How to ship trading cards so they arrive near mint

September 2, 2026 · 5 min read

Most damage to traded cards happens in the post, and almost all of it is preventable with a dollar of supplies and two minutes of care. This is how to ship trading cards so the other person opens the envelope and finds exactly what you photographed.

What you need

Buy these once and you are set for dozens of trades:

Penny sleeves. Soft, cheap, one per card.
Toploaders. Rigid plastic holders. Standard size fits a sleeved card with a little room.
Team bags (resealable bags that fit a toploader), or a roll of painter's tape.
Rigid mailers or bubble mailers with a piece of cardboard. Rigid is better.
A permanent marker and, if your post office allows it, printed labels.

Do not use regular tape on a toploader. It leaves residue and the next person has to cut the card out. Do not ship a card loose in a plain envelope, ever, even a common. Sorting machines fold plain envelopes.

Packing, step by step

Sleeve the card, opening at the top, art facing out.
Slide it into a toploader. If you are sending several cards, you can stack two or three sleeved cards in one toploader, but do not force it.
Seal the toploader. Put it in a team bag and fold the flap over, or lay a strip of painter's tape across the open end. This stops the card sliding out in transit.
Sandwich it. Put the toploader between two pieces of cardboard slightly larger than it, or in a rigid mailer that already has stiff sides. For bubble mailers, the cardboard sandwich is not optional.
Stop it moving. A toploader rattling around a large mailer gets its corners knocked. Tape the sandwich to the inside of the mailer, or pick a mailer close to the right size.
Address it clearly. Write or print the recipient's name and address as they gave it on the trade page. Add your own return address.
Photograph it before you seal it: the cards laid out next to the addressed mailer, then the sealed package. Upload both to the trade page.

For bigger trades, ten cards or more, use a small box or a padded mailer with the toploaders stacked flat and wrapped in a single layer of bubble wrap. Cards should not be able to shift inside.

Tracking: when it is required

tradecards.gg reads the tracking rules from a shipping table rather than leaving them to a judgement call. When a trade is accepted, its page tells both traders what applies. As of writing, for a US sender:

Domestic, combined value under $20: tracking is optional. Both traders ship at the same time.
Domestic, $20 and above: tracking is required both ways, and the trader with fewer completed trades sends first. If you post it untracked anyway, the trade page lets you mark it sent once you confirm the loss is yours if it never arrives; the other trader sees that you did.
Domestic, $1,000 and above: signature on delivery is required as well.
Any international lane: tracking is always required, and signature on delivery is required from $200.

Other countries have their own bands, and a country without its own row uses a cautious fallback. The trade page is the source of truth for your trade, so read it rather than this list.

Tracking in the US is cheapest as a tracked letter or a small flat rate; a trip to the counter will tell you the current price. Once you have the number, enter it on the trade page and mark the shipment as sent. The other trader sees it move, and if anything goes missing the tracking is what a moderator or PayPal looks at first.

Signature on delivery

Signature is the one protection that works for the sender. PayPal Goods and Services protects buyers; a seller's defence against a false "never arrived" claim is a signed delivery. When the trade page says signature is required, pay for it. It is a couple of dollars against a card worth hundreds.

International trades

Postage is where an international trade earns or loses its value. A few things that change once a border is involved:

Tracking is always required. An untracked letter that crosses a border cannot be traced by either post office, and nobody can help you if it vanishes.
Customs forms. Declare the contents honestly as trading cards with a realistic value. Declaring a $200 card as a $5 gift can get it seized, and declaring it at full value can attract import duty for the receiver. Agree between you who covers any duty before you ship.
Time. Two to four weeks is normal. Do not confirm or dispute anything until tracking says it is delivered.
Cost. The matcher prices postage between shipping zones (domestic, North America, Europe, rest of world) when it ranks partners, so a domestic match who covers the same cards ranks higher. An overseas match is worth it when they cover a lot of your list in one go, which is exactly why one big trade beats several small ones.

What to photograph

The trade page has photo slots for a reason. Every shipment, take:

the cards, front and back, next to the addressed mailer,
the sealed package,
the tracking receipt or label,
and, on the receiving end, the unopened package and then the contents.

If a card is damaged on arrival, photograph it in the packaging before you take it out. That picture is worth more than any description.

Receiving

Open the package carefully. Check every card against the trade page: right card, right printing, condition as listed. If everything matches, confirm receipt. If it does not, message the other trader on the trade thread before you confirm, with the photos. Confirming means the trade is done.

A checklist

Sleeve, toploader, team bag or painter's tape.
Cardboard or rigid mailer, nothing loose.
Address exactly as given, return address on the back.
Photos before sealing and of the sealed package.
Tracking and signature if the trade page says so. International: always tracking.
Enter the tracking number and mark it shipped.

Ship this way and your cards arrive near mint, your profile collects positive reviews, and the next person is happy to trade with you again.