I probably wouldn’t want to pay much more than $3. Especially because international postage would be another $3 on top of the cost of the card. Luckily the tourist centre in my hometown sells nice cards for $2 each, and usually it’s possible to find them even cheaper online if I buy them in bulk.
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$8.00? Wow. Who is asking for that much?
I have paid $5USD before for bigger, holographic postcards, but I try not to make a habit of it. Most of my postcards cost 20-50 cents.
I have often paid 1 euro for special cards (such as recipes, vintage, watercolor…) and sometimes I pay about 2 euro for a maxicard.
I have bought cards for 2-3 euro for myself if I really wanted them, but I would not use them for Postcrossing, unless they are for a special person.
Genoa must be a happy island, because here the standard price for nice touristic postcard is still 0,50 euro, while 1 euro for special ones. But their cost often rises to 0,60-0,80 euro (for standard size and outdated design) in the towns of the Riviera
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There’s been a few places. One had a box full of postcards….all used and written and wanted $7-$10 for each, depending on the card!
There’s been a few antique mall booths asking for anywhere from $3-$8/card.
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When I begat postcrossing I lived in Chicago and would visit tourist shops where they had cards 10 for $1 which was amazing! At that time in 2008 early 2009 my splurge was to spend $1.50 for special President Obama inauguration cards from that shop.
Most recently I bought some cool 3D type cards at Walt Disney World for I think $4.95. I sent one home to myself and some to family, but they were to expensive for postcrossing.
Around home I get Wisconsin type tourist cards for $.49 at the famous Mars Cheese Castle. I also bought a Disney film collection box of 100 for $18 so that was a good deal.
I get grumpy (internally)over $1.50 for a standard postcard…
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Postcards that are expensive are square, round, lenticular, and even more expensive : panoramic postcards (which are totally ruined after a long travel). Panoramic postcards are less and less easy to find though.
I think sometimes you are in a cosy shop with lovely stuff, a posh place, or a touristic posh place (even worse), and it happens: you spend too much money in postcards that does not really deserve it. Concept stores, or any of that sort of places sell awfully expensive items, and then postcards that you would find on the net for a cheaper price, provided the illustrator has his own website and the shipping price is not too high.
Sometimes you have the impression to buy “an experience” and you feel guilty after doing that, the shop was so pretty but it does not really deserve the price. That’s why I think the place and the context where and when you buy it can lead you to do mistakes.
I think I’ve bought postcards that I paid 4 or 5 euros, but rarely, and not recently, and sometimes the recipient has closed his account and it makes me sad (or angry) 
What happened to this beautiful (or at least expensive) postcard?!
You don’t do the mistake too often hopefully. and you do it less and less.
That said, as a fan of illustration postcards, I know they are more expensive, wherever you buy them.
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Not buying it is only rude if you were rude to the woman behind the counter. The heck? You aren’t obligated. A no-thanks is fine.
My most expensive recent postcards are local either from Uranus Fudge Factory and a Bob Ross experience, but I bought them anticipating they will be well received. They are not handmade so I think $1.50 or $1.79 USD is expensive for one…. Especially the Bob Ross ones because they aren’t thick, but still beautiful.
Artist cards, I absolutely think are worth more and are priceless.
Most cards I send run around .89 cents each online. The cheapest ones I’ve found are in NYC (4 for $1 there on the street), but my area is not known for tourism. I live in Indiana, and cards are hard to find here unless we buy them at Barnes Noble or Cracker Barrel… just under $2 each other place.
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Wow. $7-$10 for each card, and they’ve been used & written in? That’s pretty steep in price.
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When I buy cards, the price range is usually 0,20€ - 1,20€/piece. Cards I buy are simple and I try to find also some from sales since the postal fees are getting higher in every few months.
The most expensive card I have bought was something like 4€, but with that price it has to be special. E.g in my case the card was from local desiger boutique, where almost every product (clothes, postcards, magnets…) is designed by the company owner.
The only cards in a Shop here costing less than ohne Euro are cheap tourist ones that I do not like to send out. I try to find a sensible mix, though.
I bought one recently that was $3.50, which is waaay too much for a postcard in my opinion but it’s been the only one I can find of my town so far and it’s a local artist/business so I caved. I prefer not to spend more than $1. I still remember the days of 4/$1 postcards in the US!
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The most I’ve paid is $6, but that’s only because it was a really nice one of my city. The rest I get at a used bookstore about 45 minutes east of me for $0.25 - $1.50 per postcard, averaging around $0.75 per postcard ◡̈
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I have the chance to print and sell my own postcards, they are sold for around 1 € in the shops near my home, I also sell them on the internet and it makes me happy to find them here sometimes! Only nature photos.
That’s funny - last time I was in California to visit family, I went to Disneyland just to buy some postcards. They were very hard to find and SO expensive, so I left empty handed but still able to afford my mortgage payment! It’s sad because postcards from a place like Disneyland are like advertising that the customer pays for, so you would think they would want to sell lots of them!
I try to pay no more than $1 per card, and usually less.
Ashley - If you like that particular postcard, maybe you could contact the local artist and try to buy some directly for less. Or maybe get permission to have some printed through Zazzle or Vista Print.
The absolute majority of postcard shops here sells photographic touristy postcards, most of them printed by the same publisher, for that type of cards I’m only willing to pay RM 1.20 for the card maximum since I may be able to find that card for a cheaper price elsewhere (the cheapest I could find is 80 sen, so it’s 33% cheaper)
If it’s a postcard unique to an attraction like museums, I’ll pay RM 3 a card maximum
For illustrated postcards, usually I’ll find those that cost RM 2.50 and below and the maximum I’ll pay is RM 5
On average for postcrossing, my cost is about RM 1 a card. Most of them are touristy cards since that’s what I could usually buy. Other cards are reserved for swaps and I only buy a very limited amount.
So far the most expensive I had ever paid for a single postcard was in Hong Kong, so I saw a painted postcard of Yau Ma Tei fruit market which costs HK$15 (around RM 7.50, since 1 ringgit is about 2 HK dollars)
Lol … Disney doesn’t discount… you know what they say about the law of supply and demand… smart business to make the postcards only available in the “history of art through the eyes of Disney” so if someone sends a card from the parks you know you are getting a piece of art in the mail.
I don’t think Disney needs to do much advertising through postcards… but you are correct, not all postcards are cheap and if you need the money for your mortgage then you pass on the art of the Disney artists.
“If you have a lot of what people want and can’t get, then you can supply the demand and shovel in the dough.” ~ Lucky Luciano.
I think that quote could also be something said by the Kardashians 
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It’s not caving, it’s supporting a local artist (edit: or business). Cards are expensive for individuals to get printed, unless they get a volume discount from the printer, which is usually a large quantity they will never be able to sell.
I remember buying tourist postcards for 10 for $1, even 4 for $1 would be a bargain now.