Questions & answers

We're a small postcard shop based in Karachi. You choose a design, write your message and pick a postage stamp on the site; we print the card, paste a real stamp on it by hand and put it in the post to whoever you're sending it to. You wish it, we post it.

No. Nothing arrives in anyone's inbox. It's a real 5 × 7 inch card, printed on proper cardstock and posted in an envelope, that your recipient can hold, prop on a shelf and keep.

Choose a design, write your message, pick the postage stamp that goes on the card, add a gift card if you'd like one, then enter the delivery address and pay. After that it's on us: we print it, stamp it and post it.

Every card is Rs 500 and postage is Rs 150, so a standard order comes to Rs 650. A gift card, if you add one, sits on top of that. Checkout lists the card, postage, gift card, any discount and the total before you pay anything.

Each order covers one card, so a few cards means going through checkout a few times. Your saved addresses and drafts make that quicker than it sounds. If you need a batch of them, email support@thecheernote.com and we'll work it out with you.

Yes, by email for now. Our corporate gifting page is still being built, so write to support@thecheernote.com with roughly what you have in mind and we'll take it from there.

Browse the cards on the site and open any that catches your eye to see it up close. Every design costs the same Rs 500, so you can choose purely on which one feels right for the person.

Our card artwork is made by artists rather than pulled from a stock library. We're building proper pages for them, and a way for new artists to join us, but both are still marked coming soon, so there are no artist profiles to read yet.

Yes, and that's rather the point. You type your message on the design page and see it laid out on the card before you order, so you know how it will look and roughly how much will fit. The space on the card is the limit, not us.

We'd like to say yes, but no. Your message is printed onto the card in dye-based ink so it comes out crisp and easy to read. The genuinely handmade part is the postage stamp, which we paste on by hand, one card at a time.

5 × 7 inches, on roughly 300 gsm cardstock, printed with dye-based ink. It travels in a strong, sturdy case envelope, so it's protected on the way rather than folded through a letterbox.

Along with your words we add a short note for the recipient from the Cheernote team. If you've added a gift card, that appears as a QR code.

Yes. Drafts save to your account with the design, the occasion and whatever you've written so far, so you can come back to it another day or on another device.

Standard Post within Pakistan is quoted at 3 to 5 business days once the card is in the post. That's an estimate, not a promise — the post is the post — so leave extra room around Eid, public holidays and the end of the year.

Postage is Rs 150 and that's what checkout charges on every order. A faster option isn't offered on the site at the moment, so if you're up against a real deadline, email support@thecheernote.com before ordering and we'll tell you honestly whether it can be done in time.

Yes. At checkout you can set a send date, and we'll hold the card and put it in the post on that day rather than straight away. The 3 to 5 business days runs from the day we post it, so count forward from your send date and not from the day you paid.

We're set up for addresses in Pakistan today. Checkout charges the one flat Pakistan postage rate on every order and doesn't offer an international choice, so please don't order an overseas card and hope. Email support@thecheernote.com first and we'll tell you what's possible, and what it would cost, before you pay.

We can't promise a date, because the last leg of the journey isn't ours. Set a send date that leaves room — a clear week is sensible for most of Pakistan, and longer for somewhere remote. Our reminders exist so you're not doing this the night before.

Up to a point, yes. Your order moves through four stages in your account — Received, Printing, Posted and Delivered — so you can see when we printed it and when it went out. What we can't give you is a postal tracking number, so once it's Posted we know as much as you do. If it's taking longer than it should, email us and we'll check what we sent and when.

Write the address exactly as your recipient normally receives post and we'll print it that way. If a PO box is all you have, send us a line at support@thecheernote.com before ordering so we can check the delivery route rather than guessing.

Yes. A genuine postage stamp, pasted on by hand before the card goes out. It isn't a printed picture of a stamp.

You do. There are 53 stamps grouped into 5 categories, and you can look through all of them on our Postage Stamps page before you decide. Pick one that suits the person or the occasion.

No. Postage is Rs 150 whichever stamp you go for, so choose the one you like rather than the one you think is cheapest.

Because it's the one part of a posted card nobody expects to have been chosen on purpose. A stamp that speaks to the person holding the envelope is a small thing, and people notice small things.

