Greetings! I'm here today to help prevent your beloved comic
books from getting damaged in the mail. This will also help
you to be a better ebay seller, too if you are one of "those"
people. These are strict recommendations if you are submitting
books to me directly.
This is the exact way I submit books to
CBCS or CGC or a convention facilitator. I will provide
links to everything I have purchased on ebay. Always
buy your shipping supplies online. It's the cheapeast
and quickest way to ship your books.
You will need:
You will also need boxes and GEMINI PRINTED
MEDIA MAILERS and NOT Gemini II comic book mailers. For
comics you can use 12x12x4 boxes which are cheaper via USPS
because they are under 12". Graded books should be
shipped the same way but inside a 14x14x4 box instead.
Should you decide to use Gemini II comic mailers,
don't. They will bend your books up. Keep them completely
flat. You don't need the extra overlapping carboard panels
because those will damage your books.
Now that you have your supplies and for super cheap on ebay...you're
on your way to buying and selling comic books through the
mail. Let's begin, shall we?
Today we are going to mail SPAWN #9 to myself. The first
appearance of Angela, Thor's sister! Place your comic book
carefully inside a mylite2 with fullback (preferred) or
use BCW silver age bag and boards.
Fold up the Gemini II comic mailer along the
perforated edges for the comic book. You can safely ship
up to 10 books this way, alternating spines along the staple
line. Stack the books cover to cover, tape to tape,
and top to top, then bottom to bottom, alternating spines
for a flat stack. You do not want to imprint tape lines
onto other side of books stacked on. Be sure to
use a yard stick or ruler to pre-fold out your lines or
you will damage your spines.
You may also use these BCW
comic book shipper boxes when mailing 10 or more comic
books. You can place 3 of these inside a box that is 14x14x6
in size. This is recommened for when sending in 30 books
to CGC at one time on one invoice. (These are often sold
out and not available, so be on the lookout for this product.)
Learn how to stack and handle comic books prior to shipping
at this youtube video here: https://bit.ly/2XCzvDF
Place the comic book(s) face down. You are going to place
strips of blue painters tape along the sides. Do not be
a "Jerry Smith" and put blue tape over the scotch
tape on top flap.
Place 1 strip of tape on each side as pictured below:
If you are super worried about sharp corners and razor sharp
sides (attempting to obtain a 9.8 or higher grade) you should
definitely tape the corners at a diagonal was well. See
below:
Carefully fold over your flaps, checking slowly that there
is no bend to the comic book. See method below as pictured:
3 (Three) peices of tape when it's all closed up carefully.
2 along the top and bottom flap edges and one for good measure
in the centerline. See pictured:
Back of Gemini II Mailer. You can see the top and bottom
tape flaps over side.
Print your name clearly in black sharpie.
Write your email address. Write your phone number too in
case there is a problem. Also you should write out the name
of the comic book title(s) and issue #. Write clearly and
legibly. You collect comic books. You are not a doctor.
Okay now set that aside somewhere. Somewhere
safe from children, coffee, mountain dew, or anything else
might sprinkle on it. We are going to build a box! Get ready.
It's hard.
Let's make sure that box survives the USPS. Use 3-4 pieces
on the bottom outer flaps. Use tape to tape in inside bottom
flap too.
On the sides, I've seen boxes get blown out
from stress or other boxes on top. Use tape on that corner
seam that's merely glued. Tape the inside too. Don't be
lazy. Go beyond what's necessary. After all, you just bought
like 25 rolls of clear packing tape, right? Okay then, tape
away!
So now I'm going to show you the inside of the box to re-iterate
what I was stressing about the corner seam of these boxes.
Tape away with all that extra tape, brah.
Sprinkle some magical fairy dust otherwise known as styrofoam
peanuts in the bottom of the box, only enough to where you
can't see the bottom. Shipping peanuts is fun to give, but
never to receive. So you have that going for you, right?
Place your books with the writing side up and place some
remaining packing peanuts on top of the comic. Only enough
to which you still have a half inch to an inch of space
between the top of the box and the top of the layer of peanuts.
You do not want to crush your books with the box flaps because
you overstuffed the box with peanuts!
Now you are ready to seal the box up. Place
fragile stickers/tape on the corners and bottom of the box.
Print out your USPS shipping label from the USPS website
and affix it to the top of the box.
Bottom of box:
You have now packaged a box of comics inside
a box to be shipped out. Congrats! See? Wasn't that easy?
I hope this guide helps you as it has helped me over the
years. I have been selling on ebay since 2010 and I learned
slowly over time all of these tips. I'm here to share them
all with you on this page.
WITNESSED SIGNATURE SERIES COMIC BOOK SIGNING
If you want to maintain a 9.6 or 9.8 or even a higher grade
on your book, but you want to get it signed by a super famous
movie star celebrity or hot shot reclusive artist, you need
to prep that comic book! Window bag your comics. It's the
safest and most reliable way to prevent as much handling
of the comic before and after signing. Most facilitators
require it these days. Some creators such as Jim Starlin
and a few others are against this practice so you should
definitely research the person who is signing first to make
sure they are okay with it. Most creators are fine with
it, and use it as a basis for additional income. Here is
a detailed step-by-step guide that will walk you through
the process: HOW
TO WINDOW BAG PREP COMIC BOOKS FOR SIGNATURES.
Thank you!
You can even print out this graphic image to tape on your
package, which displays Jerry Smith from Rick and Morty
folded up stating DO NOT FOLD and DO NOT BEND in bright
red letters:
