General Forum

Whats the best way to send single cards and multiple cards by mail?

Not sent  anything in the mail before but Im thinking if its multiple a small mailing box?

Anytime I have made a trade I have used bubble mailers that I get at Walmart.  I have noticed that the Duck brand (I think that's what it is) is pretty durable and is less than a dollar.  I place each card in a penny sleeve and toploader and then all in a team bag if I have one.  For extra cards that are just bonus cards I am throwing in for the trade I just penny sleeve them and make sure they are snug.  

Then I take the mailer to the post office and ship it, usually costs about $2.50.  

Edit:  Oh and as for the bubble mailer, I get the smallest size available so it leaves less room for the cards to move around.  

 I have had good luck mailing 1-4 cards (not expensive cards, just in case)  in a self-sealing RIGID photo mailer.  I emphasize "rigid" because I recently bought self-sealing photo mailers which were not rigid.  Basically they were envelopes that self sealed but not sturdy at all.    I place the cards in penny sleeves, then enclose them in a bank envelope or any junk envelope you get in the mail.   This prevents the cards from sliding around.    I do not put top loaders in these because I once received one card in a top loader this way and  the hard plastic top loader must have been crush by Post Office rollers.   The rollers do not seem to hurt the item in the method I use.   Yes, there is always a first time but as I said I only use this for cheap cards in order to keep the cost of shipping down for the buyer.  More expensive cards I use the bubble mailers and top loaders.
 

I send up to 4 cards in white envelopes with a single stamp.  If you don't do it right, it'll get eaten up in the machine though.  I received a '50s Yogi Berra card in one of those flimsy ultra-pro sleeves that had been eaten up and burnt in the machines. 

I do use those ultra-pro sleeves, but I fold a piece of copy paper into 3, and place 2 sleeves in the spaced in the center and taped down.  If I have more cards to send, I fold over one side of the copy paper and tape up to 2 more cards spaced apart to another side.  Then I fold the last side down and put in envelope.  I use transparent tape, and only line the edges of the sleeves so as not to leave too much residue for sleeve re-use, but enough to create a smooth transition so the cards will go through the machine without damage. 

Anything over 4 cards goes in a recycled yellow bubble wrap from previous purchases for $2.67.  I protect the cards from being bent or damaged on the corners with much of the recycled card supplies I receive from previous purchases.  Since all of my personal cards go into pages, I have lots of extra snap cases, hard/soft sleeves, team set bags, card board pieces, bubblewrap, and foam pieces from previous purchases.

Thank thats some great info.

Do the bubble mailers go through the rollers?

I am pretty sure that when you take a bubble mailer to the post office, it is shipped like a package and will not go through any rollers.  

I use this exact same method and I believe this is correct. I pay roughly $2.50, but also get tracking and the cards sent as a package.

I also use those Duck brand bubble mailers. I've found they are the best value available.

I agree with all of that, especially the reusing of bubble mailers. I buy more than I sell (for better or worse) and have a small supply of used bubble mailers that I just tape the address label onto and reuse. So the supply cost is ... free! Up to about 30 cards, maybe more, it's $2.67 or something for shipping. Really not bad.

I've used plain white envelopes with cardboard reinforcement for two to four cheap cards. Couple stamps. No complaints yet, but I protect the cards pretty well and would always give a full refund or return of cards if there was a problem.

v3

I've turned a couple of members on to photo mailers. Depending on thickness of cards I can fit up to 16~18 cards in a rigid photo mailer with them sandwiched between top-loaders, two bundles will fit side-by-side in the mailer. Without exceeding 1/4" the max it cost me is $1.12; 91-cent 3-ounce stamp + 21-cent non-machineable surchage.

If I ship envelope style, I asked the postal clerk to mark the envelope non-machinable. Its a little more expensive; I think a normal envelope weighing less than 13 oz is about $.75. I use a blank greeting card (you can get a box of greeting cards and envelopes at the Dollar Store for about.......$1.00) and put the card in a soft sleeve and a top loader. I put painters tape across the top of the toploader and use painters tape to attach the top loader to the greating card. Painters tape is easy to remove and doesn't leave any residue.

Anything over 4 cards go in a bubble mailer. Liike V3, I reuse everything I can. Shipping tape is my friend.