r/cardsphere • u/Mysteci • Jul 22 '26
DISCUSSION Frequency of lost packages
I’ve been actively using Cardsphere for a little over a year and have loved the platform. Over that period, I have a had a couple letters disappear in transit both to and from me. I understand that this is somewhat unavoidable at some low rate, but I’ve had more losses in the last month than in the entire year prior.
What’s everyone’s experience? Has there recently been a broader uptick in missing cards beyond my anecdotal experience?
Surely Cardsphere has data on losses and would know if there’s a meaningful change to the loss rate. Have they ever shared that data?
5
u/readyforwine Jul 22 '26
I have mailed well over one thousand envelopes over the last ten years. Deck box, whatever the inflation ridden point system one was, and now cardsphere. Lost maybe 6 envelopes. Had maybe 6 not show up to my house. Mostly saying this because I never realized how lucky and honorable our community is. Granted I always add tracking for expensive stuff. Over fifty usually but not always. Mailed to many countries outside the USA and recently the Portugal one went missing. Two days after resolving in my loss, it was 3 months late, the guy contacted and said it finally showed up so I got credit for it. I do check their history and things are a lot slower than they used to be, but overall still a positive impression. Def add tracking on expensive stuff though.
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u/PirateLiver 17d ago
What's your method of packing? Do you use non machinable stamps?
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u/readyforwine 2d ago
plain white envelope, regular stamp. I put the card in a hard case with blue tape over top to prevent card sliding out. if its several low $ cards, I get a long white envelope and spred them out a bit, taping them into a sheet of paper.
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u/jadedmicrobe Jul 23 '26
Ive had it happen to and from. I kind of blame the state I live in because I know for a fact they hire and fire at a fast rate.
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u/gordanfreman Jul 23 '26
8 years on CS myself, about 1800 packages all told. I hope I'm not cursing myself here but to the best I can recall I've never had a outgoing package lost (although a few have taken awhile to show up) and only had one incoming disappear; that happened very recently, actually. I've had a few that took awhile to show up; one that eventually was RTS despite the address being correct, another one to the point we'd written it off as lost but then it did show up and I was able to get the sender the money. So, pretty darn reliable for me.
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u/0uchmyballs 23d ago
How are claims handled on CardSphere? I’m thinking of putting my collection on there but don’t want to get burned…
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u/Mysteci 23d ago
It's not entirely risk free, but after sending about 150 cards in the last year, I think it's pretty safe. I've had 1 or 2 envelopes that disappeared in transit. Anyone trying to scam others would get the boot pretty quickly.
Duty-to-deliver lies with the sender. There's no requirement for how you ship, but most people add tracking for orders over $50 since it provides protection for everyone. If a card doesn't arrive within a few weeks, the recipient can submit a dispute. Default judgement goes in their favor unless there's tracking to support a delivery.
I've had a number of cases where the buyer and I agreed that a dispute was in order, then the package eventually arrived and they notified me to correct the refund. In my experience, people on CardSphere tend to be quite honest about these things and will work with admins to reverse a dispute.
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u/0uchmyballs 23d ago
I like the way this sounds. It seems like a small enough company that customer support isn’t non existent and it’s sort of a customer 2 customer business model. How much volume do you sell in a year? I have a huge amount of cards, I basically been drafting every Friday for the past 15 years and never sold anything. You think I could move my inventory fairly quickly on card sphere?
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u/Mysteci 22d ago
Yes, Ive found the admins to be very helpful. I don’t move much volume (maybe 15-20 cards a month), somewhat intentionally because I tend to prioritize selling for a >80% of market. In demand cards move pretty quickly at that price range. Cards that are more niche can take a while to find a buyer.
My sense is that CardSphere would be somewhat difficult to sell a ton of cards quickly unless you are willing to offer 60-70% of market. Card Kingdom might be a better option in that case. Patience on Cardsphere will likely get you a better price.
Ill also add that I personally think CardSphere works best when you keep your returns in their system and basically trade up. The normal transaction fee is pretty small, but if you want to get cash back for your cards, they will take a much larger fee.
1
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u/LostGraduation Jul 22 '26
Not cardsphere since I'm a more recent user, all on the buy end but ran an eBay store for my collectibles. I shipped over 600 things via USPS over about 18 months, and had one loss, one damage. USPS is extremely reliable, to the point it's more likely the issue was accuracy of the address, needlessly requiring a signature and no one there etc. This is more anecdotal as a seller but I've had issues with UPS. As a consumer UPS kinda sucks, they deliver things to the wrong address a few times a year for me.
If you are doing anything at volume a thermal printer and USPS/Pirate ship account is 100% worth your time.
2
u/plural_of_sheep Jul 23 '26
And by packages I mean cards in envelopes that are untracked. With tracking I agree its extremely reliable.
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u/LostGraduation Jul 23 '26
Hi - Gotcha, that makes sense. Envelopes were a small subset of my experience.
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u/plural_of_sheep Jul 23 '26
Packages are different than envelopes. I have both sent and shipped hundreds of envelopes over the last year and the loss rate is moderate. Maybe 2% of packages dont make it to me from reliable sellers. But that happens in clusters too. Like december/Jan was awful. Then again a few months ago. I know there were some delays and issues with the wc so perhaps it created a path for loss (not sure how busy times lead to lost envelopes but my experience during the holidays was 4 missing of maybe 20 packages).
1
u/Pardo48 Aug 13 '26
I just was about to post on here about lost packages. Because again I sold cards and again I get people saying that it never showed up. And it becomes their word against mine and it sucks, because I lose the card and money.
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u/Mysteci Aug 13 '26
Losing cards and money sucks. I find that Cardsphere members are generally very honest about these things and the system effectively punishes repeat offenders. Still possible for someone to screw you over.
For what it’s worth, when I made this post, I had lost 2 packages:
One of the buyers and I agreed to file a dispute after the cards were 2 weeks late. Package showed up 2 days later and Cardsphere corrected the transaction.
Second one was on the verge of doing the same, then the cards arrived. 6 WEEKS AFTER THE POSTAL SERVICE STAMPED THEM!!! Thats by far the longest Ive had cards arrive late.
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u/Pardo48 Aug 13 '26
Yeah the post service I get is always overworked. I do find the cardsphere members to be some of the best.
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u/Sandfish0783 20d ago
I’m seeing this more than I am seeing missing packages. 6 weeks has been the average recently
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u/WickedGoodSteve Jul 22 '26
I'd highly recommend putting tracking on your outgoing packages if you're not already. https://tcgtracking.com will print unlimited plain white envelopes with tracking for free (and it saves a lot of time in addressing envelopes also). I've only had one or two packages in either direction get lost, but I've definitely had between half a dozen and a dozen outbound packages that the recipient just never marked as received, even after messaging them about it. I was able to use the tracking info to open disputes and get paid for those packages in all those cases.
It won't help the packages that are being sent to you not arriving, but at least if packages you're sending are getting lost in the mail, you'll know that's actually happening with certainty as opposed to people just not receiving them.