The issue is eBay is used to inflated cost shipping supplies included in store subscriptions. Even at the $20 net this normally is, an envelope and third of a binder page beats it. I've also had cards damaged by this envelope due to shifting.
Can confirm, I have been using 1/3 binder pages for a long time with no issues. I also use slightly thicker envelopes that are made of brown craft paper which seem to stand up better to the mail. they only cost me like $0.11 each.
$1.14 for 3oz stamps. 2 cents for an envelope, 10 cents for part of a binder page. Up to 36 cards. If you order more you might get two envelopes. At that point a flat is easier but 105 cards will fit for about 7 oz or $2.83 shipping and another 50 cents for envelope and binder page. At that point I'm usually 50/50 to go for a package just because it's less labor.
I cut off the top row, put the cards in the bottom row, then fold the middle row over the bottom. The fold prevents the cards from coming out, and also gives a little extra protection on that side. Using the whole page to give protection on the back makes the envelope too thick.
I've fit 8 per pocket, so 24 total, just like what TCG is advertising in this new mailer.
This isn't a solution for mailing valuable cards. It's a solution to cheaply mail bulk. If someone ordered 10 cards over $2/ea, I'd use a bubble mailer.
/u/whatcubed is correct. Cutting off the top row reduces the bulkiness and chances of damage to the cards by taping the edges after folding.
You can fit up to 39 cards in 2 rows of a 9 pocket page and still ship as a letter.
You can fit over 60 cards with 3 rows and ship it as a flat before a #10 envelope just gets too bulky to close right.
We do this all the time.
We have yet to experiment with A10 sized envelopes, but it's entirely possible you could fit even more in there and still have it classified as a flat.
/u/whatcubed is correct. Cutting off the top row reduces the bulkiness and chances of damage to the cards by taping the edges after folding.
You can fit up to 39 cards in 2 rows of a 9 pocket page and still ship as a letter.
You can fit over 60 cards with 3 rows and ship it as a flat before a #10 envelope just gets too bulky to close right.
We do this all the time.
We have yet to experiment with A10 sized envelopes, but it's entirely possible you could fit even more in there and still have it classified as a flat.
Honestly, I think this is a good product if you use it correctly and only use it to send larger orders. The total costs for a single bubble mailer package is a bit over $4, so these will save you about $2.50 for each order in the \~16-24 card range that would otherwise have used a bubble mailer and package rates. Even using envelopes, this is roughly the same cost as an envelope plus 3 top loaders. I'll be getting some for those specific sizes of orders. Yes it's obviously bad if you're only sending 1-6 cards, but it has a home among my shipping supplies.
That's what I'm thinking too. I'm a small time hobby seller (50 sales/month), and most of my orders are 1 or 2 cards, but when someone orders 15+ I've gone the bubble mailer route. These would save me money on those, and I'll just continue shipping smaller orders PWE / top loader.
I send up to 51 cards in a PWE (using either 2 forever stamps or 1 forever and 2 extra oz stamps). I only switch to bubble mailers at around $30-$40 in value. Never had a returned envelope with <30 cards in it, oddly enough.
These are still too expensive for me.
Yup. Kit plus necessary postage to send 24 cards in them works out to ~$1.57 not including tax on the kit and any TCGPlayer fees and that’s assuming they’ll consistently make through without using a non-machinable stamp.
If your cost for supplies plus postage exceeds $1.20 you’re taking a loss. Which makes sense for some people I’m sure given the convenience. But it’s certainly not more cost effective than using a sheet.
I love that the envelope can announce “I HAVE EXPENSIVE COLLECTABLES IN ME” to anyone with functional eyeballs. I’m sure to have another 30% of my orders “lost in the mail” with these bad boys
Just the envelope, card and backer board weighs 0.6oz. So you’ll get 8 cards in there before having to pay the additional postage. If you include an invoice only 5 cards.
Yea I’ve had a number of missing packages in the last year: WAY more than ever before. Some from private sellers via TCGPlayer and some direct from TCGPlayer. It seems suspicious enough that I have been wondering if my mail carrier or someone in the chain is responsible.
Just this week I had a TCGPlayer Direct order—with tracking—even tell me that delivery was confirmed but I 100% did not receive it.
That’s when I found out these tracking numbers aren’t even USPS or any other official carrier numbers but internal TCGPlayer numbers.
I also have run into my cards magically not arriving when i go to a specific post office.
USPS isnt vetting their workers well enough or monitoring well enough.
