As a seller, I ship in a bubble mailer 100 percent of the time. I realize some people have had success shipping in a plain envelope, but I think you're running a much higher risk of breakage when you do that. It's my responsibility to do everything I can to make sure the chip arrives safely, and to me, packaging it carefully in a bubble mailer is the best way to do that.

And since a bubble mailer is supposed to be considered a parcel, not an envelope, I think $4 delivered for a new-issue $1 chip is reasonable.