gday from australia

[mmiikk]

gday all. ive been checking out all the channels for the last couple of weeks and finally thought it was time to join the chat. my name is michael from perth, australia. i remember hearing a long time ago that perth is one of the most isolated cities in the world. from the postage charges ive been experiencing to get decks into my hands, i definately envy the chat of $5 USD plus free postage for decks! but in saying that this new hobby is already turning out to be very satisfying and extremely interesting, whatever the cost.

ive been collecting for nearly a month- yes im still very green- but already i have over 50 decks, with about another 30 on the way, when you take into account kickstarter and the ones that take 3 weeks to arrive from ebay sellers in UK (crazy!) it blows my mind some of the photos in here of some collections. one guy i thinks said he had 2400. amazing. i have so much yet to see. my preference for decks so far are custom, anything red, and tobacco decks. the list of wants, is getting bigger and bigger. oh well im sure there are worse addictions.

i am keen to find out as much as i can about the history and design of decks, not just the modern trendy ones. there seems to be a wealth of knowledge around. i plan to tap some of that.

oh and if anyone has a bright idea to give to retailers on how to package cards for transit so i dont have to receive another deck with dents because its been sent in a paper envelope, then please let me know.

id definately be keen to hear from any aussie collectors about their collections and where and how they source locally.

cheers all.

[lolo]

Welcome !

[MagikFingerz]

Gday, mate! Welcome to UC

You've definitely come to the right place. And I'm sure we have a few Aussie collectors here, can't remember any off the top of my head though.

[mmiikk]

thanks for the welcome fellas

[LA Karnival]

Welcome! Bear in mind that collecting decks is an expensive hobby!

[dazzleguts]

Welcome to UC mmiikk!

Check out the new Worldwide section for some card history, and a rundown of the different card families from around the world. There is also some history in the Knowledge Base. If you have any decks from countries outside of North America, including your own country Australia, I invite you to post them to the Worldwide. (If a thread hasn't been started for a country you have cards from then go ahead and start one.)

As for shipping I have used the following method myself when selling cards from my collection and had very good results. This only works for sending 1 or 2 decks that are opened and have a tuckbox which opens at both ends. Don't know if you can convince sellers to do it but they may be grateful for a new shipping method too.

The cards are taken out of the box and separated into small packets. The box is opened at both ends and flattened. Flattened box and card packets are placed between 2 pieces of strong cardboard. I put foam sheeting between the cardboard and the cards/box but it may not be necessary. Place padding or cardboard around the narrow edges and tape everything in place. The resulting package should be less than the maximum thickness allowed for over sized letter mail (2 cm here in Canada) and there should be no movement inside when you shake it. Place your cardboard protected cards inside a regular paper envelope and they have become letter mail - which travels faster and cheaper than any package.

The shorter time letter mail spends in the mail system also means there is less chance of damage. All of the cards I have sent this way arrived safe and sound, and very fast. I sometimes get asked at the post office if my package contains anything besides paper and I can truthfully say it is all paper.

[mmiikk]

@la karnival - i think sticking to a theme is going to be important, otherwise i could be in trouble haha
@dazzleguts - thanks for the detailed tip. very clever idea.

[McSpazzy]

I'm another one of the aussies. Also suffering the horrors of international postage.

[mmiikk]

let me know what ya into mcspazzy and maybe we can sort out some bundles to save on shipping

[ivan]

welcome to the UC!! Another fellow aussie!

[volantangel]

Wow we are seeing a surge in aussies arent we. Welcome =)

[MotleyFool]

Welcome aboard!

[Norbie]

my name is michael from perth, australia. i remember hearing a long time ago that perth is one of the most isolated cities in the world. from the postage charges ive been experiencing to get decks into my hands, i definately envy the chat of $5 USD plus free postage for decks!

Try living in Canberra, and yes, international postage sucks!

Two decent online retailers from Australia are THEFLUSH.COM.AU and there is also SHUFFLEANDDEAL.COM.AU which do have free postage within Australia.

[mmiikk]

thanks for the further welcomes all. very kind of ya.
@volantangel: i like your list of likes
@ norbie: thanks for the tip on the site

[shuffleanddeal]

my name is michael from perth, australia. i remember hearing a long time ago that perth is one of the most isolated cities in the world. from the postage charges ive been experiencing to get decks into my hands, i definately envy the chat of $5 USD plus free postage for decks!

Try living in Canberra, and yes, international postage sucks!

Two decent online retailers from Australia are THEFLUSH.COM.AU and there is also SHUFFLEANDDEAL.COM.AU which do have free postage within Australia.

thanks for the further welcomes all. very kind of ya.
@volantangel: i like your list of likes
@ norbie: thanks for the tip on the site

Hi Norbie & mmiikk,

My name is David and I run http://www.shuffleanddeal.com.au" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks for recommending us Norbie. Our focus from the start has been to give access to reasonably priced decks for Australians and we have always offered free postage to keep prices down.
We are currently expanding our range and we will be engaging our customers to to do this. We want our range of products to reflect what our customers want, not what we think is good or what we can get easily.
Stayed tuned on our facebook page for details, until then enjoy our free postage and we look forward to dealing with you.