AW Daily - Tips & Tactics - After the Auction: Packing Merchandise Part 2

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by Dennis Prince

You read our tip, Packing Merchandise, but you still wanted more. Well, more is what you'll get. Let's face it: With so many different items to pack, so many choices involving packing material, and so many places to send the stuff, many of us are left pondering the best ways to pack our precious cargoes. In our previous packing tip, you learned where to get packing supplies, and which are the best and most cost effective (e.g. free). Now, however, let's really drill down on how to pack certain items, what to avoid, and, most of all, how to keep your customers thrilled and delighted when their treasure arrives.

Setting Up Your Ship Shop
Believe it or not, many sellers overlook a key element in their packing process--where they will pack up their items. You might think you can grab a box, bubble wrap, and packing peanuts, and do your packing anywhere at anytime. Certainly, you can take that approach, but it's not the most efficient way to work, and besides, a transient "ship shop" might have ill effects on the items you'll pack.

If you do a significant amount of business (and therefore pack a lot of goods), you're best served if you establish a designated area for your packing activities. Choose a clean, well-lit environment that is dry and reasonably free from excessive foot traffic (not to mention little hands and big hands that like to move, drop, and hide a pair of scissors or a roll of tape). A good ship shop lends itself to easy "staging" of items; it features a sizable flat work area (like a large table or workbench) that keeps the items free from damage and dirt; it provides easy access to all your shipping supplies; and it helps you develop a packing routine that will save you time while also ensuring your customers' ultimate satisfaction.

What Are You Shipping?
Here are a few rules of thumb the experts use when they approach a particular packing job:

Photos or other nonbreakable flat items: Use standard manila envelopes with a same-size piece of cardboard for stiffening. For particularly old or delicate flat merchandise, consider putting the item in a plastic sleeve, then sandwiching it between two pieces of cardboard. Don't just lick that envelope flap; use a strip of packing tape to seal it shut. If it's a particularly large item, consider rolling it (if it won't cause damage) and send it in a sturdy (repeat, sturdy) mailing tube with both end-caps taped down.

Glassware, pottery, and other fragile items: Wrap the item in light tissue paper first, then wrap it with bubble wrap. Put it in an appropriate-sized box with a cushion of packing peanuts around the item. Next, place this box inside another box, again using a cushion of packing peanuts around the box within a box. Styrofoam sheets also work great as outer box siding material.

Framed items: Size matters here, and you'll need to size up the job to see whether it's within your potential to do a good job and whether you'll be able to work with the supplies you have. But for starters, if the item is behind glass, it's best to disassemble the piece and pack the elements separately (see the above tips on flat items). Bubble pack and foam sheets are a must here, and you should wrap frame corners with sheet foam to prevent them from puncturing the packing box or causing damage to the piece itself (be it a litho, photograph, or whatever). Although you can find special packing boxes just for framed items, if the piece is too valuable or too unwieldy for your comfort, take it to a professional.

Big tickets: If it's too big to handle, if you feel you'll have to improvise a patchwork of packaging, or if you just don't think you'll be able to get it in and out of your car when you're all done, then by all means, hand the job over to a pro.

The little things: Whether a small piece of jewelry, a stamp, or any other "little" collectible or item that could have big value, be sure it doesn't get lost in the mail. First, protect it: Put the item in an appropriate-sized box with the right amount of packing peanuts or foam sheets to cushion it. Next, make it visible: Put that little box into a medium-sized box with appropriate interior cushioning. The second box might add more protection than required, but the goal is to be sure that little darling doesn't fall into some crevice, crack, or piece of mail-sorting machinery after which it might never be seen again.

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