How to Post Pokémon Cards Safely in the UK

To post a Pokémon card safely in the UK, put it in a soft sleeve, then a rigid holder such as a toploader, fix it to a piece of stiff card so it cannot slide, and send it in a padded envelope or small box. Then measure and weigh the finished parcel yourself and pick a Royal Mail service that accepts it, because a toploader and backing card can easily push an envelope past the Letter size.

The rest of this guide goes through each step for four kinds of parcel: one raw card, several cards, a graded slab and a bundle of bulk. A standard Pokémon card is 63 x 88 mm, and every holder below is sized around that.

Choose packaging for the item type

Start from what you are sending, not from the envelope in the drawer. A single card and a graded slab need different protection, and a stack of 200 commons needs something else again. The size and weight columns are things to measure on your own parcel, because two people packing the same card will end up with different thicknesses.

For raw cards, the soft sleeve stops scratches and the rigid holder stops the card bending. We will stock penny and perfect-fit sleeves on our sleeves page when we open. Ultra PRO sells its 3 x 4 inch Regular Toploader as made for standard-size cards, which is the size Pokémon cards are.

Protect and secure the card

The aim is that nothing touches the card except its sleeve, and that the card cannot move inside the envelope. These are the steps in order. Take a photograph at each one if you are selling, because the photos are your evidence later.

• Slide the card into a penny sleeve, top first, without forcing the corners.
• Slide the sleeved card into a toploader with the open end of the sleeve going in first, so the card cannot slip out of the sleeve inside the holder.
• Close the toploader with a short strip of low-tack tape across the opening, or put the toploader in a resealable bag. Tape goes on the toploader only, never on the sleeve or card.
• Tape the toploader to a piece of stiff card a little larger than it, so it cannot slide around the envelope or bend at the edges.
• Put the backing card into a padded envelope and seal it. Shake it gently. If you can feel the toploader shift, add more backing or padding.

For a graded slab, wrap it in two or three layers of bubble wrap and put it in a box with enough fill that it does not rattle. A slab is a hard plastic case, so the risk is a knock cracking the case rather than the card bending. Our toploaders page will list rigid holders when we open. Bulk wants a box that fits the stack closely, with the cards kept upright and the gaps filled.

Royal Mail's UK Post Scheme says items must be packed so they will not damage other mail and can be carried without extra care. If an item arrives damaged, Royal Mail may need to inspect the packaging and contents, and may not pay compensation if they have not been kept.

Measure and weigh the finished parcel

Measure after packing, not before. A card in a toploader in a padded envelope is a different object from the card on its own, and the postage format depends on the finished parcel.

Use a ruler for length and width. For thickness, lay the parcel flat and measure its thickest point, usually where the toploader sits. Then weigh it sealed, on kitchen scales or postal scales. Compare the three numbers with Royal Mail's formats.

Royal Mail treats an item up to 240 x 165 x 5 mm and 100 g as a Letter. Above that, up to 353 x 250 x 25 mm and 750 g, it is a Large Letter. Above that, up to 450 x 350 x 160 mm and 2 kg, it is a Small Parcel. One dimension over the limit moves the whole item up a format, so a padded envelope that is 6 mm thick is not a Letter, however light it is. The weight limits also differ by service: Tracked 24 and Tracked 48 take a Large Letter up to 1 kg, where 1st and 2nd Class stop at 750 g.

Do not assume a toploader will go as a Letter. It depends on your envelope and your backing card, so measure again whenever you change either.

Compare current service terms

These are the Royal Mail terms that matter for cards, as checked on 17 October 2026 against the UK Post Scheme (dated 28 July 2025), the Tracked terms (Version 21, October 2026) and Royal Mail's own service pages. They change, so check the provider's pages before you post anything you care about.

The table ranks the compensation levels rather than quoting them. Royal Mail publishes the exact cap on each service's own page, and that is the figure to read before you post.

The Tracked row is the one that catches card sellers out. Royal Mail's Tracked terms define a collectable as something that has gone up because it is scarce or no longer made. They list collectables among the valuables you may not send with those services, and say that if you do, Royal Mail will not pay compensation. An older card, or one from a set that is out of print, can fit that definition easily. The same terms also put an upper limit on any single item you hand over, and pay nothing on an item above it.

Compensation is not the same as cover for what a card would cost to replace. Every service above has a ceiling, the claim is based on actual loss, and the Tracked terms cap a collectable at what you paid for it. Do not assume a home or contents policy covers cards in the post either. Ask the insurer in writing.

Other carriers have their own size bands, exclusions and packaging rules. Read their list of prohibited and excluded items for collectables or trading cards before you book.

Record the shipment

Keep enough to prove what you sent, how you packed it and when it entered the post. That means a photo of the card front and back before packing, a photo of the sealed parcel with the label on, and proof of posting.

Signed For and Special Delivery come with a certificate of posting as part of the service. If you buy Tracked 24 or Tracked 48 online, the certificate of posting is the one Royal Mail gives you online when you complete the order. For ordinary 1st and 2nd Class, ask at the Post Office counter for a certificate of posting, which the UK Post Scheme says is free on request.

When you photograph the parcel, keep the picture for yourself. If you share it in a dispute or online, cover the buyer's name and address first. The same goes for screenshots of tracking pages, which can show a postcode. Keep the photos and receipts until the claim windows below have closed, and until any platform protection period has ended.

Handle a problem or a return

If a parcel has not arrived, check the tracking first and give it time. Under the UK Post Scheme you can claim for loss once an item is 10 or more working days past its due date (5 for Special Delivery), and all loss and damage claims must be made within 80 days of posting. The Tracked terms are tighter: you wait 7 working days after the due date and must claim within 30 days of that. Keep the packaging of a damaged item, since Royal Mail may ask to see it.

If you sold through a platform, follow its process as well as the carrier's. On one large UK platform, the buyer reports a missing item, the seller gets three business days to sort it out before the platform steps in, and the buyer is refunded if the seller cannot show proof of delivery to the order address. There, proof of delivery decides the outcome, whatever the carrier would pay. Our guide to selling Pokémon cards covers the platforms in more detail.

For a return, pack the card back exactly as it arrived, and use the return label the platform provides if it gives you one. Our returns policy will set out how we handle a return before we take a first order.

Under section 29 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, goods a shop posts to you stay at the shop's risk until you have them, unless you chose a carrier the shop did not offer. So a card we post that goes missing on the way will be our problem, not yours. Our delivery page will say which services we use and how we deal with a lost or damaged parcel.

If you are sending a card to be graded rather than to a buyer, the grading company's own packing rules apply on top of all this. Our grading guide is the next page to read.