Best and Cheapest way to ship trading card from Canada to the USA

[strategio]

Hi! I'm looking for some help on the best and cheapest way to ship trading cards to the United States from Canada. I've read similar posts from the last few years and still had some questions.

I'm from in Montreal, Quebec and I want to sell some old trading cards on EBAY that I used to collect as a kid (Hockey Cards, Baseball Cards and Magic the Gathering Cards).

A summary of what I understand so far:

• Sending from Canada to Canada is easy and can be done in a regular card < penny sleeve < top loader < bubble mailer
• Over the last 2-3 years there's an increase in bubble mailers behind returned to sender for trading cards shipped to the US with a toploader inside a bubble mailer.
• The people at the Post Office told me that if everything was in paper/cardboard, it could be considered as regular mail. (However, some people seem to disagree online such as here: https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/Bubble-Mailer-to-USA-with-Canada-Post-problems/td-p/4996...)
• I won't be protected by eBay if I send a card without tracking and that a buyer claims that an item didn't arrive and opens a request, I will automatically lose.

Shipping to Canada

Shipping to Canada seems pretty straighforward. I shipped a card this morning and only had to pay with one 0.92$ stamp from a roll because it was thin enough to be accepted as standard lettermail and because it was under 30 g. (https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/cpc/en/support/articles/lettermail/pricing.page)

I put the card in a penny sleeve, inside a toploader and then in a 4" x 5" Kraft Bubble Mailer from Amazon. (https://www.amazon.ca/SCHOME-11X13CM-Mailers-Shipping-Envelopes/dp/B07FZHMS2K)

That seems the best way to go moving forward if I send in Canada.

Shipping to the United States

When I asked at the Post Office how much it would cost to ship to the US, I was told that because the toploader is made out of plastic, it should be considered as a small parcel and therefore I would be charged 10-12$. This seems excessive for some cards that I'm selling at 1-2$.

From what I could gather, here are my options

Options for low value cards (Under 50$)

My options seem to be as follows:

For cards with a value under XX$

Option 1: I take the hit and ship as a small parcel for 10-12$ per card and charge the full price to client (therefore cutting a significant part of the market)

Option 2: Take a chance to send inside a toploader placed inside the Bubble Mailer with a chance that it might be returned to me.

Option 3: Purchase a Cardboard Sleeve Protector and take the chance that the card won't be as protected. I found these online: https://www.amazon.ca/Cardboard-Sleeves-Protectors-Corrugated-Stiffeners/dp/B09YNRLWC2/

I'm ok with refunding a client if he claims he never got the card.

I'm leaning towards Option 3, but I would like some opinions because I buy the Carboard protector sleeves.

Options for high value cards (Over 50$)

For cards with a value over 50$, my only option seems to be to ship as a small parcel with a tracking code. Which is approximately 22$ CAD with a tracking code from what I could gather from Canada Post. Which doesn't make much sense.

Other options

From reading through various other messages. Some people have mentioned Sendle (https://try.sendle.com/en-ca/pricing) and ChitChats (https://chitchats.com/) but it seems more complicated.

My questions

1. Should I try the Cardboard Sleeve Protector?
2. I understand that some people now have a hard time shipping to the US in (regular card < penny sleeve < top loader < bubble mailer) but what is the percentage of people have a hard time? Is it 5% or 95% of the people shipping to the US?
3. Are there any better ways?

[flipistics]

A few points to note:

1. Some USA sellers will put the card in a penny sleeve, then wrap it in a sheet of regular paper and place it in a small stayflat. I don't think there's a right or wrong way as long as it arrives in good condition and the customer is happy.

2. You can't (legally) send commercial goods via international lettermail / letterpost. There's a very good chance some will get intercepted, and a bunch of INRs isn't something you want to deal with.

3. You can send within Canada as tracked lettermail ($9.75 + normal lettermail postage). You can also send using the new Expedited Lite available through eBay labels (which should be around $8 depending on where it's going).

4. To the USA you can use Tracked Packet USA through eBay labels for about $7.50 ish.

5. If you live near a big center, you might have access to a cross border shipper like Stallion Express, which *I think* might let you use eBay Standard envelope assuming you're listing on the USA site. Not positive on that though. I think the cost is around $1 plus whatever fee Stallion would charge for taking it across.

[strategio]

Thank you very much flipistics for getting back to me quickly. Your comments are really helpful, I think I prefer to sell less cards to the US and have customers know in advance what they will get and how much it will cost. It's just really too bad that we don't have an option for something so simple.

[reallynicestamps]

If you go with a forwarder like Stallion or Chitchat,you would have their fees in advance.

You can add a Handling Fee to either Flat Rate or Calculated Shipping.

[doc-holmes]

One thing to keep in mind...Americans tend to have far higher shipping standards than we do in Canada. They expect tracking with every purchase, and are not accustomed to waiting 2+ weeks for a package, as we are.