Best Way to Ship Trading Cards

How Can You Get Involved?

If you’re interested in having some cards graded, getting involved couldn’t be simpler! 

Using a website like Ace Grading, the steps are easy to follow, so you can focus on trading and collecting. 

Choose Your Cards 

The most important step in card grading is choosing the cards you want to grade! You might be an active collector, seeking out certain cards that you know hold value, or you might be someone with a childhood collection, interested to find out how much it might be worth. 

It can be expensive to send your cards to grading services, so it could be helpful to do some research to make sure the cards you’re grading are worth the cost.

Submit Your Cards

On your chosen grading site, choose ‘submit’ to get your submission underway. Pick the service you’d like, add the quantity per card, and enter your trading card details. 

Often, there are different services for different levels of grading. For example, with Ace Grading, you can choose from a range of services that offer different turnarounds and minimum submission amounts. You can also choose which style of card holder you’d like them to be sealed in after grading, whether that’s the basic option, or a themed design.

Check that you’ve entered the correct personal details and postal address, and then confirm your submission! 

Prepare and Ship 

Prepare your card and shipping box, following the tips and tricks in this blog; print out your submission slip and enclose within the package, then cut the submission number from the top of the slip and sellotape to the outside of your package.

Low Value Cards

Though your low value cards might mean you have less to worry about when shipping, as you have less to lose and you don’t want to spend more on packaging than the card is worth, it’s still important to ship safely. If you’re a casual seller, you don’t want to lose money on a sale if your card arrives damaged and needs to be refunded – if you’re a frequent card flipper, shipping cards unsafely can create distrust with your customers. 

Lower value cards can be packaged with the following materials:

• Small mailing envelope 

• Penny sleeve (the plastic sleeve that protects against dust and fingerprints)

• Top loader (a more rigid version of the penny sleeve, most effective when used together)

• Painters tape 

• 2 Common cards 

Frequent card-flippers suggest that painter's tape is a great tool to stick your penny sleeve to the inside of the envelope, preventing as much movement as possible. Painters tape is a much better choice than other tapes, as it avoids sticky residue being left on the cards. 

Including two common cards with the card you’ve sold is a great way to prevent unwanted movement in the package. Slide them either side of the card in the penny sleeve, adding some extra padding and a further layer of protection. 

High Value Cards 

When shipping a high value card, it would be better to use a sturdier envelope, like a bubble mailer. The steps are mostly the same as shipping lower value cards, but you might include more common cards and extra padding to prevent movement.

If you’re shipping a graded card, you can just put the card into a bubble-wrap pouch, and then into a bubble mailer. The bubble wrap pouch adds some protection for the case, but the card itself should be very safe inside the case your grader shipped in. 

When shipping an extremely high value card, or multiple cards, it’s advisable to use a box. Make sure to pack it tight with bubble wrap, and then follow previous instructions for each card and place inside the box. You can even use painters tape to secure the cards (in envelopes) inside the box to prevent as much movement as possible.

Trading Card International Shipping

International shipping starts at just £6.56 exc VAT with Parcel2Go, and you can find the perfect service for you with our international quick quote tool. 

Our couriers are some of the best for international shipping, offering reliable delivery no matter where you’re sending. It’s important to check customs and prohibited items for whatever country you’re sending to, and you can find all the information you’ll need in our worldwide shipping hub.

Fortunately, when you ship with Parcel2Go, we’ll provide all of the information and forms for the country you’re shipping to, so you can rely on the process being as simple as possible! 

USA

When shipping trading cards to the USA, it’s important to consider our DDP (Delivery Duties Paid) services to make the customs process as smooth as possible. You can find all of the information on USA shipping on our USA shipping hub.