Case Break Essentials
Case Break and eBay Store Essentials for the Football (or Baseball, not Basketball) Fiend.
Envelopes:
For some strange reason, the price of envelopes ends up being incredibly volatile. What you’ll need to ship cards is a #000 Bubble Mailer. Kraft Bubble mailers are the cheapest and will work in most cases. Poly Bubble Mailers offer a better seal against water leakage, but if you’re shipping your cards in toploaders and teambags, it shouldn’t be a problem.
100 Kraft Bubble Mailers for $13.88 & Free Shipping (works out to 14 cents per envelope)
I’d almost recommend picking up 500 envelopes though, unless you’re certain that you’ll never need them.
500 Kraft Bubble Mailers for $20.00 & Free Shipping (works out to exactly 4 cents per envelope)
Toploaders
Your best bet is to try and get as much as you can from the save place to save on shipping. If you’re breaking something like Bowman or Topps Chrome, it’s easy because all you need is 35pts toploaders. If you’re doing a Panini product, it’s a whole different ballgame.
One option is the Card Saver or Ultra Pro Semi Rigid card holders. I’d honestly recommend this if you have a large supply of free cardboard around.
400 Ultra Pro Semi Rigid Card Holders for $32.50 incl. Shipping (works out to just over 8 cents per holder)
When it comes to Ultra Pro toploaders, there are a couple options.
Blowoutcards offers a wide select of BCW Toploaders if that’s where you’re getting your boxes. Their prices are what you’d expect to find at a hobby shop, especially if you’re not ordering in bulk. Their entire inventory is available here. Remember that if you’re doing a webcast of your box-break, Blowoutcards will give you a discount for holding up a sign for 10 seconds.
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| Item Name | Unit Price | Total |
| BCW 3×4 x 1.5mm – Action Packed Topload Holder 59pt (25ct Pack) | 8 CENTS | $1.99 |
| BCW 3×4 Topload Card Holder – Standard 12 Mil (25 ct Pack) | 7 CENTS |
$1.75 |
| BCW 3×4 x 7mm – Thick Card Topload Holder 240pt – 10ct Pack | 24 CENTS |
$2.35 |
| BCW 3×4 x 5mm -Thick Card Topload Holder 197pt (10 ct. pack) | 18 CENTS |
$1.75 |
| BCW 3×4 x 3.5mm -Thick Card Topload Holder 138pt -10 ct Pack | 19 CENTS | $1.85 |
| BCW 3×4 x 2mm -Thick Card Topload Holder 79pt (25ct Pack) | 10 CENTS | $2.39 |
| BCW 3×4 x 2.75mm -Thick Card Topload Holder 108pt (10ct Pack) | 18 CENTS |
$1.79 |
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The second option is eBay. After rooting around, it appears as though J.R’s Hockey Cards offers the largest selection at the best price.
You’ll need penny sleeves, unless you’re a d-bag. These things are so cheap that you should just buy them wherever you can get the best shipping deal: 1000 ULTRA PRO Soft Sleeves 2 5/8 X 3 5/8 ($5.00)
Standard toploaders are the easiest to find and for most products are just dandy. Personally, I’d splurge on the premium brand as they offer a bit better clarity: 100 ULTRA PRO Top Loaders 3 X 4 PREMIUM ($7.00)
75pt toploaders are a must for most modern products containing game-used swatches: 100 ULTRA PRO Top Loaders 3 X 4 SUPER THICK 75 PT ($9.00)
Any product containing thicker jersey cards or patch cards requires 130pt or 5mm toploaders (not counting sweetspot): 50 ULTRA PRO Top Loaders 130 PT (5MM) HOLDS PATCH CARDS ($17.50)
TOPLOADER MM or MIL to POINT or PT Conversion table:
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| MILLIMETERS | POINTS |
| 1 mm | 39 |
| 1.4 mm | 55 |
| 1.9 mm | 75 |
| 2.54 mm | 100 |
| 3.5 mm | 138 |
| 5 mm | 197 |
| 6 mm | 236 |
| 7 mm | 275 |
| 10 mm | 394 |
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Columbia Sports Cards LLC’s eBay Store also offers some pretty good prices on CARD SAVER products. They have a good deal on 500 Team Bags to make sure the cards are sealed against water: 500 Team Bags for $11.00 (incl. shipping)
POSTAGE
This step can quickly turn into a headache. Your best bet is taking a look at the United States Postal Service’s A Customer’s Guide to Mailing.
If you ship online and have a credit-card, the USPS will give you a 14% discount.
The standard rates for First Class Mail, Large Envelope:
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| Weight Not Over | Price |
|---|---|
| 1 ounce | $0.88 |
| 2 ounces | $1.05 |
| 3 ounces | $1.22 |
| 4 ounces | $1.39 |
| 5 ounces | $1.56 |
| 6 ounces | $1.73 |
| 7 ounces | $1.90 |
| 8 ounces | $2.07 |
| 9 ounces | $2.24 |
| 10 ounces | $2.41 |
| 11 ounces | $2.58 |
| 12 ounces | $2.75 |
| 13 ounces | $2.92 |
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You’ll probably want to purchase insurance and delivery confirmation, but that’ll largely depend on the value of the cards. For the most part, you probably won’t come close to 9 or 10 ounces. Most single-card envelopes weigh less than 2 ounces, for reference.
If you’re mailing to Canada, there are a couple options, but I’d still recommend First Class. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to attach a tracking number or delivery confirmation to the package without eclipsing 10 dollars. You can find the USPS’s list of International costs associated with shipping here.
Obviously, buying in bulk will save you money, but most people feel like testing the waters first.
I’ve spent a good chunk of time looking through eBay for decent prices and I’ve linked to them via my affiliate account. If you go ahead and buy something, I should get a few cents here and there. Blowout doesn’t offer an affiliate program which is too bad because they have the best deals.
Depending on how many people are in your break, you should be able to keep your costs (w/o shipping) to under a dollar fifty.