How to Protect and Store Graded Cards

While most collectors keep their cards removable holders, many choose to have their cards graded and encased in rigid card slabs. For a service fee, trusted companies such as Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA), Beckett Grading Services (BGS), SGC, Certified Sports Guaranty (CSG), Certified Guaranty Company (CGC), International Sports Authentication (ISA), Premier Card Grading (PCG), and Hybrid Grading Approach (HGA) will grade your card and encase them in a sealed card slab. BCW offers several solutions for storing your graded cards.

Semi-Rigid #1 Card Holders

Before all of that, you will need to get your cards sent in to be graded. Collectors use items such as Semi-Rigid holders, as grading companies prefer these over holders like toploaders. In fact, using a different holder can lead to the grading process taking longer.

Semi-Rigid 1 and 2 Storage Boxes

When paired with a Penny Sleeve, a semi-rigid can act as a protective solution on its own. BCW offers several boxes to store semi-rigid holders, whether you plan to send to graders en masse or use them as your preferred storage solution.

BCW Super Vault box with graded cards



Super Vault Storage Box
This single row cardboard box has a full lid that comes down to the base of the box, making it very strong. It will hold about 75 graded cards from all grading companies.

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BCW Reduces Wholesale Pricing on Less-Than-Case Quantities

BCW offers nearly 1,000 products to protect, store, and display collectibles. Purchasing a full case of a particular item has always been the way to achieve our best pricing at wholesale. We understand that retailers may not want to buy a full case of a particular size or color of a given product, but purchasing at a price that provides a good profit is essential. BCW has adopted a new pricing structure for wholesale customers to make ordering a single product, or less-than-case quantities, more affordable.

Traditionally, distributors have fulfilled the need for less-than-case quantities to retail stores. However, BCW products are not available through every distributor, and most distributors do not carry our complete line of products. This has created a problem for stores that cannot acquire the BCW products they need from their distributor. BCW offers stores to order directly at competitive prices, regardless of the order size.

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BCW Welcomes Andrew Phillips to the Sales Team

Andrew PhillipsBCW welcomes industry veteran Andrew Phillips to the BCW Sales Team. Andrew will be using his gaming and comic background to help hobby shops and online retailers get the quality hobby accessories they need, with the affordable pricing expected from BCW Supplies.
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Protecting Comic Book Trade Paperbacks

To a comic book collector, a trade paperback (TPB) is a thick comic bound with a cardstock cover. These are usually the same width and height as current comic books but are thicker than traditional comics as they have significantly more pages. A TPB might be a series of comic books or a given story arc, originally published as individual comics that have been combined. A “graphic novel” might classify as TPB, but a graphic novel could be larger or have a hardback cover. The term “omnibus” refers to an even larger bound collection of comics that were previously published as individual comics. An omnibus is more likely to have a hardback cover and be larger than the “current comic” in width and height.

BCW offers bags and boards for collectors who want to protect their trade paperbacks from the elements. As TPBs are thicker than traditional comics, understanding what size of bags and boards are needed can be confusing if you don’t have lots of samples for testing. Below are common examples of TPBs to help you determine what bags and boards you need for your collection.

BCW only recommends polypropylene bags for these thicker comic books, as poly bags are flexible and can easily wrap to the depth of the TPB. Mylar bags are not a great solution for TPBs, as the Mylar is less flexible and will not wrap around the trade paperbacks properly.

Trade paperbacks in silver age bags



The trade paperbacks shown above are a common size. They’re “current” width and height, and their depth (thickness) ranges from 1/8″ to 1/4″. For their protection, we recommend Current Backing Boards and Resealable Silver Age Comic Book Bags. While the Silver Bags are larger than the Current Boards, the bags are filled with thick TPBs, so the end result is a perfect fit.

