eBay

johbatso72 · ‎07-24-2022

What is best way to ship a print Approximately 20”x 20” and 18”x18”No frame. Without bending it

during shipping

sonomabarn67 · ‎07-24-2022

Wrap a sheet of paper around the print. Then sandwich and wrap between two sheets of rigid material and then inside a thin cardboard box that is padded. Sometimes i cut a 1 x 2' sub-frame and then staple cardboard on it, Works for me.

Fragile and Do Not Bend Bend seem to be target words to make sure it gets bent and broken but they may be required for postal insurance.

argon38 · ‎07-24-2022

@sonomabarn67 wrote:
Wrap a sheet of paper around the print.

Acid-free, I take it?

sonomabarn67 · ‎07-24-2022

Only if you estimate a 6 year shipping time. Acid free is really for long term contact. A couple weeks in transit is not going to kill a piece of art. The only benefit would be to the pocketbook of the firm that sold the overpriced acid free materials, 🤔

argon38 · ‎07-25-2022

But it may look better to the customer. It shows you have gone to every length to protect their purchase.

varebelrose · ‎07-25-2022

I always used mailing tubes and shipped them rolled up. I think they are much less liable to be damaged that way, than in a large flat that is very liable to get doubled over and bent or trapped in a conveyor belt.

argon38 · ‎07-25-2022

@argon38 wrote:
But it may look better to the customer. It shows you have gone to every length to protect their purchase.

Also, who's to say the buyer may not want to keep it stored? It could be an investment purchase.

argon38 · ‎07-25-2022

@sonomabarn67 wrote:
Only if you estimate a 6 year shipping time. Acid free is really for long term contact. A couple weeks in transit is not going to kill a piece of art.

Here is one respectable gallery which recommends it for shipping (just to prove I'm not completely making it up):

"For collectible artwork, we recommend placing the flat artwork between two pieces of acid neutral paper or an art sleeve that is acid neutral before using any cardboard or other packaging material around the print."

https://www.elsinoregallery.com/shipping-fine-art

sonomabarn67 · ‎07-25-2022

Again, it's the elapsed time the art is exposed, it's not like flypaper. Although galleries and frame shops used to do just that in the 60s/80's with their spray glue mounting to cardboard war on art.

We're talking years before acids leach into packing materials. Personally I would never rely on an ebay seller or minimum wage staffed framing department to pack for the future like is suggested in that gallery quote. My true concern is that they wrap to protect it from blunt force trauma .

stacy_1971 · ‎07-25-2022

Are the prints mounted with foam core or gatorboard backing material? If they are just photographic paper, I'd roll them and put them in a plastic bag, and then in a cardboard tube. If they are backed, that isn't an option, so you are going to need to put them in plastic bags, then tape them to cardboard pieces that are (about 1-2" around on all sides = 4 to 8 inches larger in total) larger than they are, and then put them in thin boxes, It's gonna be hard to find boxes that size, so you are probably going to have to cut down bigger boxes to that size. My pro-photo lab sends this way, and it works well.

stacy_1971 · ‎07-25-2022

forgot to add, if shipping flat, put the prints in a plastic bag _WITH SOME SORT OF CARDBOARD UNDER_ and then tape to a larger piece of cardboard....

argon38 · ‎07-25-2022

@sonomabarn67 wrote:
We're talking years before acids leach into packing materials.

I agree with you about the physics of it all. I'm seeing it from a different angle: since OP seems to be asking about a one-off transaction here, why not make the packing top-rate, even if it means going slightly overboard? If a buyer sees that special care has been taken, and that the OP really values and respects the print, that may be reflected in feedback that is left.