Top Ten Tips - Packing Books For Shipping
By Tip Diva | May 21, 2008
Categories: Activities, Amazon.com, Books, Half.com, Home, Household, Mail, Selling, Textbooks, Tips, Websites
Selling books online through a website like Half.com and Amazon.com can be a very lucrative business. But there are also sites that allow you to trade books with other members, like Paperback Swap. Whichever way you like to send out books, there are ways to make shipping them easier:
- Have Your Supplies Ready - Make sure you have shipping tape, Saran Wrap or Ziploc bags, manila or book envelopes, appropriately sized boxes and a permanent market.
- Waterproof Your Books - Before you ship the book, waterproof it by wrapping it in Saran Wrap or putting in a Ziploc bag. This will help protect the book from water damage in case it gets wet in a mail carrier’s bag or mailbox.
- Pad Expensive Or Fragile Books - Tissue paper and bubble wrap is good padding material before wrapping a book. If you’re going to ship the book in a box, remember to pad the box with additional padding, such as packing peanuts. You don’t want the book to shift around and get dented.
- Solidify Floppy Books With Cardboard - If you have a large, thin paperback book that might flop around, even if it is wrapped well, solidify the covers by surrounding them with tough cardboard, then wrapping the book.
- Wrap Tightly - If you’re going to wrap the book like a Christmas present, make sure to wrap tightly or the shipping paper might rip. Tip Diva likes cutting up large manila envelopes and wrapping books in them.
- Do Not Tape Paper To Book - Do not tape the wrapping to the book, or else the book will get damaged when the recipient tries to peel the tape off.
- Tape Package Well - Use shipping tape - not masking tape or Scotch tape. Make sure you tape all seams and secure the edges well.
- Use Waterproof Pens - If you’re writing the label out, use waterproof pens, like a permanent marker. But write on a label and then stick it to the wrapped book, otherwise the permanent market may seep through the wrapping and onto the book (Saran Wrap also helps with this!)
- Protect Your Address Labels - Tape over your mailing and return address, especially if you write them out by hand or print them out using an inkjet printer. Do not tape over any barcodes or stamps.
- Compare Mailing Rates - Find out the weight of your book at Half.com by searching for the book by ISBN number. The weight and dimensions of the book should be towards the end of the product page. Add a few more ounces for your packaging. Then, compare your weight and dimensions and how much it might cost to ship. Sometimes heavier books are cheaper to ship first class than media mail - check the United States Postal Service and UPS for rates.
Other Tips To Check Out:
I’d like to add a tip: when you ship out a book, always include the recipient address inside the package, on a separate piece of paper.
If the outer packaging is ever damaged, then the post office can still figure out the delivery address from that piece of paper.
Hope this helps :)
Good idea! Thanks, ilamma.