Buy/Sell/Trade Forum

 As C2 said,  most people trade on here.  I am one of the few who only sells.    As he said, people create trade/sell lists, it is not separated so when you see something someone has under sell/trade, ask them to trade.

I see I have several cards on your want list. Part of the key for you is to upload the cards you have for sale/trade..........I will say this.....uploading cards is time consuming and a general pain in the " neck", howeverrrrrrrr the payoff can be HUGE!!!!!! Im ALWAYS up for a good trade, and rarely if ever sell. .....I like to move cards and help someone else, while filling in teams sets Im looking for, without buying.

There are a lot of people that trade on here. I am one of them, and like enginge614 said, " It's a pain up loading our doubles." If you need cards and don't see them on peoples sell/trade list just post  a blog asking for help with certain sets or teams and the site will help.

I am new to the card trading scene. What is the best way to package a card or cards to ship? I would prefer to not put every card in plastic if there is an easier and cheaper way to ship cards (especially commons for a set collector).

Team bags. They usually hold up to 15-20 cards (approx), depending on card thickness. Also use some of those blank dummy cards (the filler cards that the companies put in the packs to fool pack searchers looking for hits). If you allow enough room in the team back you can use the dummy cards as the two end cards in the bag. Or after closing the bag tape (painters tape is the best type of tape to use and many collectors will thank you for not using a ton of regular tape) them to the bag as the "bread: for a team bag sandwich. then put the team bag into a padded shipping envelope. Even using a padded envelope it is best to be as safe as possible by protecting the cards FIRST before putting them into the envelope.

Regular tape gets messy and leaves residue on the plastic toploaders.

Fightingokra wrote: I am new to the card trading scene. What is the best way to package a card or cards to ship? I would prefer to not put every card in plastic if there is an easier and cheaper way to ship cards (especially commons for a set collector).

Personally, I'm fine with PWE (plain white envelope) trades.  I use cardboard photo mailers (17 cents). I put cards in two top loaders (no cost, I've received so many). They fit side-by-side in the mailer and act as a stiffener. The other cards in penny sleeves (no cost, I've received so many).  Most end up costing either 71 cents (1-2 oz) or 93 cents (2-3 oz) in postage.

Fightingokra wrote: I am new to the card trading scene. What is the best way to package a card or cards to ship? I would prefer to not put every card in plastic if there is an easier and cheaper way to ship cards (especially commons for a set collector).

for shipping.. singles and such.. i ship everything in a top loader w/ cardboard/or wrapped in bubblewrap and and padded envelope. for several cards, either plastic count snaps or count boxes then packed in a larger box w/ paper or something. i just look at it as i don't want post office or any other way having the possibly of damaging something that im sending someone when i can avoid it. I see ppl do it both ways, i rcvd cards both ways. pick your poison- pay a little more for safety or take a chance

I'm cool with receiving single cards PWE with top loader. If I were acquiring something valuable, I might want a padded mailer. But I rarely acquire valuable cards in the mail. I send multiple cards in a padded mailer with team bag like Capt. Kirk described, singles I usually send PWE in top loader. I also like the side by side approach C2 described. If I'm sending 10 cards in a padded mailer, I usually do two stacks of five, side-by-side, to keep the envelope thin. Thick envelopes drive the postage price up.

If you are shipping 20+ cards, there is another option that hasn't been mentioned. I only ship with USPS, so other shipping methods would be different. Some penny sleeves are made wider than others and you can put 5-10 cards in a single sleeve. When I make a trade like that, I put one card in a toploader for the front and one more for the back. I put those in a team bag and fill the middle with as many multi-card penny sleeves as I can safely fit in the bag. Then I put those team bags in a bubble mailer and ship it as First Class Parcel. FCP gives you a tracking number and means the package won't go through a sorting machine which can damage cards AND snap toploaders or thin plastic boxes. All packaging costs far less than a dollar for brand new materials and the shipping cost is b/t $2.50 and $4.00. If you are shipping several hundred cards, use plastic boxes and USPS Priority Mail.

After you do enough trades, you don't even need to buy supplies anymore IF you re-use want comes in. I haven't bought bubble mailers in 10 years and toploaders/team bags/penny sleeves in about eight years. I did buy some more plastic boxes last year b/c I tend to send out more than I receive. I hope this helps you more.

Addition: The ONLY time I use tape (of any kind) is to tape the team bag closed if it is old and the sticky strip doesn't work well. I also fold one end over to make a tab to open the bag easily. That applies to the contents of the package, not the exterior. I put packing tape over the shipping address, return address, closing flap and the fold of the closing flap. If the addresses get wet, USPS has no idea where to send it to or return it to!

Fightingokra wrote: I am new to the card trading scene. What is the best way to package a card or cards to ship? I would prefer to not put every card in plastic if there is an easier and cheaper way to ship cards (especially commons for a set collector).

Thanks for the advice, once I move into my new house next week I am going to work on trading my duplicates.