I was just wondering how people ship for a few cheap cards, less than 5 bucks in value, in a regular envelope. I have not shipped anything outside of more expensive cards in a padded mailer in awhile. I am concerned because I have had cards set to me in regular envelopes that are in hard protectors get destroyed because they get machine sorted. I thought there was a way to add some extra postage to avoid being machine sorted.
Thank you for the help!!
-Red4win
Cards in penny sleeve.
Penny sleeve in toploader upside down.
Tape toploader closed.
Put in middle on envelope.
Put small piece of tape to keep it from sliding around.
Close and mail with 1 stamp.
This works for up to 3, and sometimes 4, cards.
In ~500 online trades I've done it this way about half the time and have never had an issue. The problems come with you put 2 toploaders in there and don't add the extra postage. If you add another stamp and write Non-Machinable on the envelope that should work, but I think it's only $.20 more if you get it stamped at the PO.
Cards in penny sleeve.
Penny sleeve in toploader upside down.
Tape toploader closed.
Put in middle on envelope.
Put small piece of tape to keep it from sliding around.
Close and mail with 1 stamp.
This works for up to 3, and sometimes 4, cards.
This is the way that I've done it. I'm just curious about one thing. Why put the penny sleeve in the toploader upside down? Is it so there are not 2 open ends on the same side in case the tape comes off? That actually makes sense.
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This is the way that I've done it. I'm just curious about one thing. Why put the penny sleeve in the toploader upside down? Is it so there are not 2 open ends on the same side in case the tape comes off? That actually makes sense.
Yup. I've received so many cards where the well intentioned piece of tape on the top stuck to the cards and tore up a little of the black edge. This keeps the card from ever being exposed (and costs nothing, so why not?).
Cards in penny sleeve.
Penny sleeve in toploader upside down.
Tape toploader closed.
Put in middle on envelope.
Put small piece of tape to keep it from sliding around.
Close and mail with 1 stamp.
This works for up to 3, and sometimes 4, cards.
In ~500 online trades I've done it this way about half the time and have never had an issue. The problems come with you put 2 toploaders in there and don't add the extra postage. If you add another stamp and write Non-Machinable on the envelope that should work, but I think it's only $.20 more if you get it stamped at the PO.
I've received cards twice like using this method where my cards were damaged. On one it was just the top loader, but on the other the card.was so bent I had to put it between books for a few days to reflatten it.
I use the top loader method, but I tape it to an index card-sized piece of thin stiff cardboard (think the thickness of the cardboard on a legal pad). This does not cost any extra in shipping and you don't have to worry about damage.
You can also purchase 0.70 cent stamps from the Post Office and use those because they flag the envelope nonmachinable.
Make sure the card doesn't flop or move in the envelope is the numba wan thing. So taping it to a index card or a folded piece of paper is vital. You can use a piece of paper to cover the opening of toploaders , and then tape that to toploader itself. No sticky residue on anything.
I sure wish there was a envelope that just perfectly fitted 2 toploaders and 5 cards in a penny sleeve with out needing any other items to prevent movement in transit, something like 3 x 5.
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Does anyone know if you are able to write the non-machinable yourself and add some additional amount of postage or does it need to be done by the post office? Thank you everyone for all of the help!!
I've received cards twice like using this method where my cards were damaged.
Me too. But that's why I secure the card in the middle of the envelope with tape. It seems to keep the machines from grabbing the paper and having the toploader slide around. I like the card stock method too but have had to pay postage on those before when they get to me.
I'm pretty sure that back in 2005 I had about 10 revised dual lands which I had found in a collection I bought on craigslist. I was 15 at the time and my memory is hazy, but I believe I sold them online, put them all in ultra pro sleeves with a rubber band around them all, in a regular envelope, and sent it with no problem.
I'm pretty sure that back in 2005 I had about 10 revised dual lands which I had found in a collection I bought on craigslist. I was 15 at the time and my memory is hazy, but I believe I sold them online, put them all in ultra pro sleeves with a rubber band around them all, in a regular envelope, and sent it with no problem.
