One thing for sure, if it can be broken they various delivery services that are out there will do their best to try to break it. I have watched the postal service folks literally throw my packages into the backs of their cars or trucks as if it were game at the carnival and they were trying to knock over the weighted milk bottles for a prize. It is our job as a seller on Ebay to understand this as a "given" and do our best to prevent this from happening and at the same time avoiding the extra charges that UPS and the POST office want to nickel and dime us over. ( did you realize that if your package is not cardboard the UPS will charge you a lot of extra money?)
Where I get Packing Supplies and WHAT I use for Packing supplies to save money...
1. Grocery Stores and General Merchandise Stores: A Box that you would be several dollars for at your local shipping service is FREE at the grocery store. )Occasionally you will have to "buy a box" for that bizzar special item but this should be a very rare occurance. Get acquainted with teh store manager and ask him to save any styrofoam for you if possible. Find out what days their delivery trucks come and be there when they are stocking the shelves, it saves them a lot of time when you take the boxes and they do not have to break them down and haul them to the back.
2. ANY PLACE THAT SELLS FLAT SCREEN TV's: The amount of styrofoam that comes in a box containing one of these big screen T.V.s is a gold mine..
3. DUMPSTERS: I am not sure about your area, but the dumpster of a Dollar Store is a Gold mine for small boxes and styrofoam and BUBBLE WRAP.. it is almost always very clean and like new and just waiting for you to take it home and wrap your stuff in ( PLUS you never know what treasures there might be in a merchandise store dumpster that can be resold...)
4. ASK YOUR HAIR DRESSER. It is amazing to me just how much a busy hairdresser has delivered to his or her place of business. BOXES and BUBBLE WRAP galore!
5. NEWSPAPERS: Have all your friends save them for you... they are great for wrapping and scrunching up for volume fillers.
6. STYROFOAM: This stuff is way to easy to get a hold of to justify buying packing peanuts (Unless you find them). Blocks of styrofoam and be broken down and can used for fill and padding. STYROFOAM BOXES are great for packing a larger item that needs extra protection. I will Double box an Item by placing it in a regular box and then use styrofoam as an exterior.( or vice versa) It adds almost no weight and is fantastic protection.
7: PLASTIC GROCERY BAGS: These little savers are amazing.. they weigh almost NOTHING and can be filled with paper of styrofoam to create your own packing bubbles..
8: WALMART: If you shop online you can shop at WALMART, They offer free Delivery for orders of 45$ and they are extremely generous with free packing materials, some of the best airbags ( LOTS AND LOTS of them, have come from orders from Walmart..We order dry goods and caned goods, soaps, etc. they are less expensive online, they offer free delivery, they take PAYPAL and along with our groceries they send the nicest strongest boxes, Lots of packing material and airbags and it saves me gas money...
9 TAPE: BUY GOOD TAPE: this is something you can buy on EBAY or you can go to LOWES or someplace like that. GOOD STRONG CLEAR TAPE is something to spend money on, not BOXES or PACKING MATERIAL.
10. SHRINK WRAP: AMAZING STUFF.. light as a feather and really helps to protect pottery, glass and other chip risk items..PLUS if you are wrapping something in styrofoam you can then rewrap it in Shrink wrap to hold it all together.. it comes in 1000 foot rolls for less then 8 bucks.. WELL WORTH IT...
I have shipped items with nothing but BUBBLE WRAP and SHRINK WRAP to be able to save my customer money on shipping. ( keeping a 9 ounce item under 13 ounces for first class shipping can be quite tricky...
11.PRINT YOUR OWN LABELS at HOME: you will save a tone of money for yourself and your buyers by printing your own postage from the EBAY SHIPPING LABLES PROGRAM. Forget paying some second party stamps company, ebay is by far the cheepest way to go and it is a real time saver. Be careful about offering UPS in your options, seems when you try to print a shipping lable you will automatically be sent to the paypal website to print your lable.. If you try to use USPS from paypal your insurance will cost a lot more..
12: DOUBLE BOX: Do not be afriad to double box /pack your items, if you are using plenty of Styrofoam and Bubble wrap /bags, you will be able to do it and save yourself a lot of hassels.
13. CARD BOARD TUBES,PLASTIC PREMIX JUICE CONTAINERS, COFFEE CANS, PEANUT BUTTER JARS etc... THEY ALL WORK and will keep you in teh first class shipping weight range!!
14 BE SURE TO SHIP ON TIME...
Hope this helps a little...
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