It’s pretty well known that the USPS offers free shipping supplies for Priority Mail, but I’m astonished at how few people actually take advantage of this. You can literally order thousands of shoe boxes for no cost at all and I still see people scrounging up used Amazon boxes to ship to the Authenticators. Absolutely crazy to me. I’ll break down what I use and when in the rest of this post.
Before I go further I have to warn you to only use these free shipping supplies for Priority Mail! I may give some advice down the line that contradicts this, so do as I say not as I do.
We’ll start with the non-flat rate options here, but also see whether you should or shouldn’t reuse shipping boxes.
Free Priority Mail Shoe Boxes
These things are one of the best additions to my shipping tool arsenal. I have yet to find a pair of loose shoes that do not fit in these. All of my shoes get packed in clear poly bags (12”x15”), labeled with their SKU number and into my inventory boxes. Every single pair that fits into these bags will fit into the free shoe boxes. I fit a pair of size 14 AF1’s in these.
They’re also great for fitting VHS tapes, as 12 can fit in them lined up and cushioned on all sides by padded flat rates (see my disclaimer above).
It also seems that the sizes of this box and the large priority box are favored in shipping rates. If you change the length of this box in the eBay shipping calculator to 16 inches instead of 15 it will give you a much higher shipping cost.
Large Priority Boxes or Box 7
These boxes are 12x12x8.5 and are very useful for shipping hard goods with calculated shipping. There’s nothing special about them except that they are free and have the benefit of being a favorable size in the shipping calculator.
If you use the eBay shipping price calculator and get a number higher than you would like, check Pirate Ship. With that you’ll likely get a lower price using UPS. DO NOT USE THESE BOXES FOR UPS, get a big poly bag and put the box inside (lol). You’ll look like a ding dong using the wrong box when you want your packages to be shipped professionally.
Tyvek Envelopes
These are very handy for stuffing inside of shoes for photography.
I will, on occasion, use these for shipping jackets that fit in a clear poly bag but not in a flat rate envelope. Don’t trust the adhesive on these, tape across the entire thing.
Order 100 at a time (they take up very little space).
Flat Rate Envelopes
These guys are the bread and butter of my shipping program. 90% of clothing that weighs over a pound will fit in a flat rate envelope with some practice and finesse. I charge $8.99 flat rate to ship in these envelopes and eBay’s rate is $7.52 and $7.83 for legal size.
There are two different sizes, regular and legal. The adhesive is a bit different between the two as well as the length. I promise you that just about any article of clothing outside of jackets can fit in these I’ve sent size 44×34 Levi’s 501 in a regular Flat Rate envelope.
The legal size costs just under $.30 more to ship, but the little bit of extra length really helps larger items.
Please do not trust the adhesive on the envelopes, tape the corners. Use clear poly bags 100% of the time for the clothing, envelopes are paper.
Order these 100 at a time.
Padded Envelopes
I personally haven’t found a time where this was my best choice as a shipping envelope. Maybe for hard goods, but in my experience not so much. They are freaking great for shipping media inside of a poly bag. Again, don’t do this, lol.
Order these 100 at a time (expect these to arrive slower than the others).
Figuring out how to work all of the tools you have at your disposal into your shipping program will lower the amount you charge your buyer and what you pay for materials. Taking the time to really understand how flat rate envelopes work will accomplish both of these. You’re getting the best rate possible and paying absolutely nothing for the envelope.
Also, you can get a few envelopes or boxes at a time at your local post office. Getting them in bulk is only available through the USPS website.
