I wanted to write this to show how we ship our cards at Card Yard and to give a guide to new sellers of what to do and what not to do after you make your sale. Understand that there are many ways to do this, this is just what works best for me and what supplies I have. There's definitely things you shouldn't do though and I will try to cover them in this post.
I recommend that you have shipping supplies at your house prior to making the sale so you can buy in bulk and save some money. We will begin to list supplies on our website shortly, but Amazon/Ebay is your best friend for bulk pricing.
The way that I like to think of securing a card is by breaking it up into layers. This will typically be about 3 different layers, which will be Outer, Middle and Inner.
Outer Layer
This will be the package that your card gets put into and will provide the outer layer of protection. Most will be shipped in either a cardboard box (I buy mine in bulk on Ebay) or a bubble mailer. (Yes, you can ship your card in a standard envelope but be cautious because that provides the least amount of protection and typically if a card is more than a $10 value I would not want it shipped in an envelope.)
The boxes that we ship our singles with at Card Yard are 6x4x2 and can fit majority of cards. We do have larger boxes though in case someone makes a bulk order. Bubble mailers are fine too, I just think the boxes look more professional and are a bit more tear resistant than the bubble mailers. Each is a fine choice though. Bulk bubble mailers are probably slightly cheaper but not by much. Also note that the bubble mailer shown here is a bit large for shipping singles, but it still does the job as long as your middle layer is sufficient.
Middle Layer
The middle layer is what sits between the card and the packaging. This will help protect the card from any bending, crushing or cutting of the outer layer. At the end of the day, mistakes do happen at mail facilities so you as a shipper should do as much as possible to protect the card for your buyer. Trust me this will save you any headaches in the future with returns/ complaints if there is an issue. There are many different things you can use as a middle layer, I prefer bubble wrap when I ship with boxes but card protectors like Ding Defends are great while shipping with bubble mailers. Some people will cut cardboard to act as Ding Defends, which will work too but these will save you some time.
Inner Layer
The inner layer is what is directly protecting your card and most likely what your card already is in. These consist of penny sleeves, top loaders and possibly team bags. Note that I did not include one touch mag holders, its not bad to ship in them but I feel that a lot of the times the card still has a little bit of wiggle in them depending on the brand of the one touch and can potentially cause damage to the corners. I will sometimes ship in a one touch, but it is rare. If the card I am selling has a picture in a one touch, I will remove it from the one touch, put the card into a penny sleeve and top loader, then add the empty one touch to the package. I like team bags because it makes the appearance a bit better and it also keeps your cards together if you ship more than 1 card.
Other Supplies
This includes packing tape, painters tape, a scale, and a printer. I use a label printer which saves me a ton of time, but a standard printer is fine too.
Lets start shipping
Now that you have some supplies, you are ready to start selling some cards! Here is how you can put these supplies into use.
1. Retrieve your card and begin the inner/ middle layer of protection. But make note of your what your outer layer will be and what kind of card you are shipping. Here are a few examples:
Graded Slabs
This card in particular is a graded slab, so it already has an inner layer and I will wrap it into bubble wrap. The outer layer I am going to use is my 6x4x2 cardboard box.
Looks good to me.
Below will be if I wanted to use Ding Defends and a bubble mailer.
Insert the card in between the ding defends and make sure to use some sort of tape on each side of the ding defends. If you want to be extra secure, you can then wrap this in bubble wrap as well
Shipping in top loaders
It is the same as shipping slabs, but now we will introduce that inner layer. The kind of card will dictate what you do.
Multi Cards
Lets grab a team bag and secure this lot.
Once secure, wrap in bubble wrap or the ding defends like before.
Singles/ Thick Cards
There are many different sizes of cards (which I will try to cover in another post) which require different sized top loaders. Not everyone has every top loader ever created, so at minimum we can secure the card into a close to the right sized top loader. Notice that this card is a patch card, but it is does not quite sit perfectly in the top loader so it may slide out.
In this instance, a piece of painters tape will be sufficient enough that the card will not slide out of the top loader. You can then put this into a team bag, then wrap in bubble wrap or ding defends, whichever you choose.
2. Put the completed inner and middle packaged card into your outer packing.
Perfect Fit. If there is some wigggle room between the card and the card and the box, just rip a small piece of bubble wrap off your roll and stuff it into the gap. You can use any other packing material for this as well. The main goal is to make sure there is not a lot of movement in the package.
3. Tape up and weigh your package.
Each package is pretty similar in weight. But there is more packing material in the cardboard box. An ounce or two is pretty negligible in the grand scheme of things when it comes to shipping.
4. Print out your labels and attach to your package. You’re now ready to ship.
And that’s all it takes! I’ll add a few other pointers and tips below.
By all means this is not the only way to ship out a card, it has just worked for me and I’ve gotten many compliments from customers appreciating the thoroughness of my packaging. There are many other ways but this was a general guide to point you in the right direction This works for me and hopefully it helps you find something that works for you. We’ve all seen horror stories of what improper packaging/ negligence on the sellers end can do to a buyer. Take a few extra minutes, spend maybe another 50 cents to a dollar and package your cards properly. It will mitigate any headache you may have in the future and it could lead to extra sales in the future!
Here are some quick Do’s and Dont’s
Do:
- Have a packaging supplies ready to go before you make your first sale.
- Take a few seconds before you finish packaging and think would I be happy if I received a card I paid for like this. If yes, then great, if not, maybe you should improve on what you did to ensure you did the best you could to make the customer happy.
- Make sure you get to the post office in a timely manner. You need to have that package at the post office within a day or two of that sale happening. Again think like a buyer, do you want your cards you buy quickly or slowly to you?
- If you have multiple packages, maybe put a sticky note on them so you know which is which and you don’t get them mixed up. Whatever organization works for you, do it.
Dont’s:
- Cheap out on packaging. It may cost a bit in the beginning for the initial purchase but your extra supplies will go a long way and will only cost another 50 cents to a dollar more per package.
- Don’t try to squeeze a large lot into a small box or bubble mailer, it’s bound to fail. If a box is too small, then it’s too small get something bigger. Worst case, just get a flat rate box from USPS. It will probably save you some money too.
- NEVER ship a card without any protection. It will get damaged and you as the shipper will be at fault.
Theres plenty more Do’s and Don’ts but by now I think you get the point. You can always email me at info@cardyard.shop if you have any questions.
Thanks for reading,
Jimmy
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