Sold a purse and have no box that fits! Any ideas?

[tutushopper]

I cut down boxes all the time. Then, I use tape to correct the ugliness and keep it structured and water proof. Sound familiar?

One to two roles of tape for those, usually. The box ends up made of tape I say, even though it has cardboard underneath (oh, and I also use duct tape on those kind, too, with plenty of other tape on top muhahaha). Sounds very familiar.

 

[tutushopper]

Is it the J. Crew tote? You give the longest measurement as 14.5" so you don't need to use as large a box as 21". You'll be spending a fortune in postage for an oversized box depending on how far away you're shipping it. Even if you use parcel post (or whatever they're calling that service now), it'll probably cost more than what you charged.

Another option for boxes is to call your local grocery store and ask if they have any boxes available.

I have spent more on postage than charged too often, and a few times, it ended up that I paid to send someone something. About that time, I decided to donate more items rather than go through the huge box ordeal again, even though the items are much wanted and rare. It's just not worth the hassle of the huge oversized package that weighs a ton and takes $25 worth of peanuts plus $15 for the box, plus postage which is also a ton. UPS gave me a quote on one item of $75. Then you have buyers asking you why postage isn't $3.

 

[MrsBradley]

... and takes $25 worth of peanuts plus $15 for the box, plus postage which is also a ton.

Crumpled store flyers and papers can be used instead of peanuts and they are recyclable too. If you are worried about the ink some white tissue paper from the dollar store can be used as a protective layer. Good idea for getting the right box would be a liquor store. The boxes are sturdy and yet not heavy. I have to admit, I did not leave a feedback once because the seller had packed canvas sneakers with ton of peanuts. It is dry here and I had the misfortune to open the box in front of my kids. I was vacuuming peanuts for the better part of the day.

 

[tutushopper]

Crumpled store flyers and papers can be used instead of peanuts and they are recyclable too. If you are worried about the ink some white tissue paper from the dollar store can be used as a protective layer. Good idea for getting the right box would be a liquor store. The boxes are sturdy and yet not heavy. I have to admit, I did not leave a feedback once because the seller had packed canvas sneakers with ton of peanuts. It is dry here and I had the misfortune to open the box in front of my kids. I was vacuuming peanuts for the better part of the day.

I've only used them with fragile items that would be easily damaged; after the really super expensive packing package, I ran out (used two huge black plastic garbage bags full), then saw how expensive they were to buy, so now I use bubble wrap and crumpled packing paper, flyers, old school workbook pages, and catalog pages. No liquor stores near to me, so boxes are scarce.

OT: I'll bet your kids had fun before you had all that work!

 

[BeenBurned]

But that 21" includes the handle plus the bag...

Are the handles too stiff to cross over to the other side? (I don't mean that you should bend them backwards, but rather, cross them over the top of the bag toward the other side.) It might reduce the size of the box you'd need.

 

[MarneeB]

Crumpled store flyers and papers can be used instead of peanuts and they are recyclable too. If you are worried about the ink some white tissue paper from the dollar store can be used as a protective layer. Good idea for getting the right box would be a liquor store. The boxes are sturdy and yet not heavy. I have to admit, I did not leave a feedback once because the seller had packed canvas sneakers with ton of peanuts. It is dry here and I had the misfortune to open the box in front of my kids. I was vacuuming peanuts for the better part of the day.

Sorry but the part about your kids made me laugh. My son was like that when he was younger. I would open a box and peanuts would start flying out, DS's eyes would get so big and he'd start to smile. It was so cute I had to let him play in them for a while.

 

[Bratty1919]

You might try an art supply; they have odd boxes for paintings that might just work

 

[yyou824]

I have been forced to construct a box from scratch (measured out the dimensions from a completely flat piece of cardboard, exacto-ed it and then hot glued it all together), which kind of sucked at first but ended being kind of fun in a weird meditative way. It was for a pair of nice boots being sent internationally, it both saved me money on shipping dimensions plus I could make sure the boots were secure. I wondered what the buyer thought of my frankenbox (it was very ugly, lots of flaps and hot glue sealing everything in place) when she got it.

