Switching to card saver ESE
I know this topic has been beaten to death. I just started shipping some lower value cards ebay standard envelope. Inexperienced in it. Was using a top loader in an armalope. I’m aware now that just seems too stiff and rigid. So far they’ve gone through but only a matter of time. I figure now switching to a card saver in the armalope. Not the most cost effective but I got a pack a while back. Think that would be good to go? I know alot of people use PWE I’ve seen alot of different ways and perspectives.
2 comments
antflan77
·7 months agoA trading group I belong to has basically figured the best way is a card saver for one to three cards maybe and a 9 pocket sheet folded up. for up to as many as 27 cards. Each card saver or sheet is then sandwiched between thin cardboard (like a wheat thins box, not a standard box) pieces and put in an envelope. I've sent out and received over 250 envelopes like this and received only two damaged cards.
As long as the envelope doesn't exceed 3.5 ounces and 1/4" thickness, you're good. The plastic sheets provide the separation between the cards that keep them from being too rigid. Valuable or large quantity just go in a small box and sent Ground Advantage like @1786davycrockett said.
1786davycrockett
·8 months ago@downtowntrentbrown
The armalopes are too stiff to wind around the rollers in the USPS sorting machines -- eventually one of them is going to jam up the machine, and be removed as "non-machinable."
Your armalope may be returned to you marked "Insufficient postage"; or (worst possibility) it may be delivered to your buyer marked "Postage Due" (which will not make any buyer happy).
And sometimes the "non-machinable" envelopes don't seem to travel any further than the USPS Distribution Centers -- as if they all get sent to the "Dead letter" department, to whatever fate USPS now consigns them.
And, rather than card-savers, why not just use penny sleeves, since you are selling inexpensive cards anyway? I've been using penny sleeves with the eBay Standard Envelope (ESE) shipping labels for several years, without a single complaint.
Rigidity is the #1 problem when using the ESE -- the ESE needs to wind itself rapidly through several sets of rollers; so the ESE needs to be VERY flexible.
Save the unused armalopes for more valuable cards, with Ground Advantage postage.