I would recommend not shipping this way. The cards may arrive fine, but:
1) The rubber band may warp/pinch the cards
2) No toploader will make the card way more susceptible to damage
I've received exactly one card in the mail without some form of toploader, and it was a very jarring experience (it was a promo Geist of Saint Traft, placed in a penny sleeve and then taped to a portion of notebook paper). If you love taking risks and giving your mail recipients heart attacks, then sure, but I don't feel it's worth the risk of something happening and your recipient receiving something not-as-advertised.
You can write Do Not Bend or Non-Machineable on the envelope yourself. Doing this will make the envelope a hand-sort only proposition, so you need to add $.22 extra postage ($.71 total). I can't even begin to tell you how many trades I've received Postage Due over the past 6 months. A lot of people will tell you that a toploader in a PWE should be fine with a single stamp, but if your Post Office actually adheres to their own printed guidelines, a single stamp is not enough.
Does anyone know if you are able to write the non-machinable yourself and add some additional amount of postage or does it need to be done by the post office? Thank you everyone for all of the help!!
If you use a $0.70 stamp or two Forever stamps and write "nonmachinable" then they won't use a machine to sort it. Whenever I send out cards worth more than a few dollars I splurge for those stamps and will write it on the envelope as added insurance. I don't know what will happen if you used a regular stamp and wrote "nonmachinable" on it then stuck it in the mail box. They may send it back to you for insufficient postage.
You should be able to just write "DO NOT BEND", on the envelope. That's what I've done and so far no horror stories from people I've sent cards to.
Not true. Writing DO NOT BEND does not prevent them from machine sorting a letter. The only thing it does is provide the illusion of them handling it gently. Generally speaking, letter carriers aren't jerks who bend up your stuff anyway, and it's really only the large flat envelopes that get bent to fit in a mailbox. There isn't a need to bend regular letters.
Me too. But that's why I secure the card in the middle of the envelope with tape. It seems to keep the machines from grabbing the paper and having the toploader slide around. I like the card stock method too but have had to pay postage on those before when they get to me.
I use the comic book backing boards. I'll stick the cards in a top loader and tape it to the cardboard. It's still thin enough that they take it at the post office without requesting extra postage. I've even used two pieces of cardboard taped together when I didn't have a top loader, and tucked a couple of extra cards between the top loader and cardboard when all of the cards wouldn't fit in one top loader. I've sent a lot of cards and never had a single problem at the post office or with the recipient.
You can write Do Not Bend or Non-Machineable on the envelope yourself. Doing this will make the envelope a hand-sort only proposition, so you need to add $.22 extra postage ($.71 total). I can't even begin to tell you how many trades I've received Postage Due over the past 6 months. A lot of people will tell you that a toploader in a PWE should be fine with a single stamp, but if your Post Office actually adheres to their own printed guidelines, a single stamp is not enough.
I write DO NOT BEND on every envelope I send out and never had one returned for insufficient postage when I just use a regular Forever stamp.
It never hurts to write "DO NOT BEND" on the envelope. It might not help, but it won't hurt either.
One thing that some people do that bothers the hell out of me is put 2-4 cards in a sleeve, then tape that sleeve to the front of a top loader. Sometimes they sandwich it between two toploaders. This always causes more issues than it's worth. If you can't fit all your cards comfortably into 1 toploader, please, use two toploaders and two stamps. I've personally never had trouble fitting 4 cards into a toploader, but some are smaller than others.
I always ship in a bubble mailer. Plain white envelope is a big no no, especially for cards worth a decent amount. Doesn't cost that much and protects the cards much better. It's a must in the sports card field, so i'm not sure why it hasn't caught on for MtG.
I always ship in a bubble mailer. Plain white envelope is a big no no, especially for cards worth a decent amount. Doesn't cost that much and protects the cards much better. It's a must in the sports card field, so i'm not sure why it hasn't caught on for MtG.
It's for lower value stuff. Why should I pay $2 + toploader to ship a $4 card?
I personally take his suggestion to buy A1 envelopes and use them for most of my trades. The A1 (invitation envelopes) envelope requires only a forever stamp and they are automatically hand sorted regardless. Now, A1 envelopes are not always easy to find (easy online), and you will pay a bit more for them over the typical envelope, so I'm not sure if I am actually paying all that much less to ship small quantities of cards, but I kinda like that they almost perfectly fit a top loader. I don't drive right now and getting to a Post Office is a pain by bus, so my wife picks up stamps from the supermarket, and they don't sell $.71 stamps. In order to ensure that my cards get hand sorted with a standard sized envelope I would then have to use two forever stamps, which I don't want to do. If the card is worth more than $25 or so then I generally send it in a bubble mailer.
