Up until early 2021, selling cheap cards on eBay was nearly impossible. Most buyers just weren’t willing to pay $4 for shipping on a $2 card. That’s changed now, and I sell dozens of cards worth less than $5 every month.
PWE (plain white envelope) shipping with eBay Standard Envelope service allows you to send up to 15 trading cards or 2 cards in top loaders for cards worth up to $20. This allows you to ship cards for less than $1 and even comes with tracking. There are limitations on the size of the envelope, and the entire shipment cannot weigh more than 3 ounces.
Just to clarify, using eBay Standard Envelope doesn’t mean you HAVE to ship with a PWE—there are plenty of other types of envelopes that fit their criteria. I just find it the cheapest and easiest option.
But how does it work? How do I ship my cards out safely and securely? Let’s take a look!
What is PWE Through Standard Envelope?
eBay Standard Envelope is a shipping option provided by eBay that allows you to send cards for under $1. By selecting this option, you can send the cards in a plain white envelope (PWE).
It’s an incredible resource from eBay because PWEs are cheap and convenient, and they get you a nice discount instead of paying for shipping at USPS or elsewhere.
Here’s their price breakdown:
| Weight of Package | Cost |
|---|---|
| 1 ounce | $0.63 |
| 2 ounces | $0.87 |
| 3 ounces | $1.11 |
Later on, I’ll show you what I charge for shipping, as well as give you a tutorial (with pics!) on how I ship my cards!
Why Ship Cheap Cards with PWE?
Increase Your Profit
When I rip a box, you’ll often get some nice hits and of course plenty of commons. Those two types of cards are easy—throw the commons in a box, and either sell, hold, or grade the hits.
But what about those in-between cards? In the past, I was kind of stuck with them. Perhaps I could get several of them together and sell them in lots. Now, I can sell those PWE using eBay Standard Envelope instead of holding onto them for years and then doing who-knows-what with them.
If I can sell an extra 10-15 cards per box I purchase, that certainly increases my ROI.
It’s Super Convenient
My favorite part is that I can take a short walk to the mailbox and just drop it in the slot. Couldn’t be easier.
More Buyers
Like I mentioned above, the ability to ship a card for under a buck is going to entice more buyers to take a look at your cheap cards on eBay! I love that I can sell cards for $0.99 and still make a profit—albeit a small one.
Also, if someone has a total budget of $5 for a certain card, they’re more willing to bid $4 and pay the cheap shipping as opposed to bidding $1 with $4 shipping. You just got 4x your money, but the buyer paid the same amount!
Increase Your Feedback FAST
New sellers on eBay underestimate how important having a large number of feedback is! When I first jumped into card selling, I used my wife’s account because she had more feedback than me…but she still only had around 10!
By selling large amounts of cheap cards, you can complete many transactions that lead to increasing your feedback rapidly!
For me, I noticed a difference when I hit 95 positive feedback. That same week, I sold about a dozen cheap cards I’d had listed for months, and many of my auctions closed for higher than I expected!
When to Use PWE with eBay Standard Envelope
eBay’s direction is that you can only use this for cards under $20. Since a PWE admittedly looks a little cheap, I won’t send anything over $10 in one. Over that amount and I’m sending it First Class in a bubble mailer.
Occasionally, I’ll even send a $5 card in a bubble mailer if it’s a card of high perceived value or one that will likely increase—like a nice variation on a rookie card.
Which eBay Settings Do I Use for Selling PWE?
When setting up a new listing, here are the settings you’ll pick under the “Shipping details” section:
- Select “Flat: same cost to all buyers”
- Select “eBay Standard Envelope”
- Input “$1.50” for “Cost”
Here’s what that looks like on a desktop:
Then, you’ll scroll down and select the weight of your package. For anything that’s not a real thick card, I put it at 2 ounces. Most cards I send would work selecting the 1 ounce option, but I just use 2 ounces to be sure.
I’ve never had to input the size of the package—eBay will default trading card listings to be the 7 x 4 x 4 in. I’ve never changed that and I’ve never had a problem.
And here’s what that looks like on the mobile app:
You click the little pencil icon in the top right, and then you’ll see this screen:
Click on each of those and select the options I’ve outlined!
Why the $1.50 Shipping?
