What do I do if I receive a postcard without or with the wrong Postcard ID?

We can help! Simply use the “request help to find an unknown ID” form and we’ll do our best to help you find the right Postcard ID. By the way, you can find the form from the side column on the register a postcard page as well.

On that page, please enter as much information as possible even if you are not sure about it. Sometimes if there is very little information, a visual description of the image on the postcard can help, since we can compare it with an image the sender might have previously uploaded to the website.

For instance, if you received the postcard on the left, a good description would be that it features "A row of three lighthouse pictures, of which 2 are white and the middle one is red". Don't describe the decorations on the postcard or tell us the author of the photo, as that won't be very useful.

Note that the postal cancellation mark often displays the date and postal code/city, so please add those as well. We'd try to find it for you using the information you provide, so the more details you submit, the more likely it will be found.

You only need to fill out a request once for each postcard. If you make a mistake, please delete the request and enter a new one. It can take several days for a match to be found. Please be patient.

Additionally, if you find the Postcard ID and register the postcard before you receive a response, please delete the request. You can delete it by using the delete button for the request on your "Received postcards" list.

Also, please consider the following:

• Are you 100% sure the Postcard ID is not written somewhere in the postcard? Check for any numbers (even if without the country two letter prefix), or in places like right above/under your own address.
• Make sure that the postcard is an official Postcrossing postcard and not a thank you postcard or a direct swap.
• You can try to enter Postcard IDs many times without consequence. So, why not try a different combination? For instance, sometimes 1's can look like 7's, 3's and 5's can look like 8's, etc. Don't worry, the Postcrossing system will not let you register a postcard that does not belong to you.
• If the postcard has information about the sender, you can use those hints to search for the user in our search users page and then try to contact them by private message.
• Note that postcards with Postcard IDs over one year old cannot be registered.