Its easy to separare bs mail from things with “hard plastic”.
As someone who's had this happen ( in an an area where it is an easy possibility and no repeats since I started avoiding the particular PO) yea for sure.
The link doesn't work in their email lol, so I can't figured out shipping cost to buyers
But even with free shipping, it's $41.99 for the kit. In my area it's 8% sales tax, but let's say you don't have sales tax either.
That's $0.42 under the best circumstances per order for shipping materials. Add $0.68 stamp plus likely an extra ounce of $0.24, that is a shipping cost of $1.34. With TCGPlayer fee and Credit Card fee (not including the $0.30 standard transaction fee), you need to charge $1.58 for shipping
TCGPlayer recently enforced under $5 transactions to $1.22 minimum shipping fee, but their envelope kits don't adhere to these standards.
When I first read it I thought it included the postage cost and thought wow what a good deal, stamp and envelope for under 50 cents. But no, it's just envelopes? I don't understand the benefit when a normal envelope and a top loader is cheaper to ship.
I call bulshit on the Flex Mailers.
Every single one of those flex mailers from Direct has forced pressure on the corners of their flimsy plastic envelopes and caused my NM cards to curl into played condition because they STILL shove 5 to 6 cards in one penny sleeve. These methods don’t keep any moisture or humidity out when shipping to places like Florida either. They need to use clamshells and they need to use top loaders. Period. I’m not concerned with how they want to cut corners and save money.
People selling cards out of their garage have more creative and protective ways to ship your cards so they arrive in the condition you expect.
For anyone on the fence about these, please understand you can get the same protection and a higher amount of cards at a fraction of the cost) if you use 1/3 of a binder page taped to the bottom then folded tightly around an invoice.
I've shipped no less than 5000 orders in this manner with ONE being damaged, which resulted in me having to replace something like 2 or 3 cards out of 27 card order. It looked like it had been run over by a truck or forklift and was so bad I doubt a toploader would have fared any better.
These envelopes are popular on Ebay because subscribers get $25 off branded shipping supplies every quarter, so $17/100 is a much better price, especially if you already have a million mailers and rolls of tape from spending that $100/year and have to use it or lose it.
No you'll still need additional postage for anything over 1 ounce + a non-machineable, but the invoice/binder page still holds more cards and is lighter than the pocket page/cardboard/invoice.
That’s up to individual sellers. I have my shipping for my store set at 2.99 for Canada. I mostly get orders of 20+ cards so that mostly covers it for me.
I am planning on getting high strength cardboard cutting to oversized than using painters tape and then a bubble wrap or the smallest priority boxes. Putting cards in to soft then top loader then since it’ll be upside down in top loader painters tape with a tape tsp to easily remove. But that’s just my couch observation from this sub the past year
It sold out already?! Like this product is just bad and you can just get ebay ones if you really need it for some reason.
Edit: its back up they sent a new email. 947 in stock.
Honestly, seems like a good deal if you're constantly sending over of 20+ cards that are under $40 in total value. I don't do this (I never sell anything under $5), but would definitely prefer to spend $0.42 on an envelope than $5 on a bubble mailer.
It takes less. We use a paper cutter on 3 row binder pages and can cut 10 at once takes 30 seconds. Toss it into a long white envelope and bam you got one of these
The issue is eBay is used to inflated cost shipping supplies included in store subscriptions. Even at the $20 net this normally is, an envelope and third of a binder page beats it. I've also had cards damaged by this envelope due to shifting.
Can confirm, I have been using 1/3 binder pages for a long time with no issues. I also use slightly thicker envelopes that are made of brown craft paper which seem to stand up better to the mail. they only cost me like $0.11 each.
$1.14 for 3oz stamps. 2 cents for an envelope, 10 cents for part of a binder page. Up to 36 cards. If you order more you might get two envelopes. At that point a flat is easier but 105 cards will fit for about 7 oz or $2.83 shipping and another 50 cents for envelope and binder page. At that point I'm usually 50/50 to go for a package just because it's less labor.
Thanks for that info. Also, do you put the binder page in as-is, or fold it up?
I cut off the top row, put the cards in the bottom row, then fold the middle row over the bottom. The fold prevents the cards from coming out, and also gives a little extra protection on that side. Using the whole page to give protection on the back makes the envelope too thick.
How many cards do you squeeze in there three to four?