That said, 99% of all the cards I receieve are in the smaller standard sized envelope (I think it is the #6 or something), and the card is in a sleeve upside down, placed open end down in a top loader which is closed at one end. I have only received a damaged card once, and that was because the envelope had been dropped in a puddle by my mail carrier and was only found by my wife hours later.
You can write it on yourself if you have the extra 0.20 postage. I did this about 700 times and simply left them in my mailbox at my house. Only one time did a customer on ePay claim that their envelope had been destroyed in transit. He actually showed me the photograph of the destroyed package. To be safe I'd probably still drop them off at the PO, but I was just setting them up at the counter without waiting in line which still shaved off a few minutes. The woman knew they'd all be non machinable because I talked about it with her before and she cleared me for just dropping it off without waiting to get it stamped or whatever.
My friend, who owns an LGS, actually sends all his cards this way. He uses team bags when sending more than one card. Personally, rather than put tape around the top loader I wrap the cards in a piece of paper and tape that. Never had an issue this way.
I don't put the sleeve in upside down, but I do pinch the middle of the top of the toploader and use a piece of tape to tape down the middle, and then put a longer strip of tape across. Also please use scotch tape, I can't tell you how irritating it is trying to get a card out of a toploader with the top taped shut with packing tape. The worst one was with the top taped shut with packing tape that had the white strips of fiber in it, which is harder to pull off and even if you do pull it off, the white fibers stay on the toploader. I hate that so much I throw the toploader away.
And then I wrap the toploader in a sheet of paper, and put it in the envelope. I don't fold all four sides, I just fold the paper as if it were a letter. I have never taped the toploader to the sheet of paper but it doesn't move around, as long as you fold it tight enough.
You can write it on yourself if you have the extra 0.20 postage. I did this about 700 times and simply left them in my mailbox at my house. Only one time did a customer on ePay claim that their envelope had been destroyed in transit. He actually showed me the photograph of the destroyed package. To be safe I'd probably still drop them off at the PO, but I was just setting them up at the counter without waiting in line which still shaved off a few minutes. The woman knew they'd all be non machinable because I talked about it with her before and she cleared me for just dropping it off without waiting to get it stamped or whatever.
My friend, who owns an LGS, actually sends all his cards this way. He uses team bags when sending more than one card. Personally, rather than put tape around the top loader I wrap the cards in a piece of paper and tape that. Never had an issue this way.
I do this for my small Pucatrades and TCGPlayer sales. The nonmachinable thing is MUCH easier to do if you print directly onto the envelope and use these nonmachinable surcharge stamps. I leave them in the mailbox, my letter carrier has no problems with this (even when I've had 10 in one day) & I've never had one get lost or damaged. It does get somewhat expensive paying $0.71 or whatever, but it gives me the peace of mind of knowing the damn thing's not going to get eaten by a sorter & that I won't have an angry postmaster sending me a bill for $200 in nonmachinable surcharges that I didn't pay for up front.
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You can write it on yourself if you have the extra 0.20 postage. I did this about 700 times and simply left them in my mailbox at my house. Only one time did a customer on ePay claim that their envelope had been destroyed in transit. He actually showed me the photograph of the destroyed package. To be safe I'd probably still drop them off at the PO, but I was just setting them up at the counter without waiting in line which still shaved off a few minutes. The woman knew they'd all be non machinable because I talked about it with her before and she cleared me for just dropping it off without waiting to get it stamped or whatever.
My friend, who owns an LGS, actually sends all his cards this way. He uses team bags when sending more than one card. Personally, rather than put tape around the top loader I wrap the cards in a piece of paper and tape that. Never had an issue this way.
