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  • #157567

    CrowPickle
    Participant

    I’m aaaaalmost done producing a small run of these silly “kits” I made as part of an art vending machine project. In addition to the vending machines, I’ve decided to also sell these on my own site. However, the one thing I haven’t prepared for is the shipping & handling process. I was hoping some makers out there might be able to help me find solutions for the following questions:

    1. How do I package these up without spending a ton? The kit boxes are made from 100lb cardstock which is okay, but I feel that a simple bubble mailer might be too flimsy to protect the boxes and they could get crushed in the process. They’re only about the size of a pack of cigarettes, so I’m trying to find a packaging solution that is still pretty small in size.

    2. What is the cheapest rate I can get for shipping these items? Each kit weighs well under 1lb, so I think flat rate shipping might cost more than what I need. I also want to be able to track these items when I mail them.

    3. Any other tips or tricks I should know when dealing with shipping & handling?

    Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it!

     

    #163752

    CrowPickle
    Participant

    Answering my own question for posterity: (This is all for US shipping info)

     

    1. Packaging: Bubble Mailers ended up working pretty well, and I ended up bubble wrapping my kits and then placing them in the bubble mailer for extra bubble protection. However, for added sturdiness I purchased small boxes on the cheap. I asked at the Post Office if these 5″x5″ boxes might be too small, but I was told that they should be fine and that I could go even smaller.

    2. Cheap Rates: USPS First Class Parcel is the cheapest rate that I’ve found, although I wasn’t able to print and ship labels directly through USPS (I’m not sure why they removed that option). However, I was still able to print First Class USPS labels through Paypal here: http://www.paypal.com/shipnow

    3. Other tips: Make a spreadsheet for order tracking! I made the mistake of offering Venmo as an alternative payment method for my kits (instead of purchasing through the website), and now I need to keep track of all my sales through various channels! In the future I’ll plan to sell my art explicitly through one avenue, but having a spreadsheet to keep track of which orders are in progress, which have shipped, and their tracking numbers has been a helpful tool.

    #164693

    jrowe
    Participant

    Some great insight.  I definitely agree with the use of a spreadsheet to keep track of off website orders.

    #164764

    CrowPickle
    Participant

    I’m a spreadsheet junkie for organizing anything. I love to just set up fields for progress and have them color-coded i.e. red for “not started”, yellow for “in progress”, green for “shipped”

    #166493

    jrowe
    Participant

    I’m the same way… hahaha.

    #179954

    Alex
    Participant

    Hi.

    What I do is manually wrap the action figure in bubble wrap about two or three times around and then tape it just enough so it will be sealed, not insanely tight, and then I just toss it in a polybag. I’ve never gotten bad feedback and usually, people will say how it was well packaged. I think bubble mailers are just to tight, one bend and the item inside may bend badly.

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