so i've been licensed about 8 months now and i've been trying to figure out the whole QSL confirmation thing and honestly its a bit overwhelming. like there's LoTW which seems like the gold standard for awards but then theres eQSL which some people swear by and then actual physical cards which i love the idea of but postage is getting ridiculous especially for DX

right now im uploading to LoTW after pretty much every session and i signed up for eQSL too but i dont really know if im doing it right because my confirmation rate on eQSL seems really low compared to LoTW. is that normal? do a lot of people just not bother with eQSL or is there something i need to set up differently

also for physical cards - do you guys still send them via the bureau or direct? i got a few cards in the mail from people i worked and it genuinely made my day but i havent sent any out yet because i havent even had cards printed. thinking about getting some made but not sure if its worth it at this point or if most people just dont care anymore

All three honestly and it depends on who you worked and what you're chasing. LoTW is basically mandatory if you want DXCC credit, no way around it. eQSL has a decent following in Europe from what ive noticed but yeah the confirmation rates are lower overall, thats just the reality. Some contesters upload there too but a lot dont bother.

Physical cards - dont give up on them. I still send cards for anything that felt like a real contact, like a good ragchew or a rare entity. I use the bureau for most stuff because direct postage to some DX stations can be like two or three dollars a card which adds up fast. Bureau is slow, like sometimes over a year, but its cheap and eventually they show up. Definitely get cards printed, there are a bunch of places online that do reasonable runs for not much money. Mine have my grid, a little photo of my antenna situation, basic stuff. People really do appreciate getting them.

Your eQSL thing might just be that you need to make sure your callsign is verified on there, they have an authenticity guaranteed thing you have to set up or some stations wont show as confirmed on your end.

oh man the bureau took like 14 months to deliver a card i was waiting on from a JA station lol. worth it when it finally showed up though, really cool card

i mostly just do LoTW now because its what counts for DXCC and that's mainly what i'm working toward. eQSL i check maybe once a month but its kind of an afterthought for me personally. nothing against it just the LoTW workflow is already part of my logging routine so adding another step sometimes feels like too much