 

[yyou824]

*I used corrugated cardboard, when you cut a line for a side (where the seam is) don't cut all the way through, bend the piece away from you and once you have that side in relation to the other pieces use a line of hot glue on the seam to reinforce it (its actually alot easier than it sounds) and voila, custom box.

 

[fabae]

Do whatever you can to construct a box to be the smallest it can be without smashing the bag. I say this because I just sold a bag - didn't get much at all for it - and I needed a box of the dimensions you listed. It cost me $34 to ship! I totally ATE that loss, because you know evilbay wouldn't have allowed me to charge that. (And no one would have paid it anyway), but I kid you not - that is how much USPS charged for priority, insured, sig confirmation on a 21"x15"x5" box.

And, yeah, I charged a third of that in shipping.

I won't forget that again.

 

[tutushopper]

Do whatever you can to construct a box to be the smallest it can be without smashing the bag. I say this because I just sold a bag - didn't get much at all for it - and I needed a box of the dimensions you listed. It cost me $34 to ship! I totally ATE that loss, because you know evilbay wouldn't have allowed me to charge that. (And no one would have paid it anyway), but I kid you not - that is how much USPS charged for priority, insured, sig confirmation on a 21"x15"x5" box.

And, yeah, I charged a third of that in shipping.

I won't forget that again.

I have been in your shoes, and paid to ship something (even made less than $0 off the transaction when fees were paid) so I empathize with your pain. I also have shipped boxes that cost over $40 with postage, insurance, and signature fees within the U.S. I have also sent many irregular boxes that weighed 6-10 pounds that required a lot of careful packaging. I now do indeed charge close to what shipping costs (even though ebay takes back 10%+ of that in more fees) because I'm selling, not donating. It takes me as much as an hour to carefully pack some boxes, what with all the wrapping and filling and such, not counting shopping for supplies (and their cost) and time/gas for taking to the post office. I get people who want me to ship for nothing, and I just won't do it. Sooner or later, someone will come along who understands why it costs that much (and that you aren't making a cent off of postage, but losing when you consider costs for packaging supplies). I would rather package something well than send something that will arrive smashed and broken (and I have received these kinds of packages; it's not fun).

 

[uadjit]

Srsly. Check out UPS for heavy or oversized packages (though not TOO big or you have to pay their dimensional weight prices). Even at retail rates (ie the UPS Store, Office Depot or whatever) you usually save money over paying USPS rates for that type of package.

 

[tutushopper]

Srsly. Check out UPS for heavy or oversized packages (though not TOO big or you have to pay their dimensional weight prices). Even at retail rates (ie the UPS Store, Office Depot or whatever) you usually save money over paying USPS rates for that type of package.

For some of my heavy and large packages, I did check with UPS and their quotes were even higher than USPS. Forget what they wanted to charge to package things (unbelievable rates), just for the postage. I do go with the least expensive way which still allows for safe passage (insurance for $$$ items, etc.).

 

[fabae]

Yeah, last time I checked, UPS's fees were even higher.

 

[uadjit]

For some of my heavy and large packages, I did check with UPS and their quotes were even higher than USPS. Forget what they wanted to charge to package things (unbelievable rates), just for the postage. I do go with the least expensive way which still allows for safe passage (insurance for $$$ items, etc.).

I don't know what the online quotes say and I always package things myself so not sure what they charge for that.

I just take the pre-packaged item to the retail outlets to be shipped. For packages over 5 lbs and less than 10 which are oversized for priority but not big enough to be charged dimensional weight by UPS they are always less than (oversized) priority and often significantly less than parcel post. Around the 5 lb mark they're like $15 less and come with $100 insurance and excellent tracking. You have to pay for additional insurance and signature confirmation but the same is true for USPS.

That said I also try to avoid sending large packages parcel post because I have had them take weeks. UPS Ground usually takes about a week coast to coast.