Some advice from those of you who have published any product with cards, please...

The Shab-al-Hiri Roach will ship with a set of 40 cards, and I'm trying to figure out the best way to collect, secure, and protect them for shipping.  Each card is 2.125x2.75", cut sixteen to a page from letter sized cardstock.  So they are fairly small, but 40 of them makes a little pile.

The only game I've seen that shipped with cards is The Mountain Witch, and Tim put his six cards in a tiny manila sleeve.  That's an option, I suppose - has anybody addressed this before?  Shrink wrap?  Belly banding?  Rubber bands?  I want to organize and protect them at minimal expense. 

Thanks for any input,

--Jason

There are a couple of ways to send the cards.  First, cardboard companies and some game companies make cardboard boxes that are just the right size for cards.  Put in 40 cards, put a little tissue on top of them, and mail 'em.
http://www.tcbulk.com/scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=10

Alternative two -- get a page of card display pages (they are designed to display and sort cards in 3-ring binders).  They are generally 3 x 3, but you can generally put like 5 cards per insert space to hold up to 45 cards tightly into a single display page.  You can mail that page in a priority mail cardboard flat rate envelope.

Third, you can can get plastic boxes that fit cards.
http://www.tcbulk.com/scripts/Plastic+Trading+Card+Boxes-ur1-9.asp

Lastly, you can get bags that fit a block of 40 cards and then put them in as a single block and mail them with a little bit of card stock around them.
http://www.gtzip.com/ziplock/hanghole2mil.html

Each method has a different cost associated with it and a different level of protection.

Hope that helps.

Thanks very much, Lee.  That's helpful.  The Roach will ship as a digest-sized book and 40 cards, so the cards will be riding inside an envelope anyway.  I probably should have made that clear.  I'll look into some of these optionas and I'm also asking the printer.

The envelopes I use for The Mountain Witch are just regular ol' envelopes bought at Office Max or whatever. For the printed graphic, I run the envelope through my home laser printer.

This set up works, but it would be nice if I could find some envelopes that fit the size of the cards better.

How are the cards manufactured?

If they come on a single sheet/set and then get punched out, it's possible to just send the pages unpunched.

Definately check the wholesale site that Lee linked to, but you might also consider just using the snack-sized ziploc bags available from your local grocery store.  You may not be ordering a large enough quantity to benefit from wholesale discount.

My initial plan was to send uncut half sheets (8 cards per, 5 sheets) and make the buyer do the cutting, but the small extra expense of getting them cut down to size is worth the goodwill. 

It's true that my initial run won't require 1000 bags.  Just putting them in sandwich bags or manila envelopes is worth considering. 

Actually, if I go with envelopes, my wife has a goofy library embosser - I could imprint each with PEMBERTON UNIVERSITY BIOLOGY DEPARTMENT or something...

joepub wrote:
How are the cards manufactured?

pfft. whatever. custom cards are cool. Even if a bloody nuisance.

Just send out the full sized cardstock sheets. Without seperating the cards.
Is that a possibility?

I decided to have them cut - it'll add maybe .30 per unit to my cost but I think it makes for a more attractive and finished presentation.

Under the Bed comes shrinkwrapped. It keeps them very tidy and costs like a quarter for each one. 100% worth it.