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How do you store shipping boxes for Ebay

I sell a variety of things on Ebay of all shapes and sizes. Therefore, I must have boxes of all sizes/shapes on hand to ship the items when sold. The problem is, they take up so much darn room. I have tried breaking them down to save space, but then it is not easy to find a box of just the right size when you are ready to ship (hard to tell dimensions until you rebuild the box. How do you all efficiently store all those boxes (my garage looks like an Amazon warehouse). 

Message 1 of 28
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Re: How do you store shipping boxes for Ebay

I keep them broken down with the size written on one end where I can see it as I sort through them.  I keep them standing on end.

Message 2 of 28
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Re: How do you store shipping boxes for Ebay

Thanks, I may give that a try. A bit of a pain to write the dimensions on the box, but probably (oh i'm sorry, in today's world I guess the word is "prolly" lol) save time in the long run. I am going to attack my box mountain tonight. 

Message 3 of 28
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Re: How do you store shipping boxes for Ebay

Boy, that is a tough one. I generally keep them in my mud room, which is set off from the kitchen, with a sliding door that I can close. The rest I nest together, inside each other, in a storage place inside my craft room. The Priority boxes are easy because they are all flattened and stack really easy. No easy way to store them all in one place so I can visualize them.

Message 4 of 28
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Re: How do you store shipping boxes for Ebay

I only keep about 10-15 boxes not broken down.

 

I don't know if it is in your wheelhouse, but making boxes is a good skill to have.  I never have been able to again find the youtube video I learned from about 6 years ago. There are a lot of different ways to do it and a lot of videos out there.

 

I get bigger boxes from recycle dumpsters that are broken down and make custom size boxes from those. 

 

I ship a lot of electronics that need custom sizes after bubble wrapping the product. I can make the boxes exactly a 1/2 or 3/4" or 1" bigger than the bubble wrapped product and sleeve the boxes with cardboard so they might have a 1/2" or 3/4" or 1" of solid cardboard all around the bubble wrapped product. 

Fwiw...  Once you get the hang of it, the box making process goes pretty quick.

 

 

 

 

 

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Message 5 of 28
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Re: How do you store shipping boxes for Ebay


@simba6 wrote:

I keep them broken down with the size written on one end where I can see it as I sort through them.  I keep them standing on end.


Same here, except I don't bother to write the size down-- I just line them up by size. Small boxes at one end going to larger boxes at the other.

Message 6 of 28
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Re: How do you store shipping boxes for Ebay

I don't break down my boxes. The largest boxes go on the bottom, obviously, but as they get smaller, I place them inside of larger boxes. That keeps it down a lot, and I can then easily find my small boxes because they are simply inside my larger ones. 

I also keep larger boxes, which I'll never use because they are so large, but I fill them with different shipping supplies. 3-4 are filled with popcorn, one is filled with only extra newspaper, one is filled with soft items I use for extra padding of breakables, and 2-3 are filled with bubble wrap. I know which box holds which items, so easy for me to grab the appropriate box and pull out what I need. 

I can still park my car in my garage too. I keep laundry on right side, and boxes/shipping supplies on left side. It's actually quite organized. Best of luck to you....

Message 7 of 28
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Re: How do you store shipping boxes for Ebay

I converted a bedroom into my eBay work area. My center work table has slots at one end to keep flattened boxes in, standing on end (see pic). Then i also keep some boxes intact stored in the attic.

4CD515E4-AEF2-488D-ABDA-D28E7BC5A7B0.jpeg

Message 8 of 28
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Re: How do you store shipping boxes for Ebay

I used to keep some in my car, right by the plastic Halloween skeleton I keep on the passenger seat wearing a panda mask. Only reason the boxes were in the car was because I would collect them from neighbors and usually forget lol

 

I recently cleaned out my SUV. The skeleton stayed. A police officer laughed when he saw it

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Message 9 of 28
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Re: How do you store shipping boxes for Ebay

   Most of my boxes I buy online in bundles of 25 to a few hundred. Since they come already broken down, I stack the different bundled sizes on top of each other in 3 Costco shelf racks in my garage, then tape a small strip of paper on each size bundle identifying the size. Voila... saves a LOT of room and are easily found.

   I also save some of my wife's used Amazon boxes and stack the smaller ones inside the larger ones.

 Cheers, Duffy

Message 10 of 28
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Re: How do you store shipping boxes for Ebay


@goldrushfinds wrote:

Thanks, I may give that a try. A bit of a pain to write the dimensions on the box, but probably (oh i'm sorry, in today's world I guess the word is "prolly" lol) save time in the long run. I am going to attack my box mountain tonight. 


Takes about 2 seconds to jot the dimensions, and frequently the dimensions are already on the box and all you have to do is read them - in fact, that's mostly how I sort mine. It saves lots of time in the long run.


Hell is empty. And all the devils are here.
Message 11 of 28
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Re: How do you store shipping boxes for Ebay

Pretty much only ship under a cubic foot so I have all sizes of USPS Priority boxes stored on 2 shelves that are two feet wide. 

 

Have similar storage for 10 sizes of non-USPS boxes.  With this new USPS Ground Advantage I may need a lot more non USPS boxes.

 

stephenmorgan_0-1691043424813.jpeg

 

 

Message 12 of 28
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Re: How do you store shipping boxes for Ebay

Nice work table.  I just have a cast iron table saw for my work bench.

 

stephenmorgan_0-1691044931231.jpeg

 

Message 13 of 28
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Re: How do you store shipping boxes for Ebay

Before niching down I need a million different boxes and stored them all in my storage unit with the rest of my inventory.

 

Since niching down, I don't use boxes anymore and switched to all polybags/mailers only.

Message 14 of 28
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Re: How do you store shipping boxes for Ebay

That is beautiful.  I have gorilla shelves and work on the floor.  

Just my Two Cents...
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Penny
Message 15 of 28
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