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Protecting Dragon Ball Super Cards

Fans of Bandai’s Dragon Ball Super Card Game – Are you looking for the best sleeves to show off and protect your deck? Give BCW Elite2 Gloss Deck Guards a test and you’ll agree these sleeves are your best value. These sleeves have a textured back, that other companies call matte finish, with a clear glossy front to make your DBS cards pop. So if you’re playing with starter Broly, milling players out with Janemba, or just smashing the format with Super Shenron Storm, protect your cards with BCW Elite2 Gloss Deck Guards at your next event.

Dragon Ball Super decks use 50 cards, with a 15 card sideboard. BCW Deck Cases LX, with the flip-top lid, are the appropriate size to protect a DBS deck. Larger Deck Vaults are also available for 80, 100, or 200 sleeved cards.
DBS cards with Deck case LX and elite2 sleeves

Card Merchant Now Offers BCW Products in New Zealand

Card Merchant logo

Card Merchant now carries BCW card accessories and other hobby supplies! Card Merchant specializes in Magic: The Gathering, Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, POP! Vinyls, board games, and Ty Beanie Babies. Card Merchant sells BCW products to gamers at www.cardmerchant.co.nz and at their three Auckland area stores: Pakuranga Plaza, Glenfield Mall, and West City. Other New Zealand hobby shops can contact Card Merchant to purchase BCW products at wholesale pricing.

Refined 12-Pocket Z-Folios for 2019

To protect standard sized cards, BCW’s 12-Pocket Z-Folios are a popular storage method for card gamers. The pages in the folio display four cards in a row, which is ideal for Magic: The Gathering, Pokémon, and other card games using playsets of four. Gamers also appreciate these folios have a zipper closure, ensuring their cards cannot fallout of the album.

Several color options of 12-pocket Z-Folio albums

12-Pocket Z-Folios – Color Choices

For 2019, BCW is making a refinement to the 12-Pocket Z-Folios. As with the original versions, these folios have faux leather covers, available in many colors. These folios have stitching around the edges of the cover, and the original versions had stitching that matched the color of the faux leather. For the 2019 versions, we changed the color of the stitching, so the thread contrasts with the faux leather. It may be a subtle color refinement, but we think card collectors will like the change.

Detail of stiching

Faux Leather and Thread – Color Combinations

Detail of contrasting stitching

Faux Leather and Thread – Color Combinations

Thread color highlights

Faux Leather and Thread – Color Combinations

Opened Z-Folio 12 pocket

The Center Spread of a 12-Pocket Z-Folio

The pages in the 2019 version of 12-Pocket Z-Folio are identical to the previous version. These folios contain twenty double-sided pages, so a full folio holds 480 cards, assuming you only place one card in each pocket. The pockets are large enough to hold sleeved cards.

Packaging for 12 pocket Z-Folio

New Packaging for 2019

The only other refinement to the 2019 versions are changes to the package design. Game shops will notice changes to most of BCW’s gaming line as our 2019 products hit the shelves this spring. Game shops can apply for a BCW wholesale account here.

View BCW 12-Pocket Z-Folios.

Protecting Transformers TCG Cards

Various Transformers tcg cards in sleeves and toploaders

The Transformers TCG is a fun, light card game featuring a deck of battle cards and a selection of characters. The character cards possess the mechanic to “transform” by flipping over their card to show different artwork, stats, and abilities. Transformers TCG was introduced at the 2018 Gen Con.  Since then, the game has released a number of even-larger, Titan Character Cards. To protect all these cards, BCW offers several solutions:

Battle Cards – standard size
Deck Guards – clear sleeves
Deck Guards – various colors of sleeves
Elite2 Deck Guards – various colors of premium sleeves
18-Pocket Binder Pages – various colors

Mini-Bot Character Cards – standard size
Deck Guards – clear sleeves

Regular Character Cards – 3.5″ x 5″
89mm x127mm Board Game Sleeves – clear sleeves
3.5″ x 5″ Toploaders – clear, rigid PVC
Note the 89mm x 127mm Sleeve will not fit inside the 3.5″ x 5″ Toploaders.
4-Pocket Pages – for storing cards in 3-ring binder

Folding Combiner Cards – 3.5″ x 5″ when flat / standard size when folded
Card protection depends upon your preference, as some players prefer to not fold their cards. If you fold these cards, Side-Loading Inner Sleeves are a good solution, with one sleeve on each side of the fold. If you prefer to keep the card flat, then the 3.5″ x 5″ sleeves or toploaders are recommended.

