Oooh, I am about to register a card that tied that – a rainy out-the-car-window view from Finland. I prefer the auto factory, truth be told, but this is also an excellent card for my profile! And guess what…every card had different stamps, different messages…3 identical images, but 3 very different cards! That is one of the things I like the most about Postcrossing.
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Personally, I would rather the sender focus on having fun with picking a card and writing it to me than focusing on if it matches my list or is a duplicate. This is supposed to be fun…not homework.
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I would not send a duplicate on purpose. I take a look at the last 2-4 pages of the received wall (depending on my time), but not more. If they link external albums that are well organised I will check more thoroughly.
In short: don’t worry about it too much, but if you notice they already have it, I’d go for another card.
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If I do a quick check and don’t see a card, I send it. Sometimes I don’t have time or the patience to check so I send something I think they will like. I don’t send duplicates on purpose. I am part of many RR here and I have received the same card 7 times so far since July! I don’t mind because the back of every single one is different.
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To me that’s one more reason to write something more than Greetings from my country.
In most cases, if you write something personal / funny / interesting, in other words, if you put even a bit of an effort into your message, it will make your postcard really unique and very likely special to the recipient.
I’d personally send postcard matching the wishlist, in my opinion it shows that you have read someone’s profile, cared and tried to choose something nice. I wouldn’t think about it too much - just do your best and have fun.
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It never occurred to me to check for duplicates! I just try to best match the cards in my stash with what the postcrosser says in their profile and call it good. I find weird or unusual postcards in different places. I found some at a craft show over the weekend - one I got was of a train. I’m not into trains, but I’ve had 2 or 3 postcrossers now that seem to like trains… so no I’ll have one if I get another train lover.
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I usually filter received card for my country and just check those cards. If I’ll still accidentally sent dupe card - that’s not big of a dial. Message will be different and unique, after all.
Also list of preferences usually doesn’t mean that receiver wants only those cards. You could send card that doesn’t match the list if you think that it will minimise chances of sending dupe card.
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I’ve just realised I accidentally sent a duplicate to someone 
I got no message attached in the Hurray, this might as well be unrelated to that but still I’m feeling a little upset. It’s also because sending cards in my country got very expensive and I want to spend my money well to make people happy, not disappointed.
I guess you can’t get it perfect 100% of the time, I just wanted to vent as nobody around me understands the feeling of mailing the wrong piece of cardboard lol
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It’s a shame that you didn’t get a personalised message but I don’t think you need to feel bad about the card being a duplicate! Your card will have had a unique message (and stamps) and it will have arrived in different condition (sometimes I receive a card I love but with significant damage or no written message and I hope I’ll be lucky enough to get a duplicate!) — no postcard is ever truly a repeat and most Postcrossers understand and appreciate that (and if you read through this thread people are even excited to receive duplicates).
I suspect the lack of a message was probably not for this reason. It’s more likely that the recipient was in a hurry or has something else going on and just wanted to get your card registered quickly rather than make you wait. (There are threads about ‘no hurray message’ if you want to read more about this.)
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I’m so sorry you feel this way. I am sure you truly went above and beyond to make your card special and truly heartwarming for the person receiving it, and it’s that effort and love that went into it that truly counts. 
I am the kind of person for whom the message and the care/love put into the card mean waaaayyy more than the picture on the front, and I’m sure there are many others who feel that way. But even with those who don’t, we can’t really control the way they feel. If the person has set their mind to be disappointed and grumble about what they get, we can’t change it. Not to mention that it’s absolutely possible that the no message with their Hurray has nothing to do with the card. They might have been having a bad day for whatever reason.
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How many cards has this person received from your country? If several hundred or more, it is not realistic to expect no duplicates. I have saved some cards to display the very thoughtful message (at home, not online) side.
With this card, assuming they were disappointed, these things happen. The cards that make you think “What a great message! I wish they lived near me so we could chat over coffee often!” make up for that.
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Here we come again to the need for thematic arrangement of images. I also usually look at what kind of postcards a person has received from my country, but for example blue cats can be sent from anywhere - and I won’t go through several thousand cards. In general, if I have something to say to that person, then I worry less about the image. If I have nothing to say, but for the sake of politeness I have to write some phrases, then I try to make the picture or stamp match the wish list. (But I don’t worry if that’s not possible. I also get more than just what’s on my wishlist - and it would be boring if I didn’t get anything unexpected.)
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Thank you for responses. That person had 100+ cards from my country. I skimmed through that person’s received cards but I didn’t spot the card in question - I usually don’t expect people to have a card from my not so famous city, but the world is pretty small, I guess 
Actually I find it kind of interesting there’s a somewhat limited number of places tourist postcards in the world, and at some point you can encounter repeats. This hobby is still a little niche after all.
Maybe the empty message wasn’t because of the card, I know some people just don’t write any, and I accept that.
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I stopped counting the duplicates after received 22 postcards showing the main library of Minsk in Belarus and 6 kitten cards from Finland, all duplicates. I changed my wish list (no more libraries, only adult cats).
When I’m sending cards, I always look at the received scanned cards of that person, sent from my country. It takes time but I value the time and effort for this hobby.
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I don’t know why, but this makes me laugh
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Hopefully, one day I receive so many cards that it would be possible to get a duplicate. 
I would not worry about sending a duplicate because as many others said before: your message, your stamp will be unique and hopefully the person who receives the card will appreciate it when your card motive meets their “wish list”.
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I don’t much mind who sends me what (although polite, no gore and clean preferably! 
) just happy to be thought of and sent a card. 
Most people seem to very much enjoy putting a lot of thought into what they send though. If I happened to receive a duplicate of a postcard I had already had, it wouldn’t bother me at all. 
I do love a nice picture, but as others have already said - it’s the message from the person that’s the most important thing to me. 
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My migraine condition makes it difficult for me to look at computer screens too long and scrolling through images can be very difficult. This is why I had to leave one of my favorite RRs. Too many people requested no duplicates for their collections that had thousands of cards. I simply can’t look through that many images.
When I’m sending cards to people, I don’t look at their received. Rather, I scroll through their favorites as best I can to see if I have something they might want. Other than that, I have to hope they appreciate my unique message.
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If a recipient is very new to Postcrossing, I wouldn’t want to send a duplicate. I feel like that might discourage them from sticking with it. And it might sound unlikely that a new postcrosser would get a duplicate, but I know all of us learn quickly that it’s a small world!
On a related note, when I was traveling in another state last year, I noticed that the big truck stops were carrying only a couple postcards and I had already received both. But if anyone from Iowa is reading this and you draw my name, no worries! Send them again if you like!
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