Collecting postcards series - our 10 best tips and tricks

Our best 10 hints to make collecting postcards series great fun 

Collecting postcard series is fascinating! Our classic series, the “Happy Postcrossing from...” series, also known as HPC, includes many country variants as well as cards for special occasions, seasons, hobbies, and preferences. Collecting fun is guaranteed, especially since some designs are limited editions and only available for a limited time. In 2025, our anniversary series celebrating 20 years of Postcrossing is causing quite a stir. Collecting all the country variants sent from the respective country is challenging, but not impossible. And now, in the summer of 2025, we have released the “WPD Stamps” postcard series for an impressive 33 countries. It is very tempting to collect this series, and we are thinking about collecting them ourselves. However, depending on which country you live in, it can be very difficult to build up a nice collection. It is certainly difficult from Germany, and you have to be a little inventive. We have put together our best tips for collecting postcard series, which you may find helpful.

1. Actively offer postcards yourself. A post in a Facebook group, on the Postcrossing forum, or on Instagram can be more successful than waiting for someone else to offer the series you want. A great place for papersisters cards is the HPC group—take a look.

2. Check your own country options. Do you live near a border and could perhaps offer a smaller country for exchange? Are you traveling abroad soon, either on vacation or for work? Or do you know someone who might be going on vacation to Thailand or attending a conference in Italy soon? These are great opportunities. Hotels can often get stamps, or you can order stamps online in advance. We think this tip actually works very well – because you don't need an exchange partner. Just ask the people around you where they are traveling next. And, yes, we also send ourselves cards and enjoy it!

3. Do you have postcard pals abroad whom you can ask to send you the postcard you want? A tried-and-tested strategy is to offer to send them three cards for their country in return for one written card back. This works particularly well for countries that are otherwise very difficult to exchange with.

4. You can also send stamped postcards to the respective country and ask them to mail on the cards. Very special, but also a cool option! If you still have stamps from a country, this works great. In Germany, for example, you can send your franked mail to the stamp office of Deutsche Post in Weiden and have it forwarded from there, still with a great cancellation on it. This also leads us to tip 5!

5. Make your exchange offer extra tempting by offering a special stamp or postmark. Or send the card with signatures from a meetup. This way, you can sometimes find exchange partners even if you are sending from a “big” country with lots of postcard enthusiasts. Another option is to offer other popular postcard motifs in exchange.

6. Use different platforms for swapping. What doesn't work in one Facebook group may work in the next. If you're on Instagram, you may also find what you're looking for. The Postcrossing forum reaches other people – and then you'll eventually you manage to get the postcard that is missing in your collection.

7. Are you on Postcrossing? Then write your wishes in your Postcrossing profile! That's what we just did ourselves with the WPD Stamps series. And when it works, it's even more fun because the surprise is so great!

8. Keep track of your swaps! Write down who you promised which postcard and when, take notes, use lists – that way you'll always know which cards are still missing from your collection. We have created checklists for our papersisters series, which you are welcome to request by email at info@papersisters.de.

9. There is also a wild card for our two series from 2025 – use the respective “World” postcard design. Are you visiting an exotic country that does not have its own country variant? Then offer the “World” version from the respective country. Shipping from different countries opens up almost unlimited collecting possibilities. It's even easier in the HPC series – many designs are perfect for sending from any country.

10. Last but not least – enjoy your collection of beautiful postcards! Store them so that they are protected and you can look at them again and again. This could be in a nice box or an album. We've even seen framed card collections!

It goes without saying, but we'll mention it anyway – discuss the details with your exchange partner and stick to them. Photos as “proof” are common, especially if you don't know the other person.

Have fun and enjoy building your postcard collection!

PS: If you have any tips, please leave them in the comments. We'd love to hear them!