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Originally posted by PortlisX:
Trolllll

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Hold on there, skippy. Before you jump on the "Tranderas is wrong let's all make fun of him" bandwagon, let me take the time to explain in detail why I send the way I do.

First, the multiple cards in a single sleeve thing. I don't do it. Why? Because I think it's worth the extra protection to cards. It's a penny, and the extra thickness of using 2 penny sleeves for two cards, for one toploader, helps hold the cards firmly in place without stuffing them in there so tight as to make extraction difficult.

On the "getting cards out is difficult" thing, I do think it's harder to get them out if you put more than 2 in a toploader. I shouldn't have to flex the toploader at all to get the cards out, including pulling the sides apart to grab at the sleeves, as this might bend the cards as I remove them. Instead, I hold the toploader in my right hand while swinging my arm repeatedly so that my wrist hits my left hand, using momentum to release the cards from the toploader. I don't grab them until they're at least a quarter of the way out of the toploader. This ensures that I won't bend them, and also minimizes damage to the toploader, making reuse easier.

The ease of reusing toploaders bound by masking tape is the main reason I prefer it. Scotch tape leaves its glue behind, making toploaders worthless after only one or two uses. I've had toploaders with three layers of scotch tape on them, making removal of that tape utterly ridiculous. Masking tape secures cards just as well, except it comes off cleanly and easily, making toploader reuse easy.

In general, I'll put any card worth more than $0.50 in a toploader unless I already have more than two toploaders in the trade. In that case, stuff under $1 can go in penny sleeves and get sandwiched between the toploaders, bound on all 4 sides by masking tape. This method isn't much different than surrounding the cards in a trade with stiff cardboard to add rigidity, making bending damage in transit less likely. Cards worth less than $0.50 in a trade of only a couple cards are probably throw-ins, and as such not officially part of the agreed trade. If that's the case, I'll sometimes put them in penny sleeves then tape them to the outside of a single toploader, since people tend to care less about the condition of throw-ins that were gifts to them anyway.

In quantities of about 10-40 cards that are all at least moderately valuable, I think team bags become viable. I shipped some cards in penny sleeves, in a team bag, with a piece of rigid cardboard on each side of the card stack. I then made sure the team bag was stretched tightly so that the cards had no wiggle room and secured it with tape, then put it in a bubble-mailer. The rigidity granted by the cardboard made it so the cards didn't bend as much as they would if they were in a toploader.

Over 40 cards, team bags are definitely best. I also have a fair amount of success sending cards in old precon/tournament pack boxes, but team bags are easily replaceable and easier to fit to the size of your shipment. Depending on the value of the cards being shipped, you may or may not want individual penny sleeves for the cards inside a team bag; this is one of those gray areas where I certainly suggest leaving it to personal judgment.

As for what kind of envelope to use...for a <$5 trade with only a couple cards, I'll generally use a regular small envelope. If it's a sale, I'm going to use a bubble mailer unless requested otherwise. For about $5-20 I'm going to use a mailer. Over $20 in a trade, or by my judgment based on a lower-ref member or someone who has acted suspiciously lately, I'll add delivery confirmation.

But overall, I'm not as picky as I make myself sound. I just have a specific way of doing things that I think best respects both the cards I'm dealing with and the people with whom I deal. I can only hope that respect will be reciprocated. In the meantime, I might make a little note in an e-mail if I think the other party grossly violated simple shipping procedure (I've had 5 cards in a skinny toploader, and yes, one of them got damaged) but otherwise I don't say too much except in this thread.

quote:

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Originally posted by Tranderas:

On the "getting cards out is difficult" thing, I do think it's harder to get them out if you put more than 2 in a toploader.

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I will agree with you to a certain extent, but this statement is NOT what was in question. The reason your previous statements have been comical is not because of ^^ but because of:

quote:

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Originally posted by Tranderas:

if you sent to me like this i would whine at you. any more than 1 card per sleeve is wrong and makes extraction of cards difficult.

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Which is ludicrous.

And who cares if there's a little scotch tape on the OUTSIDE of the top loader? Isn't the point of top loaders to put the cards inside?

Overall, I do appreciate when people take care of their cards and ship them properly to me. I'm sure I'd appreciate your packing methods too if I received cards from you. In fact, I often use the same practices that you do. I use a LOT of cardboard and sandwich bags when shipping cards. I'm more careful when packing cards and sending to other people than they generally are to me. This is a good thing.