My first sale on eCommerce came because I needed money. We all seem to need some extra cash in 2021. The economy is not what people seem to be talking about because I feel more broke than ever. I have been listing items on eBay for the last few months and I have found that it is an amazing way to make some extra cash and to clean out your home for old things. There is nothing better than simply getting paid to not trash an item but instead just ship it to someone who wants to pay you for it. Shipping supplies has been an area that I found was pretty tricky. I lost money to start with and now have found out some pretty cool tips to save a lot.
Delivering a nice and perfect package is hard in 2021. Most shipping companies treat your package like crap. And because of this, you need to prepare your items to do battle on the way to the customer. If your item is damaged in transit then you probably just lost money on shipping and time and lots of things in-between. Using the right type of packaging is key to making sure you are not losing money in the long run from returns.
Stuffing is also very important when it comes to packaging because it has to do with the safety of the product inside. If it gets returned and your stuffing didn't protect it then you just lost money again. I want to hammer in the idea that safety is part of the ability to make money on your items. I lost money when one of my items arrived broken and the box was mangled. It was worthless to me and I couldn't sell it again. So make sure you are keeping this in mind. But you also don't want to lose money spending too much money on shipping supplies either. Don't lose money buying all the parts of the packaging, like tape. I did and it is not fun!
To be totally honest, I lost money the first time I sold something online because I didn't know about all the extras. The tape is something you should always have around and I don't add that into the expense chart that much. I also simply use printer paper for labels now. I laminate it with packing tape when I get the addresses on and I have not had that fail me yet. But the big issue is how to get boxes and bags and not spend an arm and a leg on them. Well if you are a company then go to a packaging supply store online and buy in bulk. But if you are like me then use, used bags and boxes. I buy things on Amazon all the time and now I save the packaging and the stuffing. I have a lot of boxes and bags in my closet and I keep them to put items in that I sell now. The space that it takes up is worth the cost that it saves me. Depending on your brand and what you are doing it is totally fine to reuse boxes and bags. But be wise in that choice. It can come back and bite you if it looks really bad.
