I wondered what brand/size do you guys use when you ship out cards? Also should I get the Poly ones or the Kraft paper ones good enough?
I’ve been sending a few cards lately, but my bubble mailers are way too big for sending singles so that increases my shipping costs quite a bit. I’m looking for something smaller and of better quality at a good price($0.25-$0.50 per). The ones I have came from the local dollar store and they’re really cheaply made. I have to re-tape the seal and I’m having to add bubble wrap as well.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I’m in Canada but I don’t mind buying from a US supplier if that’s what it comes down to. I had a quick glance at what Staples Canada offers and there’s nothing that seems to correspond to exactly what I’m looking for.
I just use the cheapest ones I can find but I use top loaders instead of semi rigids and I also fold the toploader up in several sheets of printer paper and tape it up. I’ve been selling MTG online for the past 3 years and haven’t had a single damaged card or close call yet. However I’ve only shipped PSA cards twice and I haven’t found a way that I like to ship them.
First Off, don’t purchase your bubble mailers from a retail store (Target, Walmart, Staples, Office Depot…). These take-up A LOT of shelf space for these stores, so they charge a crazy amount for something that you could find A LOT cheaper. This goes for almost all shipping supplies (bubble mailers, boxes, bubble wrap, packing peanuts…).
I’m not sure how it works in Canada (sure you could find at least a few sellers); but in the U.S. there are A LOT of eBay Sellers who just sell shipping supplies! I purchase almost everything I need for shipping via eBay. Now, in terms of what to purchase… I prefer Kraft Bubble Mailers: Size #000 (this is the seller and item I normally purchase):
These bubble mailers are PERFECT for mailing single cards within toploaders! They’re also GREAT as an “inner protection” for PSA Graded Cards. And look at the pricing, you’re paying $32.00 for 500 ($0.06 / Ea.).
I buy 0000 valuemailers from threerb eBay seller. They are located very near to me so I get them next day. @oldskoolpokemon you should try this size. A little smaller and cheaper than 000 that you mentioned. I like the tighter fit better for toploaded singles.
ETA: Link as :valuemailer 0000" doesn’t turn it up in search. mailers
Postal services here in Canada are such a ripoff, every extra gram or cm is extra dollars so that’s why I want to downsize. It would probably cost me $12 CAD to ship w tracking across the street. lol
I’ll get a few larger ones as well, but for singles 4x6 seems perfect. Thanks a lot.
I would use the 4"x6" (0000); however, I use a DYMO LabelWriter 4XL with 4"x6" Labels - that’s why I use the 4"x8" (000). I’m afraid my labels might be to tall if I switched to the smaller size.
When I originally signed-up for Endicia (Postage Software) they were running a promotion where if you signed-up for there service and bought all the supplies (printer and scale) they would give you 50 Rolls of these labels for some crazy-low price - each roll has 200 labels, so I’ll be sticking with that size label for awhile… Haha
@oldskoolpokemon I have waited too long to look further into a thermal printer. What do you think of the 4XL? Earlier research actually led me to that exact one but I never pulled the trigger. Do you print the pack slips on the same exact stuff or do you do that on another printer?
I purchased mine about two years ago (Jan. 2016) and have not had a single issue - and I’ve printed A LOT! I really don’t take full advantage of everything I can do with this printer though - I use it with “Endicia” to print-out my shipping labels and that’s about it… However, the 4"x6" Shipping Labels work-out GREAT for my packages! I originally purchased another DYMO Printer (forget which one), but it could only print labels that were long and skinny (really was not a fan of those awkward-sized labels), so I returned that and purchased this one.
I don’t include packing slips within my packages; however, after reading your post, I thought I would attempt to print-out a packing-slip for one item - never actually thought to use the printer for this function. It took a minute or two to adjust the paper-size to my 4"x6" Label; however, after that was set-up (only required that initial time), it printed perfectly - actually looks really professional, I might just start including that within all my packages!
Now, the only down-side if you don’t have a Postage Program… I cannot figure-out how to print Shipping Labels directly from eBay using this printer. It does not appear that eBay supports this printer (drop-down box does not have this one as an option). There could be a way around this, I’ve never really looked into it though as it doesn’t effect me.
So I ended up buying 500 #0000 valuemailers from threerb. $20 shipping(GSP) but it’s worth it. They just don’t sell these in Canada and 500 #000 is about $80-90 + 15% tax here. It was a no brainer. Looking forward to see how much I save on shipping.
You’re all exaggerating so much, my god. Do you honestly believe a card will be damaged or dissolved because the toploader the sleeved card is in is taped shut so it can’t fall out? Do you honestly believe tape is so acidic that it’ll tear open both the toploader and the sleeve and eat the card like some kind of Hollywood Chemical? Do you guys also not use tape to seal shut packages because you’re afraid the tape will eat through the cardboard and dissolve what’s in the package? Come on, guys.
And even if your complaint is that you’re afraid of damaging the card yourself when you want to remove the tape, that is overly dramatic too. It’s very easy to get tape off without damaging the card, unless you have feet for hands or something. Heck, most people don’t even use tape that’s hard to get off without any tools. (I’m gonna mention the lovely Washi Tape here again - very easy to remove)
Don’t go all gatekeeper over frickin’ tape, guys. Are there better options? For sure. Is it the end of the world if you use toploader+tape? Heck no.
…I am pretty sure they are just playfully teasing shipping cards with tape.
I am quite indifferent about tape and agree with your last four sentences, but I do understand the fact that this is E4 with pretty serious collectors. Also, I cannot vouch for everyone but some of the replies are from serious ebay sellers who sells high end cards, I can understand their position too. Would you like it if you bought a NM 1st edition Shining Charizard and it got stuck to some tape at the top? You’ll probably be pissed at the seller.
Sadly you would think “well it depends on the value of the card, some people would put extra costs into shipping when the card is expensive”. Nope. I once had a $500 card shipped overseas to me in a sleeve with just tape on the sleeve, no top loaders and it got stuck to the tape from the sleeve. It miraculously came undamaged, but some tape residue did get stuck on the card. Welp, that’s 1/50~ championship cards in the world with tape residue now =/
The tape discussion comes up here a lot, and every time people act like people who use tape are literally the incarnation of Satan. There’s literally no way for the card to get stuck to the tape itself if you do it like a normal human being would tape it shut.
That’s more than half price from Staples. I was looking for this exact 4 x 8 size.