How to Ship Cards For the Cost of a Stamp
By Matt Gilman
With prices on the increase in all aspects of life, including card collecting, I have been searching for ways to still enjoy the hobby I am passionate about and have it be affordable for me to stay a part of. Knowing that most of my incoming cards are from smaller trades, shipping is one way I am trying to cut back costs and have found a way to do so effectively and cheaply.
I am going to let you in on my secret, so you can save money on your shipping as well. This method is called shipping PWE. If you don’t know what that stands for, PWE means Plain White Envelope. This means no bubble mailers or boxes and shipping the cards using a business or greeting card sized envelope. Everyone has their own way of shipping PWE. Some collectors use toploaders, some use semi-rigids, and some use pieces of cardboard. I have a different method. I also want to mention that I used my method roughly two hundred times without a lost envelope or damage to the cards. Here are the step by step directions.
STEP 1: Grab a 9-pocket page. You want to make sure the page is fairly thick to give the best protection for the cards. A plain page works better than other types, and has the benefit of being cheaper as well.
STEP 2: Cut between rows. The page should be cut into thirds following the lines. Don’t cut into the page above it. Pay close attention when cutting into these and make sure to follow the line.
STEP 3:Insert cards into the pockets. Ideally, the more valuable cards use the middle slot. The goal is to send six cards, so you will have two cards per pocket. You can put the cards back to back that way it doesn’t scratch the front surfaces. If you are shipping only a card or two, I still recommend shipping extras to fill the slots. Another tip, I will sometimes stick any Chrome cards you’re shipping in the middle as a backing to a more valuable card.
STEP 4:Use painters tape to hold the cards in place. Painters tape is easily removable and won’t damage the cards
STEP 5: Get an envelope out, I always use business envelopes to ship with as it fits these
pages best. I usually get the stick and seal ones. Nobody wants to lick envelopes anymore.
STEP 6: Seal your envelope, write your address. I find it helpful if you write DO NOT BEND
with a permanent marker on the bottom and back of the envelope. I also add an extra strip of scotch tape on the back to make sure that envelope doesn’t open. Put a stamp on it and you’re done.
And this is how you can ship 6 cards for only the cost of a stamp. Keep in mind I do this for
lower end trades. This will also work for lower value cards that you sell, but you would need to add extras to make sure all slots are filled. It may be possible to send fewer than six cards this way, but I haven’t done so yet. I hope you give this a try and save yourself some money the next time you ship out cheaper cards.
Matt Gilman writes the consistently on his blogs about the hobby, which you can find at sportcardcollectors.blogspot.com and cardstotalkabout.blogspot.com.