An important fundamental of selling trading cards, is knowing how to properly package and send your cards to its new owner! This task could seem daunting for beginners in the collecting community. However, here at Card Authority, we aim to make this process easy by providing a one-stop shop of ‘How To Package Cards 101’.
1. Place Raw Card in ‘Penny Sleeve’
The first step in the packaging process is placing your “raw” trading card into a card sleeve for the first layer of protection. Different card thicknesses require different types of sleeves. E.g. Supremacy cards are thicker than Optimum cards! Follow the link below to shop for a variety of different card sleeves depending on your card needs.
2. Place Sleeved Card in Top-Loader
Next step is taking your sleeved card and placing into a plastic holder commonly known as a ‘Top-Loader’. Again, the type of top-loader that is required for your card is dependent on its thickness. A majority of cards only require 35pt top-loaders, however some releases require bigger top-loaders. E.g. Supremacy cards require 130pt top-loaders.
*Tip* - Once card has been slid into top-loader, you may need to tap the BOTTOM of the top loader on a flat surface to fully secure your card.
Follow the link below to find a range of different sized top-loaders dependent on your card dimensions!
3. Place Top-Loaded Card into ‘Team-Bag’
When it comes to packaging up cards, you want to be ultra-precautious in terms of protection. Because once the package has left your possession, you never know what treatment the package will receive during the mailing process. Therefore, we recommend putting your top-loaded card in a ‘Team-Bag’ which just secures the card inside the top loader just that little bit more. We’re sure the receiver will appreciate the added layer of protection!
All card thicknesses fit inside these Team-Bags, so collectors have the added benefit of buying these plastic slips in bulk! Follow the link below if you’re wanting to add Team-Bags to your packaging process.
4. Mail Card in ‘Padded-Mailer’, Clearly Stating Postage Options
We arrive at the final step of the “card-packaging” process and now it’s down to putting the card in a bubble mailer for postage and shipping the card off to its new owner!
If you are an active member of the trading card hobby, our suggestion when it comes to padded-mailers is buying them in bulk. There are plenty of options on platforms like eBay which can significantly reduce your postage spend over time.
Also, as the seller you want to be clear with your buyer surrounding postage options. Whether that’s untracked, tracked, registered, express or even adding insurance when it comes to cards of significant value. It’s probably best getting into the habit of providing postage with tracking just to save yourself the expense of losing a card in the mail with no idea of its whereabouts!
*Additional Tips*
· Adding loose base cards into the team-bags to further protect the top-loaded card inside.
· If you opt for the ‘Green Tracking Envelopes’ as opposed to the padded-mailers, wedging the card between two pieces of cardboard can provide good protection for your packaged card.
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