New here in Dec. 2020

Hello,

I'm Ally. My mom collected vintage made in occupied Japan elves. Only. That's it. Every Sat. we would go to estate sales, thrift stores, etc. and try to find those elves. We always had a great time. Im an adult now and my daughter is 6 and I was thinking about my mom about a two months ago, so my daughter and I bought a few things we thought were pretty at an online auction. I've tried selling some of the extra stuff that came in the lots on ebay and I've lost like $100 in broken items and shipping lol.

I've been reading here for about... 2 hours and I thought I'd give it a go.

 

There's enuf to read here for the next 2 years.....you've only scratched the surface !!
Lost item $$$..as a seller or shipper........some folks here can help u navigate that ..

Greetings

 

Seller lol. I tried to price things fairly and lost money on shipping. They don't sell if shipping is high but because its glass/pottery etc. when I've shipped flat rate no amount of packaging has saved the item. Not an antique but today I just had to refund $68 on a Booths "Real Old Willow" teapot and it broke my heart because the pot was broken. Honestly its put me off shipping. It was a beautiful teapot. And I lost $ too T_T but I do like it here so far!!

 

maybe with more experience you can up your price, and offer free shipping..?

as for packing.....damage happens......specially with fragile items.....
can u sell less fragile items ?
or sell the fragile ones closer to home.....for pick up ???

 

spam reported......
now I'm being stalked !!!

Not U Ally !!!!

 

Hi Ally!

Welcome to Antiquers..........

A suggestion might be that the next item you sell/ship, come here and show us how you are packaging that item.

Insure the item.....it's at your cost, but worth it.

Priority Mail automatically insures up to $50......that comes with the cost of mailing.....additional insurance (over $50) will cost more.

Packaging can't be overdone!

 

Greetings, Ally! Lots of experienced folks here you can ask for tips and advice. You name it, they've seen it!

 

Welcome to the forum, Ally.

 

Welcome Ally. Sorry about your shipping losses. Show us yur next thing & maybe we can help. Some have been selling for a long time and are willing to share their knowledge. Packing is a learned art. In 15+ years, I've had one item damaged.

 

I will post pics here next time I ship! I used bubble wrap, and packing paper but alas. Here is some pics from the refund yesterday

 

The lid, spout and the handle were fine. Such a shame because this was a beautiful piece, rare to have the gold intact. The buyer was mad too. Im an idiot and next time I think I'll get some thrift store towels and pack with those as well.

 

Ally, do you ship the wrapped item in a cardboard box? It needs sturdy protection, parcels get thrown around or get stuck in between other parcels.
Make sure the wrapped item doesn't touch the sides of the box, put extra bubblewrap or crumpled paper in between the sides of the box and the wrapped item.

 

Indeed, just when you think you have enough bubble wrap, wrap it again (LOL), and use packing peanuts too - they will take up small voids between the crumpled papers. Make sure when it is packed there is no movement of your item in the box.

 

Welcome to the forums! By any chance were the elves produced for Napco? I think my mother has some we got at an estate auction years ago. I believe they were based in Cleveland and imported lots of goods so there is a lot of them out there, especially in Ohio.

 

This looks like it fell off a moving vehicle .......
or dropped from a plane !!!

I'd have wanted to see what the box looked like .