How To Ship Something ( A GUIDE!)

kaylinart (75)in #life • 7 years ago (edited)

Many people do not know anything about shipping. I mean you give the package, and it goes away. Eventually, it arrives at the person house.

How did it all happen?

Sure if you want, You can just go to the post office, They'll print you a label and ship it for you. It's easy.

You'll have to wait in a long line.
You may not get the best price with shipping.

Knowing how to ship is a valuable skill. No longer will you rely on Facebook, Or other apps to sell your stuff in person, and if you like to keep to yourself you can easily sell your items online, and ship it directly to the customer. My book "Sell Everything" Will show you where to sell your items.

Materials needed!

Printing Labels

The best way to do this, Is by having your printer. If you have a lot of items to get rid of, This may be a worthy investment. Many printers are cheap. You will need to print shipping labels to track and ship your items to the customers.

A Scale

Unless you have lots of big items to sell, Usually a smaller kitchen scale is good enough, You can weigh books, clothes and other items. It may seem counterproductive to buy some new things when you are trying to get RID OF STUFF. But you can always sell these things once you are finished getting rid of the bulk of your stuff.

Tape

You'll need shipping tape; This is inexpensive. Make sure to get the clear, or brown-colored packaging tape; I used to work in a shipping facility, and these are a MUST have. You don't necessarily have to get the highest quality tape, But if can afford it, you may want to consider it. Walmart sells Duck brand packaging tape at only 1.00 in most places. It's lower quality, but it gets the job done.

Packaging materials.

You don't necessarily have to buy packaging materials, But you need to ensure things are properly packaged. Otherwise, you'll lose money. Most apps and websites will make you give the buyer a refund if the item is broken in transit. So it's your responsibility to ensure that your item will arrive safely. You can reuse packaging materials that you got from other purchases; You can ask people on social media for boxes and such. Some locations will even give you popcorn peanuts for free. You can even get creative and use leftover boxes from food from your pantry. (As long as their clean) Such as graham cracker boxes, and cereal boxes.

Shipping software

You can easily go to www.paypal.com/shipnow To print postage! But if you have bulk shipping needs, Using a good software makes it so much easier.

I use Stamps.com. It costs 16.00 a month. It's easy to cancel. So for decluttering it can help you speed things up, You can batch print labels from your computer, and even hook up your scale to stamps, so you don't have to sit and type in the weight of each item.

Use this code to sign up, C-BZPC-XXT, and you will get a $100 offer which includes a digital scale and $45 in postage.

If you decide to sell on Ebay, Listia or Amazon, Sometimes they will supply you a shipping label, But be warned Listia and sometimes Amazon charges you extra to print the label. So you'll spend more money doing it that way.

Don't hesitate to go on the USPS website directly and check the cost of shipping something. That way you don't get ripped off. Apps like Mercari, While I LOVE selling on them. Charge 4.00 to ship something that should cost only 2.60 and they pocket the rest! It doesn't seem fair.

You can also print directly off USPS and UPS, But the process of getting the label feels long and tedious. That is why I like stamps.com and Paypal because you can copy and paste.

Shipping stuff is easy....

Package your item, Make sure it's completely secure. Your item could get thrown, stepped on, And stuck in machinery, So it's important its cushioned adequately.

Weigh your item.
Try not to overpack your item with cushioning, You don't want the weight to be too high. Higher weight = Higher cost.

Get the address.
If you are using Stamps.com Or Paypal, Enter the address. Make sure to do it accurately. You'll also need to input the weight.

Decide what shipping speed you want.
Most of the time, It's best to go with the slowest, That way you won't have to pay as much.
For USPS:

First class mail: Any package that weighs under 15 oz.
This is the cheapest way to ship. About 3-4 business days.

Priority mail: This is more expensive, But much faster. Usually 2-3 days. If you are trying to save money, Try to fit your stuff in a flat rate box/envelope. That way you'll be charged by size, Not weight.

USPS Retail Ground/Parcel post/Parcel Select: For heavier items that don't qualify for first class mail, It takes 2-8 business days, It's more expensive than First class, But it's your cheapest option for your regular, Heavy items. (Unless you can fit in a flat rate box)

Media Mail: The best value by far, But sadly only educational materials like textbooks,
" Media Mail is a cost-effective way to send media materials through the U.S. Postal Service. You can send books, videotapes, DVDs, CDs, printed music and other sound recordings through Media Mail as long as they weigh less than 70 pounds."

For Fedex and UPS, You'll want to go with the GROUND services for the cheapest shipping. But from my experience; USPS IS ALWAYS CHEAPER ON EVERY SERVICE!

Once you decide what service works for you, Click through and print your label.

Cut the label out and tape it to the box or the package. Then you can give it to USPS when they come by, Leave it in the mailbox, Or drop it off at the post office.

If you use UPS or Fedex, You can go to their stores to drop it off, If you know you are getting a package on a certain day, You can give it to them when they drop it off. Or use a dropoff box that are scattered all over the place.