Shipping and packaging pins and prints thread!

I hope this is helpful to those who are new to or want to start shipping things but feel lost, and interesting to everyone else!

I ship a LOT. I've gotten decently okay at it over time! Here is how I currently organize and ship.

My table. My office is big enough for a mobile table. I still use the floor for when I have a LOT of things, but a folding table can be moved around the office and I can leave things out on it.

I have business cards, tape, pens and paper for writing and scissors + a trash can.

The closet is mostly a series of shoe organizers I have repurposed in various ways.
Hanging ones for storing tape, stamps, or other goodies.
Wooden ones up top for holding boxes of envelopes or other large things.
Plastic modular ones with doors for storing polybags and boxes.

I like everything to be accessible and easy to find. I have bad ADHD so organization and labeling does NOT come easy to me so I very slowly find a spot I like for things and it helps me if they're ALWAYS there and VISIBLE. Anything hidden away may as well not exist

So I've talked about this in depth before, but for shipping labels I use Pirateship (free and better than any paid service I've used). And I use a label printer to save time.

I print out each label and write down what was sold on the back so I can package orders when I have time

I ship 2-3x a week so might print out labels BEFORE I plan to package. I provide the tracking information to the customer, then lie these labels out in batches such as pins, prints, plush, etc. It helps ME to do things in batches, especially if I have a lot of orders.

Packaging a pin:

First to find the pin. I organized my pins into drawers with cardboard separations I taped in. Each drawer is labeled for easy finding.

I'll lie out an envelope for each label and place the item(s) sold + a business card + any extras (a small gift sticker in this case!) On the envelope.

I JUST filled a ton of orders so just the one for now.

Some people just toss everything into a bubble mailer.

Personally I don't use bubble mailers for a few reasons:
1. More expensive
2. Takes up LOTS of storage space
3. Non reusable/recyclable

Instead I buy bulk manilla envelopes and bulk bubble wrap.
My order this morning

This means every order batch must be individually wrapped. I'll measure a bit past the edges of my pin, and cut strips of bubble wrap. You can cut a pile of these out in advance. (Yes I use my printer as a bubble wrap cutting surface. I don't have unlimited space )

I wrap each pin face down towards the bubbles. Quick video demo!

From there I have a finished wrapped item! I just slide it into the envelope and seal it up! It's ready to go! Repeat for each item. I usually seal items as soon as I wrap them to prevent envelope mix-ups.

What about multiples?

I just wrap things a bit differently.

For 2 pins I wrap them very similar but face to face with a layer of bubble wrap between them.

This prevents scratches or dents to the pin face and the backs should have enough bubble wrap to pad them.

For 3-4 pins I use a larger strip of bubble wrap and nestle the backing cards together to reduce surface area before wrapping them the same way.

It fits with room to spare in an 5x9 envelope. You can do 2 rows to easily fit 8 pins in a small envelope.

I have shipped orders of 10-20 pins by just using different combinations of nestling pins together and wrapping them. Just add extra bubble wrap as necessary.

Now what about shipping out that nice print?

I use an Ikea organizing drawer to keep all of my print supplies in one spot! Paper, ink, and packaging materials.

First to protect it you are going to want a plastic sleeve! You can buy these through Clearbags or places like Papermart or even Amazon. Buy just a hint LARGER than your print. My 8x10 prints go into an 8 1/4" x 10 1/4" bag for wiggle room.

You don't want it to bend while shipping so you need to stabilize it. You can use cardboard or order backings

Clearbags sells VERY sturdy 4-ply boards, but they can be pricey. You can order magazine backing cards on Amazon if you use certain sizes or I use inexpensive chipboard

Sorry for background noise. I turned off the space heater so there was less background noise and it upset the cats who are protest running

I use a one size fits all approach for smaller prints. I ship a lot of 8x10 and a lot of 9x12 so I just buy envelopes in the larger size.

Writing "DO NOT BEND" does not guarantee the mailman will read it, but your customer will appreciate the effort if it IS bent in transit.

For large prints the prices is much the same except everything is ENLARGED!

if you sell poster style prints they do just fine rolled into a tube but you always want to ship fine art prints FLAT if you can. This does mean much more padding BUT it's better for the customer.

The big issue with mailing rolled prints is, unsurprisingly, unrolling them without damaging the print. Fine art paper being much thicker is much harder to flatten one it's rolled and is prone to creases that don't smooth out

That said, it's easier to store envelopes than tubes

If the "how to" for the prints feels obvious or basic it's only because a lot of us have been doing it for YEARS. We all start at some point!

I don't think plush need a lengthy "how to" as they are soft and difficult to damage so I squeeze them into whatever polybag fits them

Just shout out if you need any extra information or need me to clarify anything!