I've been trading online for over a year now and have gained a lot of experience from it. Many people are scared to send their cards through the mail. And you should be. There are many things that could go wrong. Below I will describe how to make the trading process as risk free and easy as possible.

There are many greedy, jerks out in cyberspace who would love to get cards for free by suckering honest traders. This happened to me once. Never again. If you do some detective work, it is not that hard to spot a ripper. One attribute of a ripper is that they agree to any trade for which you ask. If a deal is too good to be true, it probably is. Another way to spot a ripper is if they insist on you sending first and they have less references than you. Always check the references. Some people just look at the refs, and assume they're alright. Finally, make sure there are at least 2 non-freemails.

This happened to me once. Unfortunely it was the card I was receiving. The envelope came to me torn open with CONTENTS MISSING stamped on it. This happens occasionally because the whole thing is done by machines. Letters don't get lost too often in the mail. I believe the odds are like 2000 to 1. The best way to stop these things from happening are: sufficent postage (sometimes the post office just doesn't feel like returning it), tape it up (seal up everything, tape the card holder to some paper and the paper to the envelope), and put a return address and address on the envelope neatly.

Nothing makes me more angry than to get a card which has been bent in the mail. The cards can take a little bending, but too much causes creases. Creased cards are unplayable. A bent card in the mail almost always results from improper packaging. Paper can not properly protect a card. You must use a top-loader, and other hard case. If you do not have a top-loader, then 2 pieces of cardboard taped together will do the trick.

Sometimes it's nice to have a third party, which you can trust, look over your trade. For example, Safecards.com provides the service for a fee of about $2. Sometimes you can have someone well known throughout the trading community help you trade. This is a good idea for people just starting to trade. The process takes longer than a regular trade, but has less risk.