Titan Character Card – 5 5/8″ x 7 7/8″
6″ x 8″ Sleeves – clear polypropylene
6″ x 8″ Toploaders – clear, rigid PVC
Comic Pages – for storing Titan Cards in a 3-ring binder

Prime X4 Gaming Box

The Prime X4 Gaming Box is ideal for storing and transporting Transformers TCG cards. It features a secure, latching lid with beveled insets that keep cards in their cells. Each cell holds 60, single-sleeved cards. Two cells can be combined by removing the divider between them to open up space for oversize cards (in toploaders too). The dice tray is removable and you can store one of the cell dividers beneath it. The Prime X4 also features a tray that is great for tokens, pencils and pens, and poker chips. This gaming box was designed with Transformers TCG in mind, but also works great for Pokemon, KeyForge, Magic: The Gathering, and many other games.

Protecting Role Playing Games

Player Folio with Starfinder condition cards

Role playing games are super popular now, but games such as Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) have been around since the ’70s. Games similar to D&D such as Pathfinder and Starfinder have huge communities as well. These games involve players acting as characters in some imagination-fueled realm, created or described by the game master (GM). In D&D, the game master is known as the Dungeon Master (DM).

These games use books, maps, figures, and other items to build the fantasy setting and control the game. If you want to organize these collectibles and keep them in new condition, BCW offers several products to help.

Spectrum Dice Bag Blue

Most ttrpgs require the use of dice. Many players enjoy collecting dice as a supplementary hobby as well. In either case, a way to securely store and transport your dice is an important consideration. The Spectrum Large Dice Bag is a great way to store a collection, sure to hold enough for any game needs.

D&D monster cards with 4 pocket and 9 pocket pages

If you use card-based accessories and want a quick an convenient way to store and access them, BCW offers numerous binders and pages with various pocket configurations.

Prime X4 box with spell card, miniatures, and dice

To transport spell cards, a few figures, dice and other tokens, a Prime X4 Gaming Box is a great size. The Prime X4 has a secure, latching lid. Four cells can each hold 60 sleeved cards, or partitions can be removed to accommodate double-sized D&D monster cards.

BCW Square and Hex dice trays with dice

During the game, keeping control of your dice can help prevent unnecessary breaks and pauses in the action, especially when the dreaded “floor die” makes an appearance. The BCW Dice Trays will keep your dice contained and let you roll without fear of your dice scattering.

Miniatures in BCW card sorting box with monster pads

If you’re a DM, having miniatures for planned – and unplanned – adventures is important. Monster Pads, normally used to support cards in their storage box, work great to protect minis. Pictured here in a BCW Sorting Box, you can place an extra pad on top of the figures to prevent them from moving in the box and add another layer of security.

Good vs Evil Stor-Folio with Pathfinder books

Magazine Stor-Folios hold your core gaming books or expansion books, character sheets, documents, and even folded maps.

Spectrum Board Game Bag with several D&D books and accessories

Transporting a large collection of books is always an issue. The Board Game Bag can hold several books and accessories, helping keep everything organized. Also, Magazine Boxes will hold a larger collection of books and magazines.

TTRPG manual in BCW Book Bag

Books and magazines can also be protected in BCW Magazine and Book Bags.

Playmats in playmat tubes

To store and transport standard-sized playmats (24 x 14 inches), try a BCW Playmat Tube. Our tubes have one regular cap for containing the playmat. The second cap is more than just a cap… it’s a dice tray and holder. The BCW Playmat Tube comes with two six-sided dice.

BCW poster tube

To store larger mats, a BCW Poster Tube works great. These are three feet long and will accommodate most dungeon maps, star maps, and similar large RPG maps.