Shipping Policy
Last updated: May 7, 2026
TL;DR — sellers ship within 3 business days of payment. Orders under $20 use USPS First-Class / Ground Advantage with tracking; over $20 includes tracking by default and signature confirmation over $250. Most domestic orders arrive within 3–7 business days. If your order hasn't shipped in 7 days you'll be reminded; in 14 days it auto-refunds.
1. Handling time
Sellers are required to ship within 3 business days of a paid order. Holidays, weekends, and postal-service closures can add 1–2 days. If a seller can't meet the handling time for legitimate reasons (vacation, illness, postal disruption), they should message the buyer and either ship as soon as possible or refund the order — never let it run silently into auto-refund territory.
2. Carriers & services
All orders ship from within the United States. Default service tiers based on order value:
| Order value | Default service | Typical transit |
|---|
| Under $20 | USPS First-Class / Ground Advantage with tracking | 3–7 business days |
| $20 – $250 | USPS Ground Advantage or Priority Mail with tracking | 2–5 business days |
| Over $250 | USPS Priority Mail with signature confirmation | 2–5 business days |
Sellers may upgrade shipping at their discretion. UPS and FedEx are also supported when purchased through the seller's own carrier account, with the tracking number uploaded manually.
For the lowest-value cards (typically under $5), sellers may choose Plain Envelope (PWE) shipping with no tracking — the buyer is told this clearly at checkout. Buyer Protection still applies, but lost-package claims for PWE shipments rely on a longer waiting window since there's no carrier scan to confirm.
3. Tracking
Tracking is required for every order over $20 and strongly recommended for everything else. Once a seller marks an order shipped (or buys a label through our integrated Shippo flow), the buyer receives the tracking number, the carrier link, and email + in-app notifications.
We pull status updates (Accepted, In Transit, Out for Delivery, Delivered, Exception) automatically via carrier webhooks where available. Status changes are visible on the order page in real time.
4. Shipping cost
Shipping is determined by the seller at listing time. Three modes are supported:
- Free shipping — paid by the seller, with no add-on to the buyer at checkout. The seller absorbs the label cost (estimated by the listing, deducted from payout when they buy the label).
- Flat rate — set by the seller (typically $1–$5 for a single card, $5–$10 for top-loaded multi-card lots), added to the buyer's checkout total. Pass-through to the seller minus any difference between the flat rate and the actual label cost.
- Calculated at checkout — buyer's exact rate is calculated from the parcel weight + destination ZIP at checkout time using the carrier's API.
Sellers using the built-in Shippo label flow typically pay $3–$6 per USPS label for a standard top-loaded card, depending on weight and destination zone. The exact label cost is shown when the seller buys the label.
5. Packaging standards
Sellers are expected to package cards safely. Best practices:
- Single cards: sleeve, then top loader (or semi-rigid for high-value), then a team bag or tape sealing the top loader, then a bubble mailer or rigid mailer. Tape the top loader's open end so the card can't slide out.
- Multi-card lots: sleeve every card, stack between two top loaders or in a rigid case ("card brick"), then bubble mailer or box.
- Sealed product: bubble wrap, well-fitted box, and "fragile" stickers as appropriate for booster boxes, ETBs, etc.
- Graded slabs: always rigid box, with bubble wrap padding inside, oriented so the slab can't shift. PSA/BGS/CGC slabs damaged in transit due to inadequate packaging are seller's responsibility, not the carrier's.
Damage caused by inadequate packaging falls under the seller's Buyer Protection liability — not the carrier.
6. Address accuracy
Buyers are responsible for entering an accurate, complete shipping address at checkout. The Site validates common errors via Shippo's address-validation API but cannot catch every typo. Reshipments caused by an incorrect address you entered may be at your expense (the seller can charge a reship fee or, if shipping was already paid, decline to reship and refund minus the original shipping cost).
If you notice a typo immediately after checkout, message the seller through the order page before they print the label. We can't change shipping addresses on a label that's already been printed.
7. Domestic shipping only at launch
Dragon's Claw Cards currently supports U.S. domestic shipping only. International shipping (including to Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and military APO/FPO addresses) is planned but not yet available through our checkout.
A seller may arrange an international shipment privately with a buyer through messaging, but this is outside our checkout flow and Buyer Protection does not apply. We strongly recommend waiting for international support to roll out officially rather than attempting off-platform workarounds.
8. Undeliverable shipments
If a package is returned to the seller as undeliverable (bad address, unclaimed at post office, refused by recipient, no safe delivery location), the seller can:
- Reship after the buyer confirms the corrected address. Buyer may be charged for the reshipment if the original failure was their fault.
- Refund the buyer minus the original shipping cost (which was already spent on the round trip).
9. Lost or damaged packages
- Marked delivered, missing: file a USPS missing-mail search first (or the equivalent for the carrier on the label). If the package doesn't turn up within 7 days, open a dispute on the order. We work with the seller and the carrier to resolve.
- Damaged in transit: photograph the packaging AND the card immediately upon opening (before discarding any packaging). Open a dispute on the order with the photos attached. Sellers with shipping insurance will typically initiate a carrier claim.
- Stuck in transit (no movement for 10+ days): open a dispute and we'll help track it down. Carrier delays beyond reasonable control are not the seller's fault, but if the package is genuinely lost, Buyer Protection applies.
10. Auto-refund for un-shipped orders
To protect buyers from seller no-shows:
- Day 7 after payment: if no tracking has been uploaded, the seller gets a reminder email.
- Day 10: the buyer is notified that the order is late and may auto-refund.
- Day 14: if still no tracking, the order is automatically refunded in full to the buyer's original payment method, the listing is reactivated, and the seller's account is flagged. Repeat offenders are suspended.
11. Prohibited shipping practices
- Fake, recycled, or unrelated tracking numbers — grounds for immediate suspension and permanent ban; reported to the carrier and Stripe.
- Shipping empty packages or substantially different items — treated as fraud, banned, and reported to law enforcement and the payment processor.
- Shipping with no padding inside an unstamped flat envelope to claim "free shipping" while gambling on damage in transit being the carrier's fault — not allowed.
- Shipping to an address other than the one on the order without explicit buyer consent in writing on the order's message thread — not allowed; voids Buyer Protection for the seller.
- Listing items as "Local pickup only" then switching to ship-only after payment without buyer agreement — not allowed.
Email support@dragonsclawcards.com with your order ID. For seller-side shipping setup help, see the seller dashboard's "Shipping" section or message us.
