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When I first started my FBA business, I had leftover boxes and air pillows from my Christmas shopping. As a Prime customer on Amazon, I racked up on free 2-day shipping and saved the packing materials for my new venture. Amazon has rules about packing boxes. If you don't follow the rules, then you risk damage to your items. If Amazon deems it's due to your poor packing, then they won't reimburse you. If you do a good job packing, and an item gets damaged by UPS (notorious for throwing boxes), then you can open a case and generally expect reimbursement for the item.
I use the 14 inch box the most. The Walmart boxes are great for lighter weighted items. For heavier items, I buy the small and medium boxes from Home Depot. I try to stick with the smaller boxes so that I can lift them without help and get them to the UPS office. As you can see in the above picture, I get creative when my husband or son are not available. (FYI- You canNOT use liquor boxes. UPS / Postal rule.)
I'm out of Christmas boxes, so now I have to purchase boxes. Some people scavenger for free boxes by collecting them at their workplace, or asking store managers for boxes. It's worth a try if you don't have money to spend on boxes! I buy my boxes primarily at Walmart and Home Depot.
I use the following sizes from Walmart:
12 x 12 x 12
14 x 14 x 14
16 x 16 x 16
18 x 18 x 18
I use the 14 inch box the most. The Walmart boxes are great for lighter weighted items. For heavier items, I buy the small and medium boxes from Home Depot. I try to stick with the smaller boxes so that I can lift them without help and get them to the UPS office. As you can see in the above picture, I get creative when my husband or son are not available. (FYI- You canNOT use liquor boxes. UPS / Postal rule.)
When it comes to tape, I'm a bit partial to Scotch packing tape. I've tried two other brands that simply didn't do. I guess I'm a little slow because I've thrown away more of the red plastic tape dispensers than I can count. I didn't notice until recently that I could replace the roll of tape! I saved two, and now buy tape in packs which saves me money. The Scotch dispenser has a the best little lip to catch the tape to keep it from falling back onto the roll (which is a pain to peel off). I suppose you could go pro and get one of those fancy smancy tape dispensers like they have at the UPS office, but I like that this one is easy to handle.
And then there is dunnage! I hope you've read the rules, but just in case you missed it -do NOT use packing peanuts in your box! You will cause yourself a problem if you do.
So what should you use for packing materials?
Some items require polybags. I use the self-seal bags with the suffocation warning labels printed on the bag. You can buy them cheaper through Uline and Bubblefast, but if you don't want to buy a 1000 bags, then you can buy them 100 at a time on Amazon. Trust me -you will go through them faster than you could ever imagine. The sizes I use the most are 8 x 10 and 9 x 12. The sizes you use will depend on your inventory. If you have an item like a toy that is partially in packaging and partially out of packaging, then you will need to either polybag it or shrinkwrap it. We will save shrinkwrapping for another blog post. If you don't have the ability to shrinkwrap, but want to shrinkwrap something, then take your product to Office Depot. They will shrinkwrap it for 0.75 cents.
Some items (anything breakable for certain) require bubblewrap. It's a good idea to keep a roll around the house. If Amazon says to bubblewrap something, then bubblewrap it even if it seems like a silly idea based on the packaging. You will get dinged!
Pack your boxes as tight as you can to avoid shifting contents. The official rule is two inches of space on all sides (just sayin'). If you have space, you can use air pillows (collect and save from your own deliveries and hit up family and friends to do the same); newsprint (you can buy packages of it at Walmart or endrolls from your local newspaper); small, blown up balloons, and my new favorite -plastic sacks within plastic sacks! You will collect a LOT of plastic shopping bags when you're out sourcing. Don't throw them away. You can stuff bags inside of bags, tie the bag tight, and stuff it into the box. They are puffy, but flexible enough to fit into small places, and they work great! It's recycling at its best.
Another packing tip: Always keep space between your products and the top of the box, but most especially in the center where the warehouse workers will cut the box open. You don't want them to accidentally slice your product! Place newsprint, air bubbles or bubblewrap on top of your products before you close the box.
If your box or product is distributor damaged: Always, always, always open a case with Amazon and request reimbursement. If all else fails (they say no), then you can do a removal order for 0.50 cents per item. They will send the products back to you. You can inspect them, possibly resell as used or on ebay, use them yourself, or donate them. Don't place a removal order until you've heard back about reimbursement. Don't assume that they won't reimburse you either.
Please leave comments with your own packaging tips.
And then there is dunnage! I hope you've read the rules, but just in case you missed it -do NOT use packing peanuts in your box! You will cause yourself a problem if you do.
So what should you use for packing materials?
Some items require polybags. I use the self-seal bags with the suffocation warning labels printed on the bag. You can buy them cheaper through Uline and Bubblefast, but if you don't want to buy a 1000 bags, then you can buy them 100 at a time on Amazon. Trust me -you will go through them faster than you could ever imagine. The sizes I use the most are 8 x 10 and 9 x 12. The sizes you use will depend on your inventory. If you have an item like a toy that is partially in packaging and partially out of packaging, then you will need to either polybag it or shrinkwrap it. We will save shrinkwrapping for another blog post. If you don't have the ability to shrinkwrap, but want to shrinkwrap something, then take your product to Office Depot. They will shrinkwrap it for 0.75 cents.
Some items (anything breakable for certain) require bubblewrap. It's a good idea to keep a roll around the house. If Amazon says to bubblewrap something, then bubblewrap it even if it seems like a silly idea based on the packaging. You will get dinged!
Pack your boxes as tight as you can to avoid shifting contents. The official rule is two inches of space on all sides (just sayin'). If you have space, you can use air pillows (collect and save from your own deliveries and hit up family and friends to do the same); newsprint (you can buy packages of it at Walmart or endrolls from your local newspaper); small, blown up balloons, and my new favorite -plastic sacks within plastic sacks! You will collect a LOT of plastic shopping bags when you're out sourcing. Don't throw them away. You can stuff bags inside of bags, tie the bag tight, and stuff it into the box. They are puffy, but flexible enough to fit into small places, and they work great! It's recycling at its best.
Another packing tip: Always keep space between your products and the top of the box, but most especially in the center where the warehouse workers will cut the box open. You don't want them to accidentally slice your product! Place newsprint, air bubbles or bubblewrap on top of your products before you close the box.
If your box or product is distributor damaged: Always, always, always open a case with Amazon and request reimbursement. If all else fails (they say no), then you can do a removal order for 0.50 cents per item. They will send the products back to you. You can inspect them, possibly resell as used or on ebay, use them yourself, or donate them. Don't place a removal order until you've heard back about reimbursement. Don't assume that they won't reimburse you either.
Please leave comments with your own packaging tips.
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