I Am So Confused

[Harmonysake]

Honestly, until yesterday, I didn't even know that there was such a thing as Autograph Collecting but I was hanging around here yesterday since I was going to write a letter to the Jonas Brothers and I sorta just found out about it.

I think it's a really cool thing and I'm pretty sure I'm going to give it a try. I've read all of the stickies here and a bunch of other places but I'm still confused about one thing - The envelopes.

So you can't just send one of the regular white envelopes you use to send normal things? You have to get those larger, manilla envelopes and put your letter in it, as well as another envelope that you self-address and stamp?

Then how many stamps do you put on it?

I'm just really confused about that. I figured that you could just send a normal envelope and include stamps and a SASE and then they could use the stamps, even if they had to use a bigger envelope.

So any help would be much appreciated!

Harmony

[BossC]

Honestly, until yesterday, I didn't even know that there was such a thing as Autograph Collecting but I was hanging around here yesterday since I was going to write a letter to the Jonas Brothers and I sorta just found out about it.

Hey, welcome to the forum!

I've read all of the stickies here and a bunch of other places but I'm still confused about one thing - The envelopes.

So you can't just send one of the regular white envelopes you use to send normal things? You have to get those larger, manilla envelopes and put your letter in it, as well as another envelope that you self-address and stamp?

Then how many stamps do you put on it?

I'm just really confused about that. I figured that you could just send a normal envelope and include stamps and a SASE and then they could use the stamps, even if they had to use a bigger envelope.

So any help would be much appreciated!

Harmony

Most photos that celebrities send won't fit in a regular size envelope, so that is why we send larger ones.

Here is what I do: I take a letter and my 9X12 envelope addressed to me (SASE) and fold the large envelope and put it in a 6X9 envelope addressed to the celebrity (sizes are in inches, not sure where you're from).

I am in the US and if the celebrity I am writing is in the US, the large envelope needs 0.83 in postage so he/she can send me a photo back (0.83 is 2 first class stamps).

If the celebrity is not in the US, I put NO stamps on the SASE. Some members use add IRC to pay of postage, but I usually just hope the celebrity will pay postage.

Hope this helped. Let me know if you need more advice!

BossC

[annie985]

(I'm assuming you live in the US and are sending to the US)

Okay, if you are just writing a letter, a normal "white" envelope is fine. If you want to increase you're chances of getting a response you are going to want to send an SASE. I bought a bunch of 8X12 envelopes (they were only $1.50 for 20). So you put your letter, and a photo if you want in the manila envelope. Then you take another manila envelope and address it to yourself and put it in the first envelope with all your other stuff in it. It costs $1.00 to ship an 8x12 or a 9X13 from the U.S. to the U.S. (i.e. New York to California). So you are going to want to put 3 stamps or buy the appropriate postage to put on your SASE. Then after you do that you seal up the envelope with all your stuff in it (letter, photo (?) and SASE) and then attach 3 stamps to that or purchase the apropriate postage. It is a good idea to put a little extra tape on the envelope to seal it and put a piece over the metal clasp.

In the U.S. stamps are $0.42 and three stamps will be sufficient. Normally what I do is I go to the Post Office and use the APC (Automated Postal Center) located in the lobby and just buy the appropriate postage. That way I can save money.