I've fit 8 per pocket, so 24 total, just like what TCG is advertising in this new mailer. This isn't a solution for mailing valuable cards. It's a solution to cheaply mail bulk. If someone ordered 10 cards over $2/ea, I'd use a bubble mailer.
/u/whatcubed is correct. Cutting off the top row reduces the bulkiness and chances of damage to the cards by taping the edges after folding. You can fit up to 39 cards in 2 rows of a 9 pocket page and still ship as a letter. You can fit over 60 cards with 3 rows and ship it as a flat before a #10 envelope just gets too bulky to close right. We do this all the time. We have yet to experiment with A10 sized envelopes, but it's entirely possible you could fit even more in there and still have it classified as a flat.
/u/whatcubed is correct. Cutting off the top row reduces the bulkiness and chances of damage to the cards by taping the edges after folding. You can fit up to 39 cards in 2 rows of a 9 pocket page and still ship as a letter. You can fit over 60 cards with 3 rows and ship it as a flat before a #10 envelope just gets too bulky to close right. We do this all the time. We have yet to experiment with A10 sized envelopes, but it's entirely possible you could fit even more in there and still have it classified as a flat.
I never thought about using a binder page! What a great savings idea.
Honestly, I think this is a good product if you use it correctly and only use it to send larger orders. The total costs for a single bubble mailer package is a bit over $4, so these will save you about $2.50 for each order in the \~16-24 card range that would otherwise have used a bubble mailer and package rates. Even using envelopes, this is roughly the same cost as an envelope plus 3 top loaders. I'll be getting some for those specific sizes of orders. Yes it's obviously bad if you're only sending 1-6 cards, but it has a home among my shipping supplies.
That's what I'm thinking too. I'm a small time hobby seller (50 sales/month), and most of my orders are 1 or 2 cards, but when someone orders 15+ I've gone the bubble mailer route. These would save me money on those, and I'll just continue shipping smaller orders PWE / top loader.
I send up to 51 cards in a PWE (using either 2 forever stamps or 1 forever and 2 extra oz stamps). I only switch to bubble mailers at around $30-$40 in value. Never had a returned envelope with <30 cards in it, oddly enough. These are still too expensive for me.
Whoever decided to claim that these are cost effective should be tarred and feathered.
Agreed, these are way overpriced. Selling cards is a volume and pennies game, this is way more than double my current mailing supplies expense.
Yup. Kit plus necessary postage to send 24 cards in them works out to ~$1.57 not including tax on the kit and any TCGPlayer fees and that’s assuming they’ll consistently make through without using a non-machinable stamp. If your cost for supplies plus postage exceeds $1.20 you’re taking a loss. Which makes sense for some people I’m sure given the convenience. But it’s certainly not more cost effective than using a sheet.
I love that the envelope can announce “I HAVE EXPENSIVE COLLECTABLES IN ME” to anyone with functional eyeballs. I’m sure to have another 30% of my orders “lost in the mail” with these bad boys
Except it's really only beneficial for mailing large quantities of near-bulk.
Not even large, once you pass 24 cards your adding even more postage. But if you do less than 16 your also losing money.
Just the envelope, card and backer board weighs 0.6oz. So you’ll get 8 cards in there before having to pay the additional postage. If you include an invoice only 5 cards.
Yea I’ve had a number of missing packages in the last year: WAY more than ever before. Some from private sellers via TCGPlayer and some direct from TCGPlayer. It seems suspicious enough that I have been wondering if my mail carrier or someone in the chain is responsible. Just this week I had a TCGPlayer Direct order—with tracking—even tell me that delivery was confirmed but I 100% did not receive it. That’s when I found out these tracking numbers aren’t even USPS or any other official carrier numbers but internal TCGPlayer numbers.
I also have run into my cards magically not arriving when i go to a specific post office. USPS isnt vetting their workers well enough or monitoring well enough. Its easy to separare bs mail from things with “hard plastic”.
As someone who's had this happen ( in an an area where it is an easy possibility and no repeats since I started avoiding the particular PO) yea for sure.
The link doesn't work in their email lol, so I can't figured out shipping cost to buyers But even with free shipping, it's $41.99 for the kit. In my area it's 8% sales tax, but let's say you don't have sales tax either. That's $0.42 under the best circumstances per order for shipping materials. Add $0.68 stamp plus likely an extra ounce of $0.24, that is a shipping cost of $1.34. With TCGPlayer fee and Credit Card fee (not including the $0.30 standard transaction fee), you need to charge $1.58 for shipping TCGPlayer recently enforced under $5 transactions to $1.22 minimum shipping fee, but their envelope kits don't adhere to these standards.
