I saw this image showing that the bottom 5/8 inch (about 16mm)should be left clear for barcoding. If I decorate in this area, will it still go through? Will it be delayed? Should I add more postage for being non-machinable?
I am brand new to postcrossing and I would love to avoid issues with my cards.
Thanks!
Hi Emily!
Welcome to Postcrossing!
When in doubt you should ask your own Postmaster about USPS matters. Thereâs a certain amount of leeway they seem to have - smaller post offices are often kinder and more accommodating, but not always!
In general, as long as the card stays pretty flat, you donât need to worry about the decorations needing the extra cost and care of non-machinable postage. You can write, draw or washi tape along the bottom edge all you like, but it may get a sticker slapped on that area or get a bar code printed over it so no longer legible (if writing or drawing). If you write or put drawings or stickers in the Mailing Address section or the stamp section, you risk getting the postcard lost or thrown away as undeliverable.
Enjoy your time Postcrossing, and come back to the Forum for the fun extras - Tags, Round Robins, Lotteries and so on. 
In addition to the great advice Nancy gave, I would also add to avoid using âpuffyâ stickers (raised stickers?) on your card
The USPS machines can get rough and there is a chance that your card may suffer some damage if the raised sticker gets caught in the sorting machines.
Basically, any flat decorations are good to go.
For raised decorations YMMV, or use an envelope (but most Postcrossers prefer cards sent as-is, without an envelope)
Itâs good to leave the barcode area mostly empty but if you donât, the card will still arrive just fine. The USPS will print a barcode on there and if thereâs too much written there to read the barcode over it, theyâll add a removable sticker with the barcode on it. You do not need to add non-machinable postage just because you write in the barcode area. Welcome to Postcrossing!
The decoration will hinder.
Most of your cards will travel abroad and it is not only USPS, who need that zone for coding, e. g. Deutsche Post codes also there.
Please leave that zone clear.
They often do not apply a sticker but print the bar code direct on the card and that makes the text unreadable.
I have started to leave the bottom half inch clear of anything and that seems to improve delivery time. I sent a postcard to myself to be sure there was enough room for a us barcode.
Thank you all for the great responses! I have now sent off my first few cards and hope they all arrive safely so I can send some more. I will definitely use your advice moving forward.
I donât know where to post this. I posted one other thing about stamps and I put it on the wrong conversation. Could someone put it where it belongs? Thanks. I didnât know there was such a world of stamps out there that there is. I saw a website, foreverstampsshop.com. Is that legitimate? They have older stamps. I wasnât sure if theyâre fraudulent. Thatâs another thing I didnât know existed was people selling fraudulent stamps. I thought you could only buy stamps at the postal office or approved stores. Thank you
More likely than not these stamps are counterfeit. That is, some of them may be real and others are counterfeit. I bought forever stamps on eBay and they turned out to be counterfeit. I only buy stamps at my post office or from USPS.com
I learned my lesson a few months ago with if the price seems like a good deal, or too good to be true, that is because it is. Luckily I was able to get full refunds through Ebay, but not until the seller berated me, sent me repeated nasty messages, and told me they have a different opinion than USPS on legitimacy of stamps. I only buy stamps through USPS now, either on the USPS website or at the post office.
I do know people have luck with some sellers for really old stamps (hopefully someone can chime in with reputable websites), or at stamp shows. But the key is really old stamps. The deals arenât on modern day forever stamps (including globals).
Iâm sorry, what?
This bit sounds extra-crazy and Iâd be fascinated to hear more, if youâd be willing to shareâŚ
Right? Thatâs what they maintain is their stamps are real, and USPSâ opinion doesnât matter. Their negative feedback they response to every person saying counterfeit stamps with âopinions differ.â Once I compared these stamps (global forever) to ones I bought at the post office and broke out the black light, it was clear they were not real at all.
Honestly, I am mad at myself about this as I normally always check feedback before buying. And then the Ebay name, Paypal name, and name of the person communicating with me did not match at all. But in the end I got all my money back, after being told in repeated messages I was a horrible human. Biggest postcrossing lesson learned! Canât cheap out on that $1.55 
A quick look at that forever stamps website and I would avoid it, considering they donât give
an email address or telephone number or even mailing address for returns.
That is not a legitimate website, all of those are counterfeits.
This hit the nail on the head.
The stamps youâll see a discount on are typically pre-2000s, and certainly before the age of forever stamps. Sometimes dealers will sell large lots of forever stamps at a slight discount, but I would say that any discount that is more than 10% off of the face value is concerning and approaching the too-good-to-be-true realm.
Stamps sold at a discount are usually ones that are extremely common with many millions of them produced and low in demand among collectors. Stamps have a Face Value (the value printed on them) and a Catalog Value (the amount they are worth to collectors, based on the SCOTT catalog, fluctuating based on supply and demand)
So for example, the Vintage Rose Forever stamps issued in 2015:
Collectors like sheets intact, so stamp dealers with partial sheets will lot them up and sell at a larger discount. Maybe they have a block of 6 stamps from one sheet, a block of 12 from another, a block of 4 from another sheet and so on. They will put many of these together, add up the total postage value, and give a slight discount, likely less than 20% off of the face value.
You can find trustworthy dealers by looking on the HipStamp website, or if you like to shop on eBay many reputable dealers have something in their store about how they are recognized as an official dealer by the APS (American Philatelic Society, a very reputable organization for stamp collectors) or the ASDA (American Stamp Dealers Association, another very reputable organization)
If you are on eBay, you should consider staying away from selling accounts that were recently created or have low feedback ratings.
You may not want to hear this, but I buy US postage from only two sources:
â USPS Fulfillment Center in Kansas City
â Stamp dealers at Stamp shows. I buy in bulk and pay face value.
Never a problem with either source.
Stamp dealers at postcard shows tend to be safe to buy from, since thereâs enough overlap between the hobbies. Like Angelthepup22 said, look for members of the APS or ASDA.
I have a question about USPS,I extracted the addresses of some postcrossing users in the United States,Some of the addresses they provide have abbreviated states of origin,for example:California CA
Can USPS recognize these abbreviations, and do they affect the speed of mail delivery;
Do I need to write the full name of the recipientâs state;
Will filling in the full name of the recipientâs state make the message arrive more accurately and faster?
thanks very muchďź
Yes
I donât think so.
Iâve always used the abbreviations and most of them arrive within a decent time - this year Iâve sent 62 cards to the US and the average travel time is 24 days
Thanks for your help,I donât know if I received other factors, but my postcard with the abbreviated state name has not been registered so far, but most of the postcards with my full name of the recipientâs state have been registered, so I am a little confused about the abbreviation, thanks again
