Posted By:
Al C.risafulliOn more than one occasion I have received raw cards, floating around freely in a plain white #10 envelope.
When I pack up cards, raw or graded, I sandwich the card between two pieces of corrugated cardboard and rubber band them together. I try not to use tape, as tape near cards scares me, and is a pain in the neck to unwrap. I damaged a card once, trying to pry it loose from all the tape the seller used, so from that point on I try and use rubber bands wherever possible.
Then I wrap the cardboard sandwich in bubble wrap, and rubber band THAT together.
Then I put the whole package in a bubble mailer, seal it up, and tape the top edge of the envelope. Easy to unwrap, yet very protective.
If the package is a high-dollar package, instead of putting the bubble-wrapped cardboard sandwich in a jiffy mailer, I put it in a corrugated box, lined with bubble wrap, craft paper, and sometimes packing peanuts. Then I tape the whole thing shut.
For oversized items like cabinet cards or R303s, I generally put them in a semi-rigid holder and then sandwich it inbetween multiple pieces of cardboard, then stuff the whole shebang into a UPS letter envelope.
-Al