I do this for my small Pucatrades and TCGPlayer sales. The nonmachinable thing is MUCH easier to do if you print directly onto the envelope and use these nonmachinable surcharge stamps. I leave them in the mailbox, my letter carrier has no problems with this (even when I've had 10 in one day) & I've never had one get lost or damaged. It does get somewhat expensive paying $0.71 or whatever, but it gives me the peace of mind of knowing the damn thing's not going to get eaten by a sorter & that I won't have an angry postmaster sending me a bill for $200 in nonmachinable surcharges that I didn't pay for up front.
It does add up, but 2.50 for the materials and shipping cost of 000 kraft mailers adds up faster, not to mention drives customers away espectially if you are in a market like ebay. Whenever I dropped shipping down from bubble mailers to the envelopes sales would go up.
I had the 65 cent stamps back when I was selling a lot of bulk. They did not have non machinable surcharge printed on them like that. I just started moving some cards again, so I will have to look into those. Right now I just write it in bold red sharpie at the bottom of the envelope.
Also of interest to people shipping this way: it's 22 cents for each additional ounce beyond the first. Presumably they have 22 cent stamps. Anyhow, i think you can fit about 3 playsets, a toploader, and a few penny sleeves in an envelope and keep it under and ounce.
Another method I've seen but have not tried is cassette mailers.
I really don't think bubble mailers add much more protection than a plain white envelope. They can be bent or shredded just the same. Cassette mailer would probably be the next safest bet.
Thank you for the help!!
-Red4win
Penny sleeve in toploader upside down.
Tape toploader closed.
Put in middle on envelope.
Put small piece of tape to keep it from sliding around.
Close and mail with 1 stamp.
This works for up to 3, and sometimes 4, cards.
In ~500 online trades I've done it this way about half the time and have never had an issue. The problems come with you put 2 toploaders in there and don't add the extra postage. If you add another stamp and write Non-Machinable on the envelope that should work, but I think it's only $.20 more if you get it stamped at the PO.
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This is the way that I've done it. I'm just curious about one thing. Why put the penny sleeve in the toploader upside down? Is it so there are not 2 open ends on the same side in case the tape comes off? That actually makes sense.
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Yup. I've received so many cards where the well intentioned piece of tape on the top stuck to the cards and tore up a little of the black edge. This keeps the card from ever being exposed (and costs nothing, so why not?).
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I've received cards twice like using this method where my cards were damaged. On one it was just the top loader, but on the other the card.was so bent I had to put it between books for a few days to reflatten it.
I use the top loader method, but I tape it to an index card-sized piece of thin stiff cardboard (think the thickness of the cardboard on a legal pad). This does not cost any extra in shipping and you don't have to worry about damage.
You can also purchase 0.70 cent stamps from the Post Office and use those because they flag the envelope nonmachinable.
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I sure wish there was a envelope that just perfectly fitted 2 toploaders and 5 cards in a penny sleeve with out needing any other items to prevent movement in transit, something like 3 x 5.
Here are some photos!
Selling some cards I don't want.
Generally less than tcg mid.
Me too. But that's why I secure the card in the middle of the envelope with tape. It seems to keep the machines from grabbing the paper and having the toploader slide around. I like the card stock method too but have had to pay postage on those before when they get to me.
WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.
1) The rubber band may warp/pinch the cards
2) No toploader will make the card way more susceptible to damage
I've received exactly one card in the mail without some form of toploader, and it was a very jarring experience (it was a promo Geist of Saint Traft, placed in a penny sleeve and then taped to a portion of notebook paper). If you love taking risks and giving your mail recipients heart attacks, then sure, but I don't feel it's worth the risk of something happening and your recipient receiving something not-as-advertised.
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You can write Do Not Bend or Non-Machineable on the envelope yourself. Doing this will make the envelope a hand-sort only proposition, so you need to add $.22 extra postage ($.71 total). I can't even begin to tell you how many trades I've received Postage Due over the past 6 months. A lot of people will tell you that a toploader in a PWE should be fine with a single stamp, but if your Post Office actually adheres to their own printed guidelines, a single stamp is not enough.
If you use a $0.70 stamp or two Forever stamps and write "nonmachinable" then they won't use a machine to sort it. Whenever I send out cards worth more than a few dollars I splurge for those stamps and will write it on the envelope as added insurance. I don't know what will happen if you used a regular stamp and wrote "nonmachinable" on it then stuck it in the mail box. They may send it back to you for insufficient postage.
