Almost every article about card shipping supplies is written as if there is one game, and it is Pokemon. The box of 130pt toploaders on your desk has no idea what is inside it.
A $400 dual land, a $400 alternate-art Leader, an enchanted Lorcana card and a Charizard all ship the same way: penny sleeve, toploader or magnetic holder, team bag, rigid mailer, tracking. What changes by game is the vocabulary in the listing, not the packing bench.
Where multi-game sellers get into trouble is the paperwork. Nobody loses a card because the toploader was wrong. They lose an afternoon because three orders went out on the same day, one of them a showcase mythic, and a week later somebody says the card that arrived is not the one in the photo.
The holder is the same, the words are not
Write your listings in each game's own language and pack them all identically.
- Magic: the Gathering. Reserved List singles, old duals, foils, borderless and showcase treatments, serialized inserts. Buyers talk in NM/LP/MP and ask for corner and edge photos more than any other group.
- One Piece. Leaders, alternate-art and manga-art rares, parallels. Most of the money sits in single high-value cards rather than lots, and printings move fast enough that the ship date matters.
- Lorcana. Enchanted cards, foils, promos. The newest buyer base of the four, so more first-time buyers who notice when a properly packed single arrives.
- Star Wars Unlimited. Hyperspace and showcase variants, leaders. Small enough that a returning buyer remembers who they bought from, which is where branded packaging compounds.
One sequence, or one prefix per game
A Serial Seal is a die-cut printed holographic foil label carrying your artwork and a number. You choose the numbering: your own prefix running sequentially from a start number you set, random codes, a batch code plus a number, or no number at all. Within one order, no two seals share a number. Two schemes suit a multi-game seller.
One continuous sequence. A single prefix, climbing forever, across every game: RIV0001, RIV0002, RIV0003. The game lives in your log, not in the number.
A prefix per game. MTG0001, OP0001, LOR0001, SWU0001. The number tells you the game before you open the spreadsheet.
Most one-person operations should take the continuous sequence: reordering is one decision instead of four, and you never have to guess which prefix is running low. Per-game prefixes earn their keep when separate people pack separate games, or when you run separate storefronts. Whichever you pick, decide it once: a scheme that changes every quarter is one you cannot read back in a year.
The log is the part that does the work
The seal is the visible half. The log is the half that answers questions, and a spreadsheet does it. One row per seal:
- The number.
- The date it went out.
- The game.
- The card as listed, with set and treatment.
- The condition you listed.
- The holder it went into.
- The order number and the marketplace.
- The file name of the photo.
That is the whole system, and it helps document what was shipped in a form you can read back months later. Your orders are also kept in your private log at My Seals, and a single number can be looked up on the number lookup page, which shows the design, the number and the date it was logged, and nothing about the card.
Photograph the number with the card
Two shots, ten seconds, before anything goes in a mailer. The first frame has the card face and the seal number readable in one image. The second is the packed holder from the front. Save both against the order number so the file name matches the log row.
When a message arrives three weeks later: pull the row, pull the photos, reply with the number, the date and the images. You are answering with a dated record instead of a memory. The record does not decide anything, and neither does the seal. If it goes as far as eBay's own buyer claim process, dated records are what you have to offer.
Where the seal goes, by holder
Placement is the same across games because the holders are. Pick one spot per format and never move it.
- Toploader. Across the top opening, onto the plastic. Walkthrough: how to seal a top loader.
- Magnetic one-touch. Lower front corner clear of the card, or centred on the back. See how to seal a one-touch magnetic holder.
- Team bag. On the flap over the fold, which also squares the bag up.
- Mailer or box. On the closure flap for multi-card orders.
The rules that do not bend: never on the card, never on factory-sealed product, never on a holder headed to a grading company. Every format is covered in where to put a seal on every card format, and the most common case has its own page at toploader seals.
Sizes, foils and layouts
The Standard seal is 1.77 x 0.75 in (44.96 x 19.05 mm) and fits toploaders, one-touches and team bags. The Large seal is 2.5 x 1 in (63.5 x 25.4 mm), for deck boxes, bundle boxes and multi-card orders where a small label disappears. Two foils: Shattered Prism and Aurora, in both sizes.