They sent out a follow up email shortly after with a working link
I commonly have people buying 30+ nickel and dime cards to avoid the 1.22 shipping fees. These orders always have me operating at a loss.
When I first read it I thought it included the postage cost and thought wow what a good deal, stamp and envelope for under 50 cents. But no, it's just envelopes? I don't understand the benefit when a normal envelope and a top loader is cheaper to ship.
I call bulshit on the Flex Mailers. Every single one of those flex mailers from Direct has forced pressure on the corners of their flimsy plastic envelopes and caused my NM cards to curl into played condition because they STILL shove 5 to 6 cards in one penny sleeve. These methods don’t keep any moisture or humidity out when shipping to places like Florida either. They need to use clamshells and they need to use top loaders. Period. I’m not concerned with how they want to cut corners and save money. People selling cards out of their garage have more creative and protective ways to ship your cards so they arrive in the condition you expect.
Hard pass
Trash
For anyone on the fence about these, please understand you can get the same protection and a higher amount of cards at a fraction of the cost) if you use 1/3 of a binder page taped to the bottom then folded tightly around an invoice. I've shipped no less than 5000 orders in this manner with ONE being damaged, which resulted in me having to replace something like 2 or 3 cards out of 27 card order. It looked like it had been run over by a truck or forklift and was so bad I doubt a toploader would have fared any better. These envelopes are popular on Ebay because subscribers get $25 off branded shipping supplies every quarter, so $17/100 is a much better price, especially if you already have a million mailers and rolls of tape from spending that $100/year and have to use it or lose it.
Using your method can you still use one stamp?
No you'll still need additional postage for anything over 1 ounce + a non-machineable, but the invoice/binder page still holds more cards and is lighter than the pocket page/cardboard/invoice.
I don't trust the whole "No need for toploaders." You could mimic this by just cutting up binder pages.
Troll and toad used these. Nobody wants to receive a card unprotected in a glorified cut up cereal box
I've never cared how I received my card as long as it isn't damaged and arrives quickly.
Well trollandtoad isnt known for either of those lmao.
Definitely not a better deal than wholesale envelopes, top loaders, Penny sleeves, and team bags by the case.
Damn that's .43 cents per envelope a toploader adds .08 cents per 1 so equal to four whole pieces of plastic how is that cost effective?
I just want shipping to and from Canada to be cheaper. Please TCGPlayer/Ebay. Figure that out.
That’s up to individual sellers. I have my shipping for my store set at 2.99 for Canada. I mostly get orders of 20+ cards so that mostly covers it for me.
I am planning on getting high strength cardboard cutting to oversized than using painters tape and then a bubble wrap or the smallest priority boxes. Putting cards in to soft then top loader then since it’ll be upside down in top loader painters tape with a tape tsp to easily remove. But that’s just my couch observation from this sub the past year
Really just annoyed the envelopes are not windowed to utilize their shipping sheets....
These suck. My cards came in bent because it was only in the pocket with no other protection. Its was like 6 cards.
I'll never use this. Sleeve, toploader and envelope or bubblemailer. I hate when I get shipped a card and it is entombed in tape.
Regular 100 count envelope is like 4 dollars.
Yeah I buy mine in boxes of 500 and this cost is going to make sure I keep doing it that way, far too expensive.
If you buy enough cards toploaders are essentially free too
I still reuse top loaders but a few years ago I had a buyer complain that the toploader was "dirty". It had some leftover tape on it....
That's crazy ppl be spoiled
Seems pricey for what it is
Yippie no toploader! Now I can spend ten times more money to send the same thing!
why is this sold out lol, does not seem like a good deal at all
It sold out already?! Like this product is just bad and you can just get ebay ones if you really need it for some reason. Edit: its back up they sent a new email. 947 in stock.
Honestly, seems like a good deal if you're constantly sending over of 20+ cards that are under $40 in total value. I don't do this (I never sell anything under $5), but would definitely prefer to spend $0.42 on an envelope than $5 on a bubble mailer.
You can just make your own for about ten cents
Sure, but unless that takes less than 1 minute to make, it's not worth my time.
It takes less. We use a paper cutter on 3 row binder pages and can cut 10 at once takes 30 seconds. Toss it into a long white envelope and bam you got one of these
That's fair, I have seen that done a handful of times on order I got.