I have some post cards from 1910 - 1915 and I would like to know what would be the safest and most cost effective way to ship them individually. Should I use just a regular envelope, an envelope with cardboard (so it doesn't bend), or a bubble mailer? Any information or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
I have sold many postcards on eBay and the way I mail them is to print out 1 sheet of paper showing the item and fold it over the card(s) and mail 1st class. They don't get creased or bent as they just flex with the mail being handled.
Flex with the mail? Good grief. I would much rather the postcards that I buy be shipped with sturdy cardboard around them in a cardboard mailer. I Love the USPS...but...I get extremely bent "paper" mail all of the time.
Unless you are selling a very cheap card i would recommend sending with cardboard protection, almost all of my postcard sales i use cardboard and a post card plastic sleeve.
I ship all of my postcards in rigid plastic postcard sleeves (" toploaders " )placed inside an invitation sized envelope. The cost is about the same as a cardboard mailer . I have only had one postcard destroyed out of the 34,000+ I have shipped.
The best part about using the rigid sleeves is that there is no "waste". Instead of throwing away the cardboard mailer, buyers have a sleeve to protect the card.
I've found shipping lots of 100 cards or so by USPS Flat Rate envelope to be most economical. Doing is via PayPal includes Free delivery confirmation.
With single cards, I haven't settled on a method yet. I found Neglus' suggestion an interesting one since it seems practical. However, I got a very big surprise at my post office one day. I shipped a single card first class with a sturdy cardboard insert by First Class Mail. I found my envelope in my p.o. box a few days later. Couldn't be it didn't have enough postage since the counter clerk handled the outgoing piece.
I come to find out that the envelope was "not flexible" (machine handled) according to my buddy clerk and hence it was returned for additional postage! I never heard of this before, but apparently the recent rate increase (May) stipulated this change.
Initially my PO charged me a $.17 surcharge for "rigid" and I paid the extra for about a year. Finally I decided to challenge their interpretation of the rule because the mailer was flexible and always was machine cancelled. My buddy clerk told me that they had gotten a little more lax - that it was now ok to just pay the 1 oz postage. I mail in invitation sized envelopes and my packages do not qualify for Delivery Confirmation but truthfully, in the thousands I have shipped, that has never been an issue. I see no point in paying for Delivery Confirmation and extra packaging to ship a $10 item.
Thank you Neglus. From what you wrote, you are using a rigid card mailer now and your USPS branch isn't dinging you the extra $0.17? That's great!
My counter clerks are great, but I think that sometimes they aren't aware of the USPS' policies when it comes to mailing things. Long ago, a couple of my local counter clerks told me you could not use tape to seal the flap on a USPS Flat Rate Envelope; it could possibly be rejected. The USPS Web site doesn't concur with that. In fact, it states that "tape may be used to seal the envelope." I reprinted those pages, gave them to my buddies and now they go out sealed and not one has been returned.
I don't use rigid cardboard, I use "rigid" plastic postcard sleeves. They actually bend enough without damage to go over the rollers (or whatever they use) for automated handling. Since they are flexible, I do not have to pay the rigid surcharge. PS My postal clerk told me the same thing about tape on the flat rate envelopes and then told me that was rescinded. Now he told me that it's in effect again! Brother!
Morning- The real high dollar ones (over $50) I just started putting them between a couple slips of paper & inside an empty d.v.d case. Seems perfect for even multiple cards-I just break the round middle thingie the disc used to float on off. Others just get cardboard in a Zip Loc in a bubble wrapper. Have a good one! Dr. C.
ALWAYS ship your postcards as if they were going to be handled by a monkey after the postcard has been through a monsoon. Therefore, place them in plastic sleeves, inside 4 x 6 plastic zip-lock baggies, placed between 2 pieces of thick cardboard, put inside a 5 x 7 thick paper envelope (or photo mailer envelope) and sealed with shipping tape. Also, offer your buyers 100% satisfaction AND accept responsibility for the postcard during shipping. If you are a seller that doesn't accept responsibility for your item during shipping, then you are not a responsible seller. Would you buy from a seller who doesn't accept responsibility for items once they are shipped? No. If you are worried something might happen then do whatever you can to protect the item, even if that means you pay for insurance yourself. Whoever started the trend of not accepting responsibility during shipping was an irresponsible seller that others decided to follow for some odd reason. They were also the same seller who probably started putting "L@@K!" in their auction titles. A nice waste of 4 or 5 characters that would have attracted more buyers instead of just annoying everyone.
Hope that helps! :)
UnionHill... if an envelope is sturdy or rigid, it must be shipped as a large envelope and does require more shipping cost. Don't be afraid to charge $1.50 - $2.50 for shipping and handling for postcards. It will cover the cost of the shipping, materials and your time for packing up and shipping the item.
Well from what I have read, bubble wrap is not the way to go. Neither is a postcard shipped between leftover pieces of a cut up cereal box thats scotch taped all over the place. When I buy a postcard, I don't want to spend 10 minutes opening the package.
My preference is to ship in a cardboard mailer, like the CD kind with the zipper opening. They ran me about 17 cents each in bulk.
I don't have a printer. But I bought 2 stamps, a return address one, and a "Do Not Bend" one. Since I had no way to print an invoice, I bought 1000 business cards for about $10, with my store name printed on them. I just write the auction # on the business card and the price of the item on the back.
I have yet to have a buyer complain, they usually mention "well-packaged" in my feedback.
I did have one person argue about shipping - he insisted that I ship for the current price of 1 stamp. I told him I would ship the card in a plain envelope, no cardboard, and that I would not be responsible for any damage.
I agree, the cardboard photo mailers are the best. I'm in the process of ordering a bunch of them because it keeps postcards flat AND saves time on shipping since I don't have to tape up an envelope.
Another great shipping idea is a DYMO printer and ENDICIA. The DYMO cost me $80 on eBay and I get 100 labels for $18 (18 cents a label) but the save a ton of time on shipping because they print out in about 1.2 seconds. They ink doesn't smear if it gets wet either. Endicia is $16 a month but is completely worth it! It makes shipping a breeze. When using my Garagesale program, Endicia with DYMO printer and carboard photo mailers, I can ship a postcard in under 5 minutes. That includes finding it, putting it in a bag, and then packing it all up. The more time you save on shipping is more time you have to be posting new auctions and making more money! Spending more to save time on shipping is a very smart move.
Must use Buy It Now and PayPal.
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