I believe being in different parts of the world means that the experience of buying postcards vary very wildly. Let me give an example from Malaysia:
In Malaysia, most of our postcards are purchased online. If you don’t have a bank account, you’ll need to find someone else to buy them for you. However, as I have an e-wallet, I could approach the seller to buy directly from them without going through the shopping platform instead. However, shipping will cost more than usual as the shopping platform usually subsidizes the shipping.
Another option is to buy cards from physical stores. Since Malaysia is one tourism country, there are two types of sellers selling viewcards:
The first type are those who sell viewcards at an affordable rate. They’ll label their price properly. I usually buy from these people. In Kuala Lumpur, I can only recommend one place- Central Market which is a must-go for Postcrossers. (Also, the post office HQ is just next door)
Anothed type are those who do not label their prices. These type of sellers tend to vary very wild in pricing. If you’re lucky, they would sell you at RM 1(the common price), but if you’re not, they’ll price it very highly and if you bargain, they’ll shout at you as they mainly want to make money from tourists. I visit these type of stores once in a bluemoon only if I pass by them.
There’s also a third type- independent artists. These cards are usually very expensive so I never buy from them. However, there are some more touristy illustrated postcards which I find sufficiently viable to be sent away affordably
On vacation last summer I ran across some absolutely beautiful artist cards with a staggeringly high price. I now regret that I didn’t buy just a few to send to a postcrosser I know well who might be having a particularly rough time.
In my city, postcards can be purchased in postage (the choice is usually not great, but there are always specific postcards), there is a network of collector stores (there you can buy both postcards and art stamps), often I buy postcards in museums. You can buy a postcard on which something other than the city is depicted only through online stores. In the shops selling stationery there are only double postcards, there are no postcards.
My postcard buying experience is quite different than most members. I generally buy in bulk from a postcard wholesaler here. I also on occasion buy collections of modern postcards from members who have left or are leaving the hobby. I take out the cards for my own collections and then exchange or sell the rest.
Sometimes, I will spot an offer in the Forum where a member is offering cards from certain countries I am missing. This happened about 2 years ago with a trader offering viewcards from Malaysia
I end up buying a mix here in the USA. A lot of tourist shops sell then, and as I love to travel, when I am in the area I like to find local postcards and small artist shops to buy from. When I am running low and have no travel planned, I buy online and normally pay more for specific cards from small artists. I also have a Postcard Club in the next town over that meets 3 times a year to sell postcards, and I love to buy a ton there, mostly vintage, some add cards, and some used so I have to keep a sharp eye.
I can buy postcards from many places. Bookstores, supermarkets, giftshops, flowershops, museums, souvenir shops, sometimes from some fairs and other events, second hand stores… The list goes on and on.
Many of these places sell very normal cards (views, nature, animals, flowers). For some specific themes I need to see more effort and have a little luck.
I mostly order everything online because it’s easier and the selection is wider. However, I also like to visit different shops and bookstores, especially souvenir shops, trying to find cheap nice postcards. It’s really easy to find postcards in Helsinki, but most of them are too expensive in my opinion. You can get it cheaper by ordering online. In the summer, I always buy cards at the market square, it has become one of my favorite places.
Here in the USA, one of my favorite places to stop and buy postcards is at gas stations along the highways. I’ve gotten some unique local cards at very good prices in places like New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Alaska, Oklahoma and Florida. Shops that sell tourist kitsch are also great for postcard buying. The National Parks have great inventory at their Information Centers.
I get most of my local cards at highway gas stations. Recently I emailed a UNESCO site gift shop and asked them to send a variety of cards. And box sets online from discount book dealers (sadly no book shops in my area)
In the Netherlands, there are plenty of places to buy postcards. Tourist shops often have cheaper cards with city views or general Dutch views (also have cheaper paper that isn’t the best for fountain pens). Postcards for more specific events (birthdays, weddings, births, wishing someone well, etc and even neutral ones for any occasion) can be bought at super markets, magazine or book stores etc.
I usually get my cards from a small local shop that sells a variety of things and has a wide variety of very nice quality cards. They also have their own line of Edam cards that show lovely drawings of places in Edam. They are a bit more expensive but well worth it. I’ve now send some with a little instant photo to show how that particular view is in real life. If I were to send a card at least daily, they’d be too expensive but I only send roughly one a week through Postcrossing so it’s nice to surprise people with something special.
I live near Orlando, FL in a really busy tourist area, so we have a lot of tourist shops here. There are Disney cards everywhere. However, most of my cards don’t come from expensive tourist shops - they actually come from grocery stores. I’ve been able to buy cards for as cheap as 20 cents at some of these stores. Publix is a Florida favorite grocery store and they have really cheap Florida postcards! I am very easily able to find tourist cards here, but finding anything else is nearly impossible. Tourist cards are all bought locally, but everything else I have to buy online.
Hello from Porto Alegre, Brazil!
Here we don’t have postcards anymore! I made by myself, with puctures from the typical places of the city. Big cities like São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro have a few postcards yet, at the bookstores or newsstands.
I have the chance to edit my postcards with my photos (which I sell in shops and at etsy) so I have a lot of choice, only nature photos. You can see on my wall, the cards sent. I sell them cheap in stores because I want them to go quickly to always make news.
I can buy many kinds of cards at bookstores here, or even “€1 shops” (there you can get 2 or 3 for €1). But I also buy online when I’m looking for a specific motive. I also pretty much buy cards everwhere I go - like museums, I even bought some at an amusement park years ago!
There seems to be no standard here in USA. I can find postcards that are 6 for one dollar, and then I can find ones in the next store over for two dollars each. Since USA is such a huge country, it is impossible to find “USA” postcards. They are all regional: usually each tourist site will have their own. Many people ask for USA maps, and I just don’t know where to find something like that. Even state postcards are hard because the states are so big, too. New York City or Washington DC will have generic things like that, but that’s about it.
I was just at my local Ben Franklin buying postcards at $0.50 each. They carry 5 or 6 Ohio map cards as well as several different Michigan and Indiana map cards. I suppose it depends on who the store orders from…
We have traveling postcard shows here in the USA. Vendors set up booths and sell mostly vintage cards (also newer cards as well) both used and blank but there are thousands upon thousands to sift through. The vintage ones start at a dollar then go up depending on how old or rare and the newest cards can start at around 25 cents each. Antique stores sometimes have vintage cards for sale as well. Also I built up my collection of blank cards from postcard books which I have found at bookstores and online as well. Ebay and Amazon and other online bookstores like thriftbooks.com is a great site for these postcard books they have very cheap prices. I think the postcard books can be the best value. Now I have over 3,000 blank cards in my swap album and that’s on top of the over 3000 I’ve sent over the past 12 years with postcrossing.
Zazzle has individual state cards and USA ones. I pay $10/year for premium member with waived shipping. Sometimes they have 50% off sales, and my credit card has a 10% Zazzle rebate offer. Good times!
