Need advise on regular small submissions to CGC 1 1

[mytastebud]

If anyone could shed some light on how/why they send in small shipments to CGC for grading and how they pack them I would appreciate it. I'm thinking about sending 5 books every other week to lessen the stress of package value. Is a cardboard re-enforced padded mailer good enough protection? I used to send in 10-15 books at a time thinking its cost effective.

[csaag]

well their old chart for registered mail starts at $57 for 11-15 books and $38 for 5 books. Maybe a $40 diff insurance cost if a small submission keeps you under 1K and a large submission puts you at 10K   It's $40 to ships 5 books back in the $500-1K range so 3 shipments of 5 books doesn't seem to make it worth it.  All depends on what you expected value is.

Anyway I would not ship comics to CGC in a bubble mailer w cardboard. I'll ship dollar book to Ebay buyers that way as it's adequate protection for that, but Priority Mail boxes are free so I say double box them and pay Priority Mail (check  out Pirate Shipping as they have good discounts) vs trying to get by with bubble mailers & 1st class postage

[Galen130]

I always used a medium flat rate box when I first started, with just five books.  I’d put the books between to thick pieces of cardboard, then tape it together. Then I’d wrap the out of it with bubble wrap, making sure it fit into the box.  Automatic $50 worth of insurance, but you can add more.

I don’t do that anymore...much.  It wasn’t cost effective.  Now I send in 25 at a time, but they go to my presser first for screening and CP (if needed).  Then he ships them off in they way he knows how that is safe and saves me money.  This is what I do with Copper/Modern age books.  With older stuff, I still use the previous method, but only 5 at a time because I don’t have a lot of older books.  Hope this helps some. 👍

[mytastebud]

2 hours ago, csaag said:

well their old chart for registered mail starts at $57 for 11-15 books and $38 for 5 books. Maybe a $40 diff insurance cost if a small submission keeps you under 1K and a large submission puts you at 10K   It's $40 to ships 5 books back in the $500-1K range so 3 shipments of 5 books doesn't seem to make it worth it.  All depends on what you expected value is.

Anyway I would not ship comics to CGC in a bubble mailer w cardboard. I'll ship dollar book to Ebay buyers that way as it's adequate protection for that, but Priority Mail boxes are free so I say double box them and pay Priority Mail (check  out Pirate Shipping as they have good discounts) vs trying to get by with bubble mailers & 1st class postage

I did not know about Pirate Ship. Thanks for the recommendation. I currently get a discount printing postage at home through eBay because I am a power seller. Do you know how the price compares. 

The padded mailer I was referring to was the Priority flat rate padded mailer. I can do the medium flat rate. Its what I have been doing till now.

[Bruce Eaton]

If you can keep the weight under two pounds you will save a little money using a Priority Mail 1092 box inside a Priority Mail 1095 box.  

[csaag]

1 hour ago, mytastebud said:

I did not know about Pirate Ship. Thanks for the recommendation. I currently get a discount printing postage at home through eBay because I am a power seller. Do you know how the price compares. 

The padded mailer I was referring to was the Priority flat rate padded mailer. I can do the medium flat rate. Its what I have been doing till now.

I am certainly not a power seller so I can't say if Pirate Ship is better than whatever discount you get.  They have never been more than what Ebay was going to charge me.  It's a good backup to have if you do sales outside of Ebay.  Boardies here have mentioned them which is how I found out. I've used them multiple times.

[Math Teacher]

On 3/24/2021 at 1:07 PM, csaag said:

Priority Mail boxes are free so I say double box them and pay Priority Mail (check  out Pirate Shipping as they have good discounts) vs trying to get by with bubble mailers & 1st class postage

Pirate Shipping has saved me some minor money during the last year of selling things from my collection. I would say that you can save $2 - $3 per shipment by using Pirate Shipping, especially compared to paying for shipment at the Post Office. It doesn't sound like a lot, but if you send out 150 packages over a year's time, that's an extra $300 - $450 in your pocket. I can't remember who told me about Pirate Shipping, but it was certainly good advice.

[mytastebud]

I sent out 11 books today medium flat rate. I put extra insurance on it and it was @$15

Still like to hear it anyone sends in 5-6 books at a time and how they do it...

[Fisionbomb]

23 hours ago, mytastebud said:

I sent out 11 books today medium flat rate. I put extra insurance on it and it was @$15

Still like to hear it anyone sends in 5-6 books at a time and how they do it...

If you're sending non high dollar value books wrap them tight in a larger bag, sandwich them in cardboard put that in a "gemini" type mailer via priority mail. I've had great success with this method. USPS can get rough, but it takes almost purposeful intent to create damage to this type of package.

Edited March 26, 2021 by Fisionbomb
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