Whether you are selling from your closet, your reseller account on ebay or on a live auction, once you sell your stuff, now you must ship it! Well…what are you going to ship your sold item(s) in? Where are you getting your boxes from? Are you shipping USPS, UPS, FedEx? How pretty are you going to make this packaging? Lets get into the nitty gritty.
Behind the Scenes: Shipping Basics
As a Poshmark reseller, or a reseller on any platform, it is important to understand all that goes into the organization or the backend of the business. It doesn’t just involve buying items for low cost and selling for a profit. There is more to this business. And it’s imperative to be prepared for when you do make those sales. I thought it would be helpful to write a few articles about what goes on beyond what you see on the screen (Posh Live Shows) or the closet. The first part of this ‘Behind the Scenes’ series: SHIPPING BASICS.
Whether you are selling from your closet, your reseller account on ebay or on a live auction, once you sell your stuff, now you must ship it! Well…what are you going to ship your sold item(s) in? Where are you getting your boxes from? Are you shipping USPS, UPS, FedEx? How pretty are you going to make this packaging? Let's get into the nitty gritty.
First, did you know that USPS gives you FREE boxes to ship Priority Mail? And Poshmark uses USPS when they spit out their labels. So, you can go to your local post office to grab shipping envelopes or smaller boxes. OR you go can go to the USPS website, https://store.usps.com/store/results/shipping-supplies , create an account and have boxes shipped right to your door, FREE OF CHARGE!!! The website is perfect because you can select different sizes of boxes. All free. Shipped free. WIN WIN.
Another option is to fish for boxes thrown out by large stores. This takes a little more guts. You need to peruse businesses and head to the back of the store outside to see where they are throwing away boxes! I mean, why waste these boxes to go into lanfills!!! Grab em’ and use em’. However, just be sure they are not soiled in any way, of course. And a final option, just re-use boxes you receive in the mail. Again, we don’t want to create more trash, so re-use as much as possible.
Next, you need to bag your items to protect them from moisture during shipping. Again, you will need different size bags. We purchase ours from Amazon. Here is a link to the bags we have purchased in the past, and this company has different sizes you can purchase shorturl.at/vBDUX. We purchase the 18x24 (can fit multiple items) and the 12X18 (can fit one or two items). We have also purchased smaller bags for ties, jewelry and other smaller sized items. There is also an option to buy a roll of bags, these are very large and used by dry cleaners for large garments such as coats. However, we have purchased the roll and will usually cut the bag in half to use as two bags and just tie at both ends. Use what works and is the most cost efficient for your business!
You will also need clear packing tape. You will need a lot of this, so buy in quantity! Don’t forget a great pair of scissors too. Oh, and you will need a printer and paper to print your labels. WOW, a lot goes into this shipping business!
OK, now you have your basic shipping supplies in hand, now for some marketing. Poshmark sellers are known for giving gifts with their purchases. Its so customary that its now expected by the buyers. And some buyers will give you a low rating if you don’t give them a freebie for purchasing from your closet! But this could get costly. And when you are selling large quantities weekly like we are, this could dip into the budget! So, we aim to spend $1 or less per item. Where do you find low-cost cool items? We go to www.faire.com. We have found facial spa masks at 70 cents per item. Little heart gem charms for 40 cents per item. Hair clips for 6o cents per item. But the key is you must buy a certain quantity to purchase at these prices. So be prepared for some sellers on Faire to have $50 minimum spends or higher.
You also want to market yourself or give a simple THANK YOU in your box. We use Vistaprint to print thank you cards, business cards, post cards. You can either design on Vistaprint or on Canva and import to Vistaprint. Both have design templates that are VERY easy to use and customize. I actually have a lot of fun using Canva for everything we put out as our marketing. You could also just do a simple handwritten note on some cute stationary. Whatever is easier or most cost effective for you. Oh, you can also utilize stickers on your packaging! So, get creative!
The final piece to shipping is making sure your items that you sold look nice or as close to barely used as possible. 3 basic tools you are going to need for this: steamer, lint roller and sweater shaver. I also have a box of wipes nearby for simple stain removing. All of these items can be purchased on Amazon. Megan actually goes over these tools in our DIY course! You can check that out here: https://www.poshproproject.com/courses/diy-course
OK, now that you have your packaged wrapped up, boxed up, marketed up and free-gifted up, where do we take our sales to be shipped? Poshmark makes this part easy, USPS labels are automatically printed from each sale. But if you are selling outside of Poshmark, you need to order your own printing label(s). All major shipping companies: UPS, USPS, FedEx, DHL all allow you to create and buy a shipping label straight from their website. There are also 3rd party shipping companies that work with these larger companies and negotiate better pricing. We use www.Shippo.com for this. We have found that using this service we save at least a $1 on shipping. So check out Shippo or other sites like Shiply or ShippingEasy.
OK, I think that covers everything you need to get started on shipping. Having a nice space to keep all of your supplies organized, a table to work on and some good music or a podcast in the background will get you going on your shipping tasks. Happy Reselling!
By Gemma Piscotti, Co-Founder – The Posh Pro Project
Gemma is an operations expert and has started up and directed multiple companies in her career from digital media to the medical industry. She partnered with Megan Morris to create the Posh Pro Project in July 2021 which aims to help others succeed in reselling, empower women to be their own boss and keep textiles out of landfills!