Wasn't sure which forum to stick this in, I guess this one makes sense. I sell a lot of crap online so wanted to share some shipping tips, inspired the the recent post where someone wanted to charge $25 to drop something off at the Post Office.
DO NOT WALK INTO THE POST OFFICE AND SAY "I'D LIKE TO MAIL THIS THING PLEASE" unless you're 150 years old, hate money and have tons of free time.
Shipping things is EASY. You really only need 3 pieces of equipment: a scale that does ounces, a ruler and a printer.
If you need a scale, you can get real fancy for $26 or just get a kitchen scale for $11.
Accepting payment:
Do you trust the person you're buying from? PayPal G&S is the only payment option that offers built-in buyer protection, but it's also the only one with fees. With the other three, once the money is sent it cannot be recalled. If you don't know or trust the person, use G&S (remember the seller absorbs the fee). Shooter is a pretty good community, so the odds of some douche mailing you an empty box are pretty slim, but this is important to know how to CYA. If you know the person or if they have lots of positive feedback on their iTrader rating, use one of the others to save paying fees.
Packing your stuff:
This one's pretty self-explanatory. Save your amazon boxes and bubble mailers, get some packing tape, and you're good to go. Now is when you stick it on the scale and measure how big it is.
Buying postage:
Under a pound, you have three options...
Over a pound, you have two options...
Firearms and ammunition... rifles and shotguns can go through USPS, but ammo and handguns need to go through FedEx or UPS. A nonlicensee can ship to another nonlicensee within the same state without an FFL (it's true). A nonlicensee must ship to an FFL if it's going out of state.
Labeling... this is where the printer comes in: just print off the label and stick it to the package! If you want to get fancy, you can use sticker sheets. If you don't just tape or spray-glue the sucker down.
Mailing the thing:
So how much does this actually cost? Most things under a pound (which is probably 90% of the stuff on here, other than guns) will cost you about $5 including insurance, and take 2-3 days in-state. (If you wonder why I offer to ship things for free or pretty cheap, this is why.) If you want to sell something bigger like an upper, that'll go by weight and could be around $15-20 insured. Shipping a pistol in a FedEd flat rate box with insurance will get you closer to $30.
DO NOT WALK INTO THE POST OFFICE AND SAY "I'D LIKE TO MAIL THIS THING PLEASE" unless you're 150 years old, hate money and have tons of free time.
Shipping things is EASY. You really only need 3 pieces of equipment: a scale that does ounces, a ruler and a printer.
If you need a scale, you can get real fancy for $26 or just get a kitchen scale for $11.
Accepting payment:
- PayPal Friends & Family
- PayPal Goods & Services (additional fees for the seller, but includes purchase protection. You can calculate G&S fees here: https://thefeecalculator.com)
- Venmo
- CashApp
Do you trust the person you're buying from? PayPal G&S is the only payment option that offers built-in buyer protection, but it's also the only one with fees. With the other three, once the money is sent it cannot be recalled. If you don't know or trust the person, use G&S (remember the seller absorbs the fee). Shooter is a pretty good community, so the odds of some douche mailing you an empty box are pretty slim, but this is important to know how to CYA. If you know the person or if they have lots of positive feedback on their iTrader rating, use one of the others to save paying fees.
Packing your stuff:
This one's pretty self-explanatory. Save your amazon boxes and bubble mailers, get some packing tape, and you're good to go. Now is when you stick it on the scale and measure how big it is.
Buying postage:
Under a pound, you have three options...
- PirateShip.com -- commercial pricing, usually about 30% less than post office, can pay however you want
- PayPal Shipping -- commercial pricing, usually about 30% less than post office, but you can only buy postage with your PayPal account
- USPS.com -- good option if you want to pay full price for the same thing
Over a pound, you have two options...
- PirateShip, which somehow has access to cubic rates which they somehow have magical access to, and is way less than the usual by-weight rates.
- USPS flat-rate boxes, which you can fill with concrete without changing the price. They have padded envelopes and 4 sizes of boxes, and they're free to pick up at the post office.
Firearms and ammunition... rifles and shotguns can go through USPS, but ammo and handguns need to go through FedEx or UPS. A nonlicensee can ship to another nonlicensee within the same state without an FFL (it's true). A nonlicensee must ship to an FFL if it's going out of state.
Labeling... this is where the printer comes in: just print off the label and stick it to the package! If you want to get fancy, you can use sticker sheets. If you don't just tape or spray-glue the sucker down.
Mailing the thing:
- If your mailman likes you and the thing is small, you can just leave it in your mailbox and they'll pick it up on their normal route
- If your mailman doesn't like you and the thing is small, you can drop it in a blue box
- If your thing is large (won't fit in a blue box) or expensive (want to be extra-sure it gets scanned in), then head to the post office and drop 'er off.
So how much does this actually cost? Most things under a pound (which is probably 90% of the stuff on here, other than guns) will cost you about $5 including insurance, and take 2-3 days in-state. (If you wonder why I offer to ship things for free or pretty cheap, this is why.) If you want to sell something bigger like an upper, that'll go by weight and could be around $15-20 insured. Shipping a pistol in a FedEd flat rate box with insurance will get you closer to $30.
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