Powersellers Blog

You’ve listed your item on eBay, got some bids, and now your item has sold. Then comes the fun part of packing and shipping. Packing materials can eat away at your profits, so here are some creative packing material solutions from around the house.

Reuse Boxes and Packing Material. Order something recently? Save that box for eBay shipping. Through the US Post Office, you can get free priority boxes and tape. Sometimes you might need to ship with another service so keep those cardboard boxes. They are easily broken down and can be stored practically anywhere. Stash them under a bed or prop them up behind a piece of furniture. Also save those packing peanuts or other packing material. Place peanuts in a plastic bag and hang them out of sight.

Newspaper is probably the most reused household item for packing material. It’s cheap and can be stacked in a corner to use whenever you need it.

Cereal Boxes make great packing material to protect breakable objects. Wrap the item and place into a cereal box for extra padding. While it will add to the weight of the package, the buyer will surely appreciate the extra packing effort.

Plastic bags are wonderful for wrapping items in. They are also great filler for extra space in a box and can keep items from moving around so much.

Plastic trays from the deli can be washed and used as excellent packing material. It can help to keep items protected during transit.

So, next time before you toss something in the trash, think of how recycling it as packing material can save you money. 

Lynn Little wrote this on July 5th, 2007 and filed it under eBay |