Not true. Writing DO NOT BEND does not prevent them from machine sorting a letter. The only thing it does is provide the illusion of them handling it gently. Generally speaking, letter carriers aren't jerks who bend up your stuff anyway, and it's really only the large flat envelopes that get bent to fit in a mailbox. There isn't a need to bend regular letters.
I use the comic book backing boards. I'll stick the cards in a top loader and tape it to the cardboard. It's still thin enough that they take it at the post office without requesting extra postage. I've even used two pieces of cardboard taped together when I didn't have a top loader, and tucked a couple of extra cards between the top loader and cardboard when all of the cards wouldn't fit in one top loader. I've sent a lot of cards and never had a single problem at the post office or with the recipient.
Edit:
I write DO NOT BEND on every envelope I send out and never had one returned for insufficient postage when I just use a regular Forever stamp.
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One thing that some people do that bothers the hell out of me is put 2-4 cards in a sleeve, then tape that sleeve to the front of a top loader. Sometimes they sandwich it between two toploaders. This always causes more issues than it's worth. If you can't fit all your cards comfortably into 1 toploader, please, use two toploaders and two stamps. I've personally never had trouble fitting 4 cards into a toploader, but some are smaller than others.
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It's for lower value stuff. Why should I pay $2 + toploader to ship a $4 card?
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I personally take his suggestion to buy A1 envelopes and use them for most of my trades. The A1 (invitation envelopes) envelope requires only a forever stamp and they are automatically hand sorted regardless. Now, A1 envelopes are not always easy to find (easy online), and you will pay a bit more for them over the typical envelope, so I'm not sure if I am actually paying all that much less to ship small quantities of cards, but I kinda like that they almost perfectly fit a top loader. I don't drive right now and getting to a Post Office is a pain by bus, so my wife picks up stamps from the supermarket, and they don't sell $.71 stamps. In order to ensure that my cards get hand sorted with a standard sized envelope I would then have to use two forever stamps, which I don't want to do. If the card is worth more than $25 or so then I generally send it in a bubble mailer.
That said, 99% of all the cards I receieve are in the smaller standard sized envelope (I think it is the #6 or something), and the card is in a sleeve upside down, placed open end down in a top loader which is closed at one end. I have only received a damaged card once, and that was because the envelope had been dropped in a puddle by my mail carrier and was only found by my wife hours later.
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My friend, who owns an LGS, actually sends all his cards this way. He uses team bags when sending more than one card. Personally, rather than put tape around the top loader I wrap the cards in a piece of paper and tape that. Never had an issue this way.
And then I wrap the toploader in a sheet of paper, and put it in the envelope. I don't fold all four sides, I just fold the paper as if it were a letter. I have never taped the toploader to the sheet of paper but it doesn't move around, as long as you fold it tight enough.
I do this for my small Pucatrades and TCGPlayer sales. The nonmachinable thing is MUCH easier to do if you print directly onto the envelope and use these nonmachinable surcharge stamps. I leave them in the mailbox, my letter carrier has no problems with this (even when I've had 10 in one day) & I've never had one get lost or damaged. It does get somewhat expensive paying $0.71 or whatever, but it gives me the peace of mind of knowing the damn thing's not going to get eaten by a sorter & that I won't have an angry postmaster sending me a bill for $200 in nonmachinable surcharges that I didn't pay for up front.
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It does add up, but 2.50 for the materials and shipping cost of 000 kraft mailers adds up faster, not to mention drives customers away espectially if you are in a market like ebay. Whenever I dropped shipping down from bubble mailers to the envelopes sales would go up.
I had the 65 cent stamps back when I was selling a lot of bulk. They did not have non machinable surcharge printed on them like that. I just started moving some cards again, so I will have to look into those. Right now I just write it in bold red sharpie at the bottom of the envelope.
Also of interest to people shipping this way: it's 22 cents for each additional ounce beyond the first. Presumably they have 22 cent stamps. Anyhow, i think you can fit about 3 playsets, a toploader, and a few penny sleeves in an envelope and keep it under and ounce.
Another method I've seen but have not tried is cassette mailers.
I really don't think bubble mailers add much more protection than a plain white envelope. They can be bent or shredded just the same. Cassette mailer would probably be the next safest bet.