Packaging and Shipping Tips

Ashley wrote:

packaging and shipping! I am clueless when it comes to this!

I'll give you a brief rundown of my best packing and shipping tips, but then I'll redirect you to the eBay Underground Proboards group, where the discussion topic of the week this week is this exact topic!

Essential Supplies:

• a wide variety of poly mailers, which I order from eBay
• tyvek mailers, both generic and Priority Mail
• a wide variety of boxes (plain, recycled, and priority mail)
• bubble wrap
• packing peanuts
• packing air bags
• packaging tape
• tissue paper

I buy almost all of that on eBay. It gets me eBucks, and I'm supporting the selling community. I have tried to beg for packing supplies on my local Facebook yard sale site. I have gotten a handful of responses, but it's not a reliable source. People in bigger towns would probably have more luck with that than I do.

Clothing Shipping Process:

I love shipping clothing! It is fast, easy, and safe. I fold the item neatly and wrap it (with my packaging business card) in tissue paper. Then I drop the bundle into a poly mailer, and that's it! Sometimes this varies. If the item weighs more than 13 oz, I will put it in a flat rate mailer, or of course if it's very bulky, I'll put it in a box. But 98% of my clothing goes first class in a poly mailer.

Plush Shipping Process:

If the plush does not have a sound/voice box, I follow the exact same procedure as my clothing shipping. If it has a voice box, I wrap it in tissue with my card, then I drop it into a shipping box.

Breakables Shipping Process:

This is going to depend on the item, but mostly my breakables get double-wrapped (at least!) in bubble wrap, then packaged in a box that's too big, filled with packing peanuts. My most frequent breakable item is microwave turntables. I used to build boxes for them, but I quickly got tired of the time I was wasting on that and decided it was worth the $2 each to just buy boxes. Sometimes you have to spend money just to keep your sanity.

Shoes Shipping Process:

Shoes also get wrapped in tissue and put in a shoe box. Most of my shoes go domestically, via priority mail. I use the priority mail shoe box for that. The boxes are free and are usually the perfect size. If it is going via international first class mail, I scavenge a plain box or turn a recycled box inside out.


I know this has been a quick post, and that I've only skimmed over how I package, but I wanted to encourage you to participate in this week's eBay Underground thread about packaging tips. If you don't have any packaging tips of your own to offer, that's okay too! Come read other people's tips and LEARN! That's what we are there for!