PWE stands for Plain White Envelope.
It’s an abbreviation that is used often within the card collecting community on Twitter, Facebook, IG, etc., when referencing how a trading card will be shipped. The cards will be shipped to you in a standard white letter envelope with minimal protection and NO tracking number. (The exception is the eBay Standard Envelope (ESE) which is a letter mail format devised by eBay in partnership with USPS which provides a non-standard tracking number usable within the eBay website to track your order.)
The alternative to PWE is called BMWT (Bubble Mailer With Tracking).
PWE vs. BMWT: which should you choose?
When you buy a card from another collector, you’ll often be offered both. As a rule of thumb:
- PWE makes sense for inexpensive cards: commons, base cards, and cards where the shipping cost would be a big share of the price. It ships at letter rates, so it’s by far the cheapest option.
- BMWT makes sense for anything you’d be upset to lose: graded cards, numbered parallels, autographs and anything valuable. The padding protects the card, and tracking gives both buyer and seller proof of delivery.
Many sellers state that PWE orders ship “at the buyer’s risk,” meaning they won’t refund a lost envelope. If a seller only offers PWE for an expensive card, ask for BMWT instead.
How to ship a card in a PWE safely
- Put the card in a penny sleeve, then slide it into a toploader.
- Seal the top of the toploader with a small piece of painter’s tape so the card can’t slide out. Painter’s tape peels off without leaving residue.
- Fold a sheet of paper around the toploader so it doesn’t shift around in the envelope.
- Use a sturdy envelope and write “Do not bend” on the outside.
One thing to watch: a rigid envelope (and a toploader makes it rigid) may not run through USPS letter-sorting machines, and the post office can charge extra postage for non-machinable letters. Check current USPS letter rules if you ship PWEs often.