So here are the costs associated for each card I ship:
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| eBay’s Fees | 12.5% + $0.30 |
| Plain White Envelope | $.06 |
| Top Loader | $.15 |
| Penny Sleeve | $.01 |
| Team Bag | $.05 |
| Painter’s Tape + Scotch Tape + Printer paper | $.03 |
| 2 Ounce Shipping Price | $0.87 |
I know…a lot of numbers!
It comes down to this:
If I charged the buyer just for the shipping cost, then on a $0.99 card, my net profit is…26 cents 😒
So I bump the shipping cost up to $1.50 to cover the cost of everything listed above (plus a teeny bit for my time), and now I’ve made about $0.90 on my card.
And I don’t feel bad about it because they’ve agreed to that shipping cost, plus it costs me all those extra materials to ship! Those aren’t negligible costs when you’re sending a cheap card. On a $10 card, I’m not worrying about all this…but I can’t afford to forget about it here.
This also means that I’ll sometimes sell cards for $0.59. Again, I’m not making a ton on this, but I get that card out of my space and have a chance to get good feedback.
Why Do I Do All This for $0.90?
If you figure out my hourly pay on $0.99 cards…it’s hilariously low!
Aside from the reasons I’ve already mentioned, my sports card money is my sports card money! I allocate a certain budget each money to the hobby, and anything I get back goes back into my money for the hobby.
It’s definitely a bit of a hustle, but I like doing it too.
Also, I don’t want to give the impression that ALL my PWE cards are this cheap—I sell quite a few in the $5 – $10 range as well. It all adds up nicely.
And I’ll stress again: you HAVE to get your feedback up to sell cards consistently!
How to Package Your Cards (Picture Tutorial)
Ready for the secret sauce? Let’s do it!
Step 1: Cut out and tape your shipping label to the envelope
I know the shipping says $0.71 – they’ve since raised it to $0.87 on the 2 ounce packages 😒
Step 2: Penny sleeve and top load your card
I’ve heard SO many horror stories of someone getting a raw card with no protection in an envelope. I mean, really? Charge a tad extra for shipping and get some dang top loaders and penny sleeves!
Step 3: Find 4 (or 2 thick) commons to go with it for extra protection
If I have the time, it’s fun to match with the card your sending—team, college, or even the same player if you have a cheap base card. The extra commons get mentioned in my positive feedback all the time.
Step 4. Stick your top loaded card + commons in a team bag and seal
I used to put painter’s tape on the top loader itself, but then I realized that the team bag holds the card in the sleeve just as well.
Step 5. Tape the team bag to the inside of the envelope with painter’s tape.
This just keeps it from moving around inside the envelope as much. ALWAYS USE PAINTERS TAPE WHEN DEALING WITH CARDS. I’ve seen Scotch tape ruin top loaders and just make the whole thing more of a mess. I’ve even seen scotch tape on CARDS. Some people just don’t have enough brains.
And voila! You’ve got a nice neatly packaged envelope ready to go! Is it going to withstand a grenade? No. Will it get to it’s destination in good shape 98% or more of the time? Yes.
Pitfalls to Avoid with PWE
Tip #1: Don’t send thick patch cards in PWE
I’ve sent well over 400 cards this way, and I’ve only ever had issues with TWO cards…and both issues were the same:
I sent a cheap patch card that was too thick.
From what I understand PWE goes through a machine. If the envelope is too thick, it causes damage. Here’s the pic one of my buyers sent me:
The second card that had an issue was because USPS didn’t think my card fit into the specifications for eBay Standard Envelope and they charged my buyer $3.25 to deliver!
In both cases it was an easy refund and I moved along with my day.
Tip #2: Be Patient With Shipping & Don’t Fret Over Tracking
The second issue I’ve had is that the tracking isn’t super reliable on these, and also that sometimes cards show up late!
Probably 10 times I’ve had a buyer reach out and say the card hasn’t shown up yet even though I’d shipped it a week ago. In every case, I asked them if they could wait another week and then reach out. Every single time the buyer got the card soon after.
Many cards will NOT say “delivered” even though they have been. I’ve learned not to freak out over these, and also not to reach out to the seller. If they wanted to, they could easily say that they haven’t gotten the card (even if they had) and get a refund.
And that’s it! It’s a great service that eBay offers and don’t be nervous about taking advantage of it!