When we send out maxicards, does the value of stamp affixed on the front also constitute towards the postage?
For example, in India it costs ₹12 to send postcards internationally. If the maxicard has ₹5 stamp already affixed, how much more postage should I affix? ₹7 or ₹12.
I’m asking this because as I understand the stamp on the front is already cancelled and we can’t used cancelled stamp for postage.
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It depens on your postal service. In Germany, it’s just decoration and doesn’t count towards the postage. But I know there are countries where it works differently. Maybe you should ask your country’s postal service. Or maybe someone from India knows.
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It depends on your country’s postal rules! Over in Singapore, the stamp is considered cancelled. Sometimes we cover the cancelled stamp (the one with the special postmark/date-stamp) because we do not want the postal officers to double-cancel the stamps.
As such, over in Singapore, if you are not sending out the postcard on the day you cancelled the stamp, you have to add 70 cents to the back of the postcard, despite the cancelled stamp in front. The postage to send a postcard to the world in Singapore is 70 cents.
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I started postcrossing in August this year and have learnt many new things about postcards. One of them is the pictorial postmarks. The USPS offers special postmarks every month and there are also first-day-of-issue postmarks available.
At the same time I learnt about maxicards and this postmarks, it came to my mind immediately that may be I could make some non-official maxicards myself since they don’t issue official ones here in the US.
My plan: (1) Customize some postcards which have the same theme with stamps. (2) Apply a matte finish to the picture side to make postmarks print better. (3) Stick the stamp. (4) Prepare an small envelope for returning of these postcards. (5) Write a letter requiring for the postmarks and send them in an large envelope.
After over one month of waiting, the result turns out to be great! Here are some of my “maxicards”:
I also sent some cards with the Sun Science and Otters in Snow stamps but I haven’t received them yet. Maybe I would update those later in this topic after receiving them 
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Nice work, Tom!
I’ve been doing that too - click here to see some of the results:
I also did some of the Raven series but have traded all my extras away so they are not in the Flickr album.
There are a few others doing something similar - another American, a guy in Canada, a woman in Germany - and perhaps they will identify themselves further in this thread.
Keep up the creativity!
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great cards, do you like a swap?
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Wow, those are Gorgeous, 
producing Maxicards can become quite addictive, watch out!
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Oooh, so great to see the results of your maxicards, they’re great! Am I the woman in Germany? 
Yours too, @anon24533836, you can definitely call them proper maxicards, very nice!
Some recent ones of my own:
I sent a big bunch of Christmas maxicards to the special cancellation office last week and can’t wait to send them out as Christmas cards in December. 
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Wow, as a fellow new jersey-ian I am BEYOND impressed about the lighthouse maxi cards you made… they are a true work of art as well as a unique piece of history from our coastal communities. You nailed this project and can’t wait to see more of your handiwork!!! 
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These Slovak maxicards I love!
Banska Stiavnica - UNESCO heritage site since 1993 - Medieval paintings in Kalvaria.
Water castle in Simonovany
One of Slovak ice caves is Demanova ice cave
Wedding chateau in Bytča
Great bustard
Slovak plant endemit Lykovec Muránsky, grow only in Muranska Planina
BRATISLAVA MISAL
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I love these new Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring 20th Anniversary Set of Maximum Cards.
They are from New Zealand where the movies were made.
Take care
Ant
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A large number of our stamp issues will come with a maxi-card. io sned them a lot because you can buy a set at a discounted rate, which makes Postcrosiing much more affordable.
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Republic of China (Taiwan) 2022 Chinese Lunar New Year - Year of Tiger maxicard,
special postmarked on December 1, 2021 from Taipei Postal Museum.
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I got a question for those of you who create their own Maxicards on a regular basis:
I found out German post has a permanent special stamp to a subject of great interest for me, but no stamp. So my idea is to create a stamp (German post lets you do that) for the subject and a postcard to combine all 3 for a Maxicard. What do you think about that? Has anyone of you done that before?
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I just remembered that I made quite some Christmas maxicards and didn’t post them here yet! Some turned out better, some worse. I was happy to see that we have so many Christmas postmarks at the moment, so I tried to use as many as possible. 
Why not try it? I don’t like the looks of the custom made stamps, but on the other hand, the new matrix code stamps don’t look so different anyway… I’d be interested in what you come up with, so make sure to post here if you decided to create the card!
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Question for the people who make their own maxicards - do you do anything to the surface of the card to make sure the postmark will stay in place?
I’ve read somewhere that using an eraser on the surface first will help. I think I have also read very fine sandpaper can be used, but this seems difficult to get right (so easy just to take all the printed image off…).
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