Layouts include portrait and landscape flat, folded, slab banner, toploader banner, and Duo: two numbered halves on one label that you cut apart. Duo is the one for a multi-card order, with one half on the holder and the matching half on the packing slip.
What a seal will not do
Say all of this before any of it goes into a listing.
- It can be peeled off, and another one can be stuck down in its place. An intact seal is not a statement about anything.
- It says nothing about the card: not the condition, not the print run, not the treatment, not whether it is real.
- It has no standing with any marketplace or grading company. No platform treats a sealed package differently.
- It does not decide a return. That is settled by the marketplace and the two people in the transaction, with or without a number on the holder.
What it does do is put your name and a number on the package and leave you a record you can read back. With the photo and the log, it helps deter swaps and return fraud.
What a run costs
Standard seals are $6.00 per pack of 12, with a 60-seal minimum, so the smallest order is $30.00 at 50 cents each. From there: 45 cents at 120 seals ($54.00), 40 cents at 600, 36 cents at 1,200, 33 cents at 2,400 and 30 cents at 4,200. Self-serve tops out at 10,008 seals, and anything larger is quoted.
Large seals are $9.00 per pack of 12, also with a 60-seal minimum, so $45.00 at 75 cents each. Volume takes 10 percent off at 120, 20 percent at 600, 30 percent at 1,200 and 40 percent at 4,200, landing at 45 cents each.
For a seller running four games, 120 to 600 Standard is a sensible first real order. On a $60 single, a 45-cent seal is under one percent of the sale.
If slabs are part of your table, Custom Grading Stickers are a separate product for top loaders and slabs: packs of 12 at $6.00 (50 cents each) down to 40 cents at 600 and above, five layouts, ten holographic backgrounds, your own displayed grade. Custom collector display sticker. Not affiliated with or certified by any third-party grading company.
Listing wording you can copy
Keep the wording to the number, the photo and the log, and nothing else:
"Every single over $50 ships in a toploader with a numbered holographic seal carrying our logo. The number is photographed with the card before it is packed, and the number, the card, the condition and the ship date are logged against your order."
Note what that does not say. It makes no claim about the card, says nothing about returns or disputes, and does not tell the buyer what an intact seal means, because an intact seal does not mean anything. Sellers who overwrite this line end up arguing about their own packaging. There is more on our page about return disputes, and shops with a counter will want the card shop page.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a different seal design for each game?
No, and most sellers should not. One design carrying your own logo is one reorder and one recognisable package. Game logos and card art belong to their publishers, so put your own mark on the label and let the listing do the game-specific talking.
Should MTG and One Piece share one number sequence?
Yes, unless separate people pack them. One continuous sequence with the game recorded as a column in your log is easier to reorder and just as easy to search. Split the prefix only when the packages need to look like they came from different shops.
Can I put a seal on a card that is going out for grading?
No. Seals go on the plastic of a holder, case, bag or box you are shipping, never on the card and never on a holder headed to a grading company. Ship it bare of labels and number the slab when it comes back.
What does the QR code show?
It can point at any page you choose, or at the seal record: a page showing the design, the number and the date it was logged. It says nothing about the card. The link is fixed at print time, so most sellers point it at their storefront.
Is the Large size worth it for multi-card orders?
For a bundle of ten singles in a box, yes. A 2.5 x 1 in label reads across a room and a 1.77 x 0.75 in one does not. Plenty of sellers run Standard for holders and Large for boxes on one sequence.
Pick a prefix and a start number, and put both on the next four packages that leave your bench, whatever game they are. The 60-seal minimum is $30.00 to find out whether the habit sticks. Build your run in the Standard builder, or start with the Large size if boxes are most of what you ship.
Serial Seal is an independent printer. Game, publisher and marketplace names are used descriptively to identify the products sellers ship, and no affiliation, sponsorship or endorsement is implied. Not affiliated with or certified by any third-party grading company. Nothing here is legal advice.