Help needed: What recommendations do you have to ship kits across the USA?

[ytsejam87]

Can anyone offer suggestions on shipping kits across the USA?  

 

Over the years I have been a bit too "optimistic", and eventually will be putting a part of my stash up for sale here.

 

I have been a buyer, but not a seller, so I know little if anything about shipping.  Pros and cons of USPS, UPS.  Sourcing Boxes...etc.

 

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Joe Hegedus]

Pirateship.com is your friend.  Discounted shipping via USPS, UPS, and maybe other carriers as well.  Can print shipping labels from the site when purchasing postage, and can pay via Paypal or credit card.  You need to create an account/register on the site but it's free.

[jbryan911]

What Joe said. Pirate Ship works great. You can even do international shipping with out any fuss. They have a special rate for Canada too.

[RedHeadKevin]

EDIT: Never mind.

Edited March 7, 2023 by RedHeadKevin

[Kurt H.]

My Experience as a seller:

 

Priority mail is usually the best way for most model kits, up to the size of something like a monogram B-17 sized box. Ilike priorty mail because it gets there in 2 or 3 days usually, and has good tracking. it is a good value ... cost / speed

 

Anything larger than that it is often more cost effective to use Parcel Post or UPS Ground.  If you sell on eBay, you have the option of buying and printing shipping labels through ebay. 

 

I would also suggest getting.a postal scale, so you can weigh the packages at home, and print your labels at home. This way you do not need to spend time at the counter or the self service kiosk at the post office. 

 

As far as boxes, save the boxes you get from the stuff you order. For smaller kits you can use the free priority mail boxes from the post office. There are many more boxes available for free delivered to your door from the usps website.  Usually the Flat Rate boxes are the most expensive way to ship unless they are going all the way across the country.  I see at the post office they usually only have the flat rate boxes, but you can get non flate rate priority mail boxes by ordering them. 

 

For large boxes there is no easy way. Sometimes stores have free boxes, but the flat sizes best for model kits is not common.  You can buy boxes from a place like Uline, but the cost of shipping boxes is often more than the price of the box, and you will need to buy a minimum quantity. Packaging stores might have the right sized boxes, but want $7-$20 for a single large box. I ended up buying a bundle of boxes at Grainger, and while still expensive I could pick them up and not pay for shipping. 

 

 

[Scott Smith]

Check out some businesses in your area that might have cardboard recycling. They might give you some before crushing them. Before I retired I had access to all kinds of various size boxes due to the electronics gear we ordered.  Nice heavy boxes too.  
Also, there might be a box distributor in your area where you can buy bulk boxes. 

Just a bit of a warning though. Be prepared for sticker shock of shipping, especially if going into Canada.  I was going to ship a set of G Factor landing gear in a padded envelope and it was $35.  Buyer backed out.  Cannot blame him either. 

[Charlie D.]

I’ve shipped 1000s of kits over the years. From downsizing my own stash that was over 1500 at one point to the current 400-500 size, to selling resin kits I produced for about 15 years. I learned lots of tricks. 
 

Do any online shopping? Save those boxes. Pretty much anything I ship these days is in a recycled

Amazon/Walmart/target box. Save those white Amazon padded envelopes. Great for shipping books or cut down and use to ship decals with a cardboard backer. Get the free priority mail boxes. Hit up the FedEx store and grab a few of their free boxes in different sizes. You can turn them inside out and use them for shipping. They have some nice sizes for kits (more so than the priority mail boxes). 
Don’t be afraid to cut down boxes or make your own. Last time we got a huge shipping box I cut out the sides to have some large flat pieces of cardboard to make my own custom boxes from. 

Get a cheap kitchen/shipping scale off Amazon, and a tape measure to measure boxes. Sometimes shaving an inch off a larger box can save quite a bit. 

 

 Use pirate ship for discounted USPS and UPS shipping. Use it for quoting and pass those savings onto your buyer. You’ll get more repeat buyers. Nothing irks me more than paying a “retail” quote for shipping and seeing it show up with a “PayPal” shipping label. I know that buyer just pocketed the difference. The savings by using pirate ship can be quite substantial at times. Also, for smaller kits, anything under 15.9 oz can go USPS first class parcel which is cheaper than Priority Mail. Doesn’t work for all kits but there are a lot out there than can go boxes under a pound. Hope that helps!