

I keep my cards, and if it’s something that I dont’ like at all, I take the stamp and destroy the card.

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46

Wow, what a strange story!

Yes, I was also wondering if people prefer their cards to be traded and find a new home or just thrown away in case the receiver can’t/ doesn’t want to keep it. Looks like sometimes it’s better to just destroy the card.

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47

A postcard is a gift I send to someone - as such, as soon as I send it, it’s not mine anymore, and it’s up to the person who receives it to decide what to do with it.
I keep all the postcards I’ve received in my life, and that means A LOT :sweat_smile: but there may be a lot of reasons for someone to give away the postcard I sent them. Maybe they don’t like it, maybe they need room in their house and need to get rid of part of their collection. It’s ok - I see it as just a new part of the journey my postcard is on. After all, I’ve never written anything so personal that cannot be read by someone else - I’ve always imagined writing on a postcards as chatting with a friend in a public place where anyone can overhear (and any delivery person can read!), so that’s not the right place to share secrets.
And besides, if someone decides to get rid of my postcard, I’d really prefer to think it ends up in someone else’s hands that in the recycling bin. I’ve actually left instructions to one of my best friends on how to give away my collection if I die :sweat_smile:

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48

I thought I read somewhere that trading written PC cards was not allowed? Or am I confusing myself with something else?

I personally would not trade cards I have received, unless they were unwritten
I ocassionally receive an envelope with. Written card and then some extra postcards which are unwritten. I understand this as “here are some cards you can use!”
But written cards to me is a little weird, to be honest.

Would I have my feelings hurt to see someone trading my card that I sent them? No, but I’d feel weird knowing my note I wrote for that person is now being sent to someone else, even if it was not sometging personal. If the person trading my card completely blacked out the entire message or glued paper over it, I’d have no problem with it.

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49

In official postcrossing used cards are not allowed, maybe it’s this you think?

(From guidelines:
“Be respectful of postcards written by others.
Don’t re-use/recycle already used postcards to send in Postcrossing.”)

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50

I’ve always wondered why this was necessary. Then I read:

Well, now I know. But how extraordinary! A very strange thing to do.

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51

Just a thought, I like collecting vintage Used Postcards and many of them are pictured Postcard, and eventually all of our Postcards will become Postal history someday will be researched and Exibited in Stampshows.

I like observing and Learning from Used cards:) it’s postal history

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52

@Hemang That is another strong reason why stamp collectors enjoy such cards. Thanks for the comment.

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53

@KolmeNoitaa wrote:
I thought I read somewhere that trading written PC cards was not allowed? Or am I confusing myself with something else?

This refers to something completely different. There is an extremely small number of members who will take a P-Xing Official card sent to someone else and then they remove the stamp(s) and cover over the information on back and then reuse the card.

54

To me there is EVERYTHING wrong with sending a card, that I wrote, to somebody else. Even if I do not write secrets on my cards, I still write them to the addressees and not to anybody else. To me it feels like a misuse of my confidence if a recipient sends my card elsewhere! If they do not want to keep my cards, I’d prefere that they would toss it and put it into the paper bin!

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55

I used to swap used cards. I always blacked the address and personal details.

I only swapped duplicates or cards I did not like and other swap partner exacly wanted that card.

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56

If the card was unwritten, it wouldn’t bother me. I’d feel like they wanted to share a card with someone else! Flattery

If the card was written I think that would be against postcrossing rules. You can’t post a photo of the back of a card, I wouldn’t think you could send it to someone else

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57

I don’t like the idea of ​​throwing away cards, especially written ones. For me, this is almost the same as destroying books. Behind every book and postcard there is a person and some kind of story. So personally I would prefer that the cards I send be given away or sold rather than thrown away.

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58

I understand feelings about swapping a written postcard intended for someone else can be a bit bothersome. Once I mail the postcard to someone, it belongs to them, they can do what they like with it. I didn’t think about postcrossing rules and if it was against the rules. But this thread made me think twice about what I write on my postcards.

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59

I think a little similar, but: when someone gives or sells my card to another, it’s like the friend who I chatted with, talks about my things to another, (maybe if I were famous, they sell it to a paper), without telling to me about it. It doesn’t need to be a secret, there doesn’t need to be a law of what is right, but I prefer to tell my things myself, and choose who I tell it to :slightly_smiling_face:

(But I know not everyone thinks like this, and they maybe don’t know their giving/selling the cards can make them appear selfish or not trustworthy to someones.)

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60

Ah, ok, I understand.
For me, I ma not a serious Postcard collector so I assumed people were re-writting cards. It did not occur to me that people are just trading for the photo-side.

Then, in this case, I’d personally prefer all of my text to be blocked out, not just personal details.
It’s still a strange concept to me, however:

I do collect old photos and enjoy old postcards, but at least I know those people have been dead for many years :sweat_smile: