TAKE SOME PRIDE IN WHAT YOU DO!!

[outdatedrecreated]

I just wanted to share some thoughts for small and casual sellers: TAKE SOME PRIDE IN WHAT YOU DO! Look, I understand that proper packing materials are expensive. The costs can be burdensome at times. But seriously, before you ship off an item you sold, ask yourself if you'd like to open the package filled wish all of your TRASH that you used in place of bubble wrap or other forms of void fill. Just this week alone, I've received packages full of grocery sacks, empty boxes, shredded paper (loose), and disposable styrofoam plates and trays (yep, the ones sold for food)!

When I first started on here, I couldn't afford to buy new packing material, but I also could not fathom putting my name on anything like that. I looked for local ads for people giving away boxes and bubble wrap and it wasn't hard to get. I would literally tape pieces of bubble wrap together. I saved all the boxes I received from things I purchased online, every one of my family and friends got a call from me asking them to save it all and I'd come pick it up. Now that my business has grown, I can buy new packing materials in bulk.

Once a week I take all the old bubble wrap, packing peanuts, and boxes and list them for free on craigslist. They are almost always claimed in a matter of minutes. If you really think that buyers don't care about the packaging as long as they get their item, you are wrong. Imagine paying someone your hard earned money for an item, and having to get your vacuum out after opening it because it was shipped using shredded paper! With everything in business, it's the little things that set you apart from competition that have the biggest impact on your success, SO DO THEM! 

[variety_nook]

@outdatedrecreated  wrote:

"When I first started on here, I couldn't afford to buy new packing material, but I also could not fathom putting my name on anything like that. I looked for local ads for people giving away boxes and bubble wrap and it wasn't hard to get. I would literally tape pieces of bubble wrap together. I saved all the boxes I received from things I purchased online, every one of my family and friends got a call from me asking them to save it all and I'd come pick it up. Now that my business has grown, I can buy new packing materials in bulk."

LOL........ Kind of sounds hypocritical, don't you think? 🙃

[aldente28]

That's quite a lecture.

[outdatedrecreated]

Coming from a drop shipper, your response is not surprising, and neither is your comprehension.

[bigdeals.etc]

@outdatedrecreated wrote:

I would literally tape pieces of bubble wrap together. I saved all the boxes I received from things I purchased online, every one of my family and friends got a call from me asking them to save it all and I'd come pick it up.

I know buyers who would also get just as upset at receiving your reused boxes and bubble wrap too. I even know buyers who would get upset if the brand new box I used got creased by USPS. So it’s all relative.

If your item arrives clean, undamaged, and in tact, does it matter much how it was shipped to you? If it does, I guess you can always file a return to get a refund for the item and buy from someone else that satisfies your requirement. I understand what you mention about trying to brand your name out there... but as you stated, when starting out many sellers will cut corners.

Or maybe these sellers of yours can’t afford their garbage collection.

[outdatedrecreated]

When it's full of the sellers trash, yes it matters. 

[bigdeals.etc]

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@outdatedrecreated wrote:

When it's full of the sellers trash, yes it matters. 

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Return the item for a refund and buy from someone else.

[ronsam-197]

You'd probably object to cut up pool noodles as well.

[outdatedrecreated]

It sure beats newspaper, shredded paper, ripped up coffee stained magazines, and stryrofoam plates. That being said, I would use them. 

[lightlily_arts]

" Kind of sounds hypocritical, don't you think?"  Not really.  Using recycled boxes; no problem.  I think we've all done that.  At least they were using real shipping materials whether recycled or not.   I saved all the foam shipping  peanuts or bubble wrap in good condition I got and reused them.   I don't think we should  be filling up the landfill with materials that aren't biodegradable.   I've had people using old towels, bedding and old t-shirts for packaging.  Not even clean either.  Plastic grocery shopping bags or using a few pieces of newspaper was essentially worthless, and then the seller is mad because the item was shattered. 

[1grandmashope_1]

I have mixed feelings about what your saying.  On one hand, I completely agree with having items packed well for shipping with the appropriate materials. I know that it is important to me, my business and my buyers. But on the other hand, I also understand how one may need to use or recycle other things in place of peanuts or bubble wrap.  It is spendy. 

The presentation and safety of the item being shipped is paramount.  It shows care. But it can show care with other packing materials, as well. 

I do have a problem with your demanding. You may be unhappy about your purchase,  but there is no need for you to get your knickers in a knot. Really.

I am hopeful that we each are doing the best we can in the circumstances that are presented to us.  That we have the opportunities to afford some things that others may take for grant.

The one thing that you can be sure of is we are all different.  I like that myself.  I believe the buyers will determine if they will continue to purchase from any seller. 

Be safe and take care,

Grandma 

[shipscript]

I have a real business and an eBay business.  Oh, and packaging is like Christmas to me. Every package is a gift;  and like the Japanese, the art is in the packaging. I love, love, love, to wrap and ship packages. Unwrapping is a ceremony.

I was fortunate for a decade or two, because our UPS driver would bring us the bags of peanuts that a local retail shop needed to dispose from inbound shipments and that our business could use for outbound shipments. What a fantastic recycling symbiosis, facilitated by a wonderful person in the middle! Does anyone remember those days?

I recycle/reuse everything I can, but am also cognizant of sensitivities. After we received a truckload of file cabinets encased in all kinds of cardboard, I set the cardboard aside. For the past two decades, I have been shipping tube boxes of electronic components to Fortune 500 companies with sheets of recycled corrugated instead of styro peanuts. I was not sure if this would fly. But, about 5 years into this program, some of our larger electronics customers were requesting recycled materials be used in shipments. Who would have suspected?

Now, I would never consider using gooey pizza boxes, used paper towels, dirty bags, or any such trash.  However, all of that plastic bag stuff that comes from the grocery? Anything that is clean? I'm eyeing that. I'm sure there is a place for it. When it comes down to basics, it probably works just as well, but the presentation is everything. And if the fortune 500 can live with it, so can I.

Remember the three tenets of selling: presentation, presentation, presentation.

[outdatedrecreated]

There's absolutely nothing wrong with reusing packaging. I never said there was. I don't reuse it now, because I don't have the time. But I do give it away free to anyone who wants it. 

[lamber9347]

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@outdatedrecreated wrote:

I just wanted to share some thoughts for small and casual sellers: TAKE SOME PRIDE IN WHAT YOU DO! Look, I understand that proper packing materials are expensive. The costs can be burdensome at times. But seriously, before you ship off an item you sold, ask yourself if you'd like to open the package filled wish all of your TRASH that you used in place of bubble wrap or other forms of void fill. Just this week alone, I've received packages full of grocery sacks, empty boxes, shredded paper (loose), and disposable styrofoam plates and trays (yep, the ones sold for food)!

When I first started on here, I couldn't afford to buy new packing material, but I also could not fathom putting my name on anything like that. I looked for local ads for people giving away boxes and bubble wrap and it wasn't hard to get. I would literally tape pieces of bubble wrap together. I saved all the boxes I received from things I purchased online, every one of my family and friends got a call from me asking them to save it all and I'd come pick it up. Now that my business has grown, I can buy new packing materials in bulk.

Once a week I take all the old bubble wrap, packing peanuts, and boxes and list them for free on craigslist. They are almost always claimed in a matter of minutes. If you really think that buyers don't care about the packaging as long as they get their item, you are wrong. Imagine paying someone your hard earned money for an item, and having to get your vacuum out after opening it because it was shipped using shredded paper! With everything in business, it's the little things that set you apart from competition that have the biggest impact on your success, SO DO THEM! 

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Well personally I don't understand what's wrong with someone using newspaper or shredded paper. It's all extra padding and it's just being recycled when used for packing. Calling that "trash" is subjective. Something actually stained with coffee, yeah I get that, but if it's ripped up how did you even see the coffee stain? I just throw that type of padding into my recycle bin. 

I can understand your complaint if your item arrived damaged but it sounds, the way you've written and based on your subsequent replies to others, that your main objection is someone using something other than actual packing materials. You just are coming across as highly angry. That last line....completely unnecessary really....

[toysaver]

 "disposable styrofoam plates and trays (yep, the ones sold for food)!"

Recycling and upcycling packing materials is a no brainer.   Just yesterday the hamburger for dinner was double trayed, I felt like it was Christmas.