Yes, from a range of partner brands you can browse on our Gift Cards page. Denominations are Rs 500, Rs 1,000, Rs 2,000 and Rs 5,000, added on top of the card and postage.

No, and this surprises people, so it's worth saying plainly. The gift card is printed onto the postcard itself as a QR code, so there's no second card to slip out and get lost.

They scan the QR code printed on the card and follow the instructions that come up on screen. Redemption happens on the brand's side, so whatever that brand sets — its own terms, and an expiry if there is one — is theirs rather than ours.

Gift cards come from third-party partner brands, and the current line-up is listed on our Gift Cards page. Worth a look before you plan a surprise around one, since the brands on offer can change.

Email support@thecheernote.com with the order details and we'll help you chase it with the brand. We should be straight with you though: we can't make a brand honour a code or extend an expiry, because that side of it isn't ours to decide.

As its own line at checkout. You'll see the card, the postage, the gift card, any discount and the total, so there's no guessing what the gift card has added.

By card. Payments run through Stripe, and you type your card details straight into Stripe's own secure fields. You'll also see the Easypaisa and JazzCash logos on the site, but Stripe is what checkout takes today — if you'd rather pay another way, email us and we'll tell you honestly what we can take.

No. Your card details go to Stripe, not to us. Our own records keep only the amount, the currency and Stripe's reference for the payment — there is no card number in our database to lose.

Pakistani rupees, written as Rs throughout the site. A standard order is Rs 500 for the card plus Rs 150 postage, which is Rs 650.

There's a field for it at checkout. We check the code on our side and the total updates on screen, so you can see the discount before you pay. One code per order.

Yes, by email, once Stripe confirms the payment has gone through. The order also appears in your account with the design, the occasion, the recipient's name and the amount.

Yes. You can browse the whole site without one, but you'll need to sign in before you can pay. That's how your drafts, addresses and orders stay yours, and how we know whose card to change if you email us. Signing in takes a moment.

With an email address and password, or with a one-time code emailed to you if you'd rather not remember another password, or with your Google account. If you forget a password we'll email you a reset link.

So you stop hearing about a birthday on the day itself. Add the person, the occasion and the date, choose how much notice you want and whether it repeats every year, and we'll nudge you in time to get a card printed and posted.

The lead time is simply how far ahead of the date we prompt you, and it's set to seven days unless you change it. A week is about what Standard Post needs, so it lines up nicely — stretch it if the person lives somewhere the post takes its time.

Your past orders, an address book so you're not retyping anyone's street name, saved favourites, unfinished drafts, your reminders, and settings where you can update your details or change the email address you sign in with.

Yes. Every reminder has notifications you can switch off, and you can delete a reminder altogether. Our newsletter is a separate thing — to stop that one, email support@thecheernote.com and we'll take you off the list.

There's a window between you paying and us printing, and inside it we can usually change the message, the stamp or the address. Email support@thecheernote.com straight away with your order details so we can catch it. Once a card is printed, stamped and handed to the post it's in the postal system, and at that point we can't pull it back.

If we haven't printed it yet, tell us and we'll stop it and refund you. Once it's printed, stamped and handed over to the post, there's nothing left for us to cancel, so speed matters more than the wording of your email.

Email support@thecheernote.com with a photo, the recipient's name and roughly when you ordered. If it's our fault — wrong message, wrong artwork, a poor print — we'll print another one and post it at our cost, or refund you if you'd rather. If the post damaged it, we'll look into it and will usually reprint and repost rather than argue about whose fault it was.

Give it a little past the 3 to 5 business days first, because post does run late, then email us with your order details. We'll check what we printed and where it went. If it's genuinely lost, we'll usually print and post another one rather than leave you out of pocket. There's no deadline for telling us, but the sooner the better.

Email us the moment you notice. Before printing we can change it for free. Once the envelope is addressed and posted, the card goes where the envelope says — but we can print another one and post it to the corrected address, and we may charge you for that card and its postage.

The only message on the card is the one you write, plus the short note from us to the recipient, so we don't add your name for you. If it genuinely matters that a card can't be traced back to you, email us before ordering and we'll confirm exactly what appears on the card and the envelope.

Email support@thecheernote.com. That's our only support channel, and it's the way to reach us for everything — order changes, damaged cards, overseas addresses, corporate enquiries. We're also on Instagram as cheernote_postcards. There's no phone line, so email will always be faster.