Packing Materials

Air pillows are the most cost effective, due to their light weight, and generally do a good job. Otherwise...the classic packing peanuts...can't go wrong with them.

I used to use Newspaper...but as I became a Higher-volume seller, I quite with that method because I wanted my products to appear more "professionally packed" Currently I use packing peanuts and Air pillows, depending on the space I need to fill.

Do you buy them locally or online? (Both peanuts and air pillows.) If online, can you give a recommendation?

Thanks for the input!

Hi Cakethings,
Air pillows are nice, but hard to find sometimes. I personally use 1/2 bubble wrap or Packing peanuts to fill in my voids and have not a had any complaints yet. Most people will be there supplies on eBay for several reason: Generally you can get the supplies cheaper then loca retail, or shipping centers for what they charge. Most of my customers use Packing peanuts to fill in there void. If you have any questions about shipping supplies email me at rvs@cinci.rr.com or check my ebay store http://stores.ebay.com/Rivies-Variety-Shop?refid=store.

Riviera

You can indeed find good deals on this product on eBay, however, I'll give you the name of my supplier, they sell on eBay, but will sell to you cheaper if you order by phone.

AMShipping Supply
1-888-665-0046
sales@AMshippingsupply.com

As I said, they sell on eBay by the same name, but cut you a discount if you order direct. They are cheap and reliable.

I pride myself in being cheap. If I have something fragile, I usually put some cardboard around it first (an old box that something was shipped to me in breaks down nicely, I also get a lot of boxes from when I buy box lots at auctions). After the cardboard I use good 1/2" bubble wrap. Of course, like you said, there is usually that void to fill. To fill this void, I use shredding. If you don't have a shredder they are not that much money for a small one, you can usually get them for around $10. I get many + fb's about my great, safe shipping. Just make sure it is strip shreds, not the cross-cut The shredding might be a little heavier, but an extra ounce usually doesn't affect the cost of the package unless you are exactly at a specific pound mark. You may not think you have things to shred, but believe me once you get into the habit you will end up with too much lol... I never noticed how many things printed wrong or how many times the kids actually printed their cover pages for their projects before getting them "just right". Junk mail is always fun to shred. Just make sure you're not shredding your bills - can't get rid of them that easy! Oh and yeah, there's always that identity theft issue

I understand that you may want things to look professionally packed as cavaleriesoldaat said, but I don't think this is too bad... maybe it's the mid between newspaper and peanuts. One of these days maybe I'll become high-volume too and will be able to afford the peanuts

I buy my bubbles from http://stores.ebay.com/Linda-Lees-General-Store_W0QQssP...3amefsQ3amesstQQtZkm

Also, I put two inches of peanuts under and on top of an item. I then cut the corners of each side and fold the sides down. That fills any void without wasting peanuts and bubble wrap.

I saw that trick once when I ran out of peanuts and took something to the UPS store to get something shipped ASAP.