eBay

damilio85 · ‎11-18-2019

Hi, I am looking for your advice on how to minimize costs when shipping trading cards (such as Magic, Baseball, or any other trading card that's roughly 2.5 x 3.5 inches).

To my understanding there are 3 vital components which are also money sinks:

1. Shipping container / primary protection

Envelope is the optimal means as it's cheapest and gets job done.
I use a standard DL size envelope to ship cards - about $0.05 a piece ~
Is there a better / cheaper / more secure envelope option for cards?
Where/how do you get the best deal on bulk envelopes (to minimize cost per each transaction)?
Is DL size the ideal for cards, or is it better to buy smaller size envelopes?

2. Secondary protection (e.g. hard sleeve / etc.)

I use hard PVC sleeves for the cards - about $0.10 a piece when purchased bulk.
Will add a folded piece of paper for extra padding & keep card from sliding
Any other ideas / suggestions?
One limitation here is the 1 oz weight restriction for USPS stamps

3. Shipping fee (e.g. stamp)

I use one USPS forever stamp - about ~$0.42 a piece (Ebay bulk prices)
Not much can be done to minimize this cost, except buy these in bulk (100+) on Ebay!

The combined shipping cost per transaction are about $0.57. If anyone has valuable input to reduce these costs further please let me know.

Thanks for your input!

muttlymob · ‎11-18-2019

@damilio85 wrote:

I use a standard DL size envelope to ship cards - about $0.05 a piece ~
Is there a better / cheaper / more secure envelope option for cards?

I can't address the cheaper - my method is probably a little higher cost. But it is more secure. Rigid mailers/stay flats. I use soft sleeves rather than the hard sleeves, because the rigid envelope does the protection.

I usually buy all the supplies in bulk on eBay,comparison shopping for best deal/most reliable sellers.

@damilio85 wrote:

One limitation here is the 1 oz weight restriction for USPS stamps

There is no 1 ounce restriction for using stamps. The First Class Letter limit is 3.5 ounces. It will just take more stamps. And if your letters are rigid - which they will be if you use a rigid mailer or hard plastic sleeve - you add in the nonmachinable surcharge to the standard letter postage.

no_zero369 · ‎11-18-2019

In your zeal to reduce shipping costs, you might be penny-wise and pound foolish.

Shipping with first class envelops certainly is the cheapest, but it has no tracking and thus no proof of delivery. So buyers can easily claim they never received anything from you and you will be forced to issue a full refund. (Maximum Loss - no money, no item, out shipping & fees)

So the question is - How many Refunds can you absorb before it is ultimately "cheaper" to ship as a First Class Package with tracking?

Once one factors in ALL of the costs of retail selling, not everything can be sold profitably on line.