How to Ship Trading Cards

If you want to sell your sports or gaming trading cards online, it’s important to ship the cards safely to ensure the buyer receives them in good shape. Proper shipping can be the difference between a good and bad seller review on eBay, and good reviews as a seller can make it easier to sell cards in the future.

If you’re shipping a card that’s worth less than $10 (make sure to check out the Ludex Price Report to see past sales), most collectors will expect the card to be shipped in a “PWE” or plain white envelope.

PWE:

An envelope
Non-machinable USPS stamps
Top loaders, card sleeves, and team bags
Painters tape
A piece of paper

The first step when selling any card is to make sure that you have the card in a penny sleeve and top loader. If you have questions about what supplies you need to start card collecting, check out our supplies blog here. Then you should use painter’s tape to seal the top loader and put the top loader in a team bag. After you have the card secured in the team bag, fold a piece of paper over the card and put it in an envelope with a stamp. Now you’re good to drop the PWE in a mailbox!

If you’re shipping a card that’s worth over $10, card collectors will expect the card to be shipped in a “BMWT” or bubble mailer with tracking.

BMWT:

A bubble mailer
2 pieces of cardboard (slightly larger than a top loader)
Painters tape
Top loaders, card sleeves, and team bags

For a BMWT, the same process of securing the card in a sleeve, top loader, and team bag needs to be done before anything else. Then you should use painter’s tape to attach the card to a piece of cardboard and sandwich it with another piece of cardboard of the same size. Then you can put the cardboard in your bubble mailer, tape it closed, and take it to your local post office to get a tracking number for your buyer. Now you know how to ship a card in the mail with tracking!

If you have more questions about shipping, make sure to watch our Hobby 101 on Youtube.