[quote="ScottishDan"][color=#0000FF]I've never used IRCs because even when they were sold they were almost impossible to find..

There are 2 good alternatives:

1. Go to your local post offices/travel agents and buy some US dollars. That way you send 2 or 3 with every request. - I used to do this when I first started collecting and I had many successes.

2. Buy US International stamps from a user on here. This method is a lot more cheaper and you will get more successes (especially if sending VV) - This is what I do at the moment.

Roughly a C5 envelope should be about $1-$2 and a C4 envelope should be about $2-$3 for a reasonable weight obviously.

International US Stamps are $1.05 each so If you're sending a C5 with a few photos in the envelope then you only need one stamp on it to return.

Hope that helps! 8) [/color][/quote]

Thank you very much, very helpful, luckily my brother just tole me he is going to US April, so i will give him money to buy me stamps.

Thanks again for the advice.

[color=#0000FF]I've never used IRCs because even when they were sold they were almost impossible to find..

There are 2 good alternatives:

1. Go to your local post offices/travel agents and buy some US dollars. That way you send 2 or 3 with every request. - I used to do this when I first started collecting and I had many successes.

2. Buy US International stamps from a user on here. This method is a lot more cheaper and you will get more successes (especially if sending VV) - This is what I do at the moment.

Roughly a C5 envelope should be about $1-$2 and a C4 envelope should be about $2-$3 for a reasonable weight obviously.

International US Stamps are $1.05 each so If you're sending a C5 with a few photos in the envelope then you only need one stamp on it to return.

Hope that helps! 8) [/color]

I checked royalmail and it seems from end of 2011 IRC are no longer sold.

So what is the best alternative when sending fanmail from the UK to the USA???

I have had two autographs the last week from emails i sent and postage on both was around $4 to the uk, so im thinking putting $5 on a return envelope would be enough but what is the best thing to do now?

I did go to https://store.usps.com/ but they wont let me select anything other than US for shipping destination :-(