We MUST do better with shipping!

[mrmopar]

When will people learn that a little extra effort goes a long way and that it doesn't take a lot to make a package into a piece of garbage?

This was a near miss. The card was not damaged thankfully, but the hard case in a flimsy bubble mailer is a bad idea. Like graded holders, the hard cases don't have ANY give to them. There will crack and shatter much easier than a toploader will crack. Use some cardboard if you are mailing the rigid hard plastic holders.

The latest bubble mailers are like anything else it seems, lower quality and skinping on content. They suck compared to those we used 10+ years ago. You need more than that to protect cards.

Too many new sellers who either don't know or don't care. Pay for a few damaged returns and you get the point though. Lost a Bud Grant auto that was a month or so ago.

 

[Dilferules]

I think the PO is tougher on bubble mailers than they were years ago, as well. I've had plenty of cards in bubble mailers in toploaders get creased, and I can't recall that ever happening 10+ years ago. I have noticed most sellers putting in some type of protection like extra cheap cards, extra toploaders, or cardboard and that really helps. But plenty of sellers just toss a card in a toploader into the bubble mailer and send it off. I've also seen some sellers that use cardboard stiffeners tape the toploader to the cardboard without first taping it shut or putting it in a team bag, causing the card to slide out and get stuck to the tape.

I will say the shipping now isn't as bad as it was in 2020-2021 when cards were the hot thing and there were a bunch of people selling cards that had absolutely zero clue what they were doing.

 

[mrmopar]

Be nice if there was a required tutorial for selling online, like a minimum qualification. Not everyone would follow it, but at least you know they went through it and are fully responsible for not following the basics. I'm sure some are truly oblivious, having not received 1000s of packages in the mail over the last several decades like many of us have.

 

[finestkind]

Once in a while when I sell a pack of cards, or a single cards. I use cardboard Jewlers storage box to mail them. Single cards, I put the card in a penny sleeve and a top loader. And then a cardboard jewlers box

 

[jmc855]

When I trade or sell and it's NOT a cheap card with agreed upon PWE shipping I typically use:
penny sleeve, toploader, 2nd toploader upside down, 3rd toploader upside down as a sandwich (to make the open top of toplaoder more rigid) taped together sides and top in a bubble mailer. Sometimes I add cardboard around it all and tape it closed.

Expensive stuff has gotten old 4 screw cases taped around the toploader as a sandwich for higher rigidity.

 

[WizardofOz1982]

I'm OCD about packing and shipping but I want people to receive their card in the shape they bought it in. Lord knows I've received enough that were trashed over the years.

PWE - Penny sleeve, Card Saver, team bag, cheap Thank You card
eBay PWE - Penny sleeve, Card Saver, team bag, cardboard CD mailer

Bubble with tracking (only for raw cards): Penny sleeve, top load/magnetic, team bag/Superior Fit sleeve, cardboard both sides, tape over the seal.
- The few times I sell bulk lots of something I will penny sleeve them all, put the top and bottom card of the stack in a top load, then team bag the lot and cardboard the brick.

Slabs: Superior Fit sleeve, cardboard both sides, bubble wrap or used bubble mailer taped shut, USPS flat rate box with enough bubble wrap that the slab doesn't move around

I've shipped thousands of packages the last couple years with only two or three that were damaged. Unfortunately, no matter how well you package something, when USPS runs it over with a forklift/mail truck, steps on it (literally one had Doc Martin sole patterns on it), or piles a ton of heavy boxes on top of it, it's going to get screwed up. I just try to make them as bomb proof as possible and hope for the best.

 

[jmc855]

Maybe our shipping motto should be " Go Carbonite or Go Home"

 

[mrmopar]

I believe that most long time collectors know how and probably do use satisfactory shipping methods, because as stated, we want items sent to arrive in the condition we'd expect to receive them. Guessing it's the newbies or people who are gifted or buy things at yard sales or thrift shops, trying to flip for a profit. They don't necessarily collect and likely don't even think about possible damage or that even the slightest flaw may turn off a serious collector. Its transactional to them and if it costs them extra time or $, they'll take the shortcut. However, take away that $ because they have to do a refund or partial credit because of their carelessness or laziness, they'll probably do it differently next time.

 

[maestracewslover]

I really don’t do bubble mailers for slabs or any semi valuable card anymore. I secure it in a small flat rate. I don’t sell too many things though and really don’t care if I lose a dollar or 2. It’s better than giving a full refund for even 1 card.


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