Vintage and PWE question
 

Hello
I’m new to vintage cards and would love to learn the hobby from you guys. When it comes to shipping a vintage card, is it acceptable or are there any situations where it’s ok to ship a vintage card in a PWE? How about a high grade vintage card? I know this questions might sound stupid to some if you but. Again, I am new to this and trying to learn all I can, thanks

Really depends on 2 things.
1) Do you trust the recipient to say they received the card when you have no proof that it did?

2) Some people will freak out if they receive a card in a PWE even if it shows up perfectly. So make sure it is OK with the buyer.

Personly I don't care how any card is sent to me as long as it arrives unharmed.:)

For cards under $10 each, I could see you using a Cardsaver inside of a PWE for the 50 cent stamp. If you use a toploader, they'll may upgrade it to first class package instead of envelope. Or it may get torn up in the sorting machines. Cardsavers meet the requirement of the envelope to be non-rigid whereas a cardsaver makes the envelope rigid.
Anything over $10 probably requires a tracked first class package (bubble mailer). But as long as you put it in your listings what you're planning to do, you may be okay. Obviously if the mail gets lost or the buyer claims they never received it, you'll have to refund them.

It's perfectly acceptable with the vast majority of us if a card (obviously well packaged) is sent in a PWE, because it saves on shipping. As Ben said, though, it really depends on who you are sending it to, because you'll leave yourself wide open to a scammer. The more expensive a card is, the better off you'll be by sending it in a padded mailer with tracking. Might save yourself some headaches.

Most of my auctions for single cards start at a penny. I charge 60 cents for postage and it costs me 70 cents to mail. I ship in a PWE and card in top loader and protected by light cardboard. Doing this for over 10 years and no problems. But, if selling price goes over a couple of bucks I ship in padded envelope with tracking. I loose many on postage but still am ok overall. Mike

As mostly a buyer, I am in the camp that as long as I get my item as it was sold, I don't care how it is shipped. However, there are certain expectations about how something should be shipped and price paid for a certain shipping method is one of those.

Don't charge someone $4 shipping, then send the card in an PWE. I don't care if the card somehow improves magically in condition when sent in a PWE, if I paid you $4, I expect it to show up in a padded mailer. I would also not personally risk anything of value in a PWE. However, even cardboard mailers and padded envelopes are not guaranteed to save the item inside from a brutal trip through the USPS system.

Oh, and if you're looking for a better way to sell than using PWEs, check out COMC.

This, 10000%. Nothing ticks me off more, as a buyer, than paying $3-4 for shipping on a card and it shows up in a PWE. As a seller, I charge $3 shipping for almost everything that is not BIN with shipping included. Doesn't matter if it is one card or 50 cards...same price. With the shipping charge plus the envelope I am paying $3-4 or even more for multiple cards. For anything over $100 I still charge the $3 if not included but I will ship priority mail in a small flat rate box or bigger. Shipping first class with tracking makes me feel better knowing I can watch it along the way and I think it gives confidence to the buyer as well. Best of luck....regardless if you are buying or selling!

If I sell and chard $1 shipping this is what I do.
Get a greeting card.....put the card in a card saver...tape it will on the inside...close card...take each side of greeting card then envelope it mail it .55 cent first class then a .20 Non machinable then put in mail box. Works like a charm try it guys.

Johnny, the USPS non-machinable surcharge was fairly recently reduced to 15 cents.

I ship most cards that I sell for up to $20-25 on eBay via PWE. I use a couple of pieces of fairly thick stiffener. The key is to keep the PWE no thicker than 1/4 inch, which is the thickness limit for a First Class letter. If the PWE is greater than 1/4 inch thick, it is considered a First Class package. Also, I write "non-machinable" in red ink on both sides of the PWE. My PWEs end up weighing between 1 and 2 ounces, hence my USPS mailing cost is $.55 + $.15 + $.15 = $.85 total.

I don't sell a lot of cards on eBay, as I'm not a dealer. I just sell cards that no longer fit my collecting focuses. I guess I've been fortunate thus far, as I haven't suffered any losses from using PWEs.

Reduced to .15 from .20 but first class increased .5 to .55 from .50
At least the non machinable has been reduced :-) thank you

I try to use bubble with tracking on everything. I'm going to pay $3+ for a PWE with toploader or a bubble with toploader, so I usually just do the extra.

I got 2 PWEs in the other day. Both were toploaders taped to a piece of paper, and both were fairly cheap cards (one was like $3 and one was like $8). But I had to pay $2.95 for each one just to get them because the 50 cents stamp wasn't enough. It really sucks.

That said, I had an ebay seller ship a $27 Mantle LL card I bought for my 62T set in a PWE. Of course, I had to pay the $3 extra to get it. But I could've just said I never got it and gotten both the money and the card.

How can you charge $3 and not lose money? There's the 10% fee ebay charges on shipping (30 cents) then the cost of the bubble mailer (48 cents) then the actual cost to ship (anywhere from $2.75-$3 depending on location for 4 ounce package). So it's $3.75 minimum to ship, and that's just for a couple of cards that get to 4 ounces. I can't imagine charging $3 for 100 cards, and it costs like $7.

It's ok as long as you aren't mailing a card worth more than a few dollars, AND ONLY if you are super clear and disclose that the card will arrive in a PWE. Some sellers get confused because technically a PWE is First Class "Mail", but this is very different from a First Class PACKAGE which comes with a tracking number. I will agree as others have said, nothing angers me more to buy a $20 card or something and have it listed as First Class Package and then 10 days later a PWE shows up with the card poking halfway out of a toploader. I haven't actually done it I don't think, but I've been tempted to leave a seller negative feedback based on that fact alone even if the card somehow arrives unscathed.

I'd prefer to not get a card in plain white envelope. especially if charged for shipping and or card is valued at more than 5-10 dollars. i would never send higher grade as this is just inviting it to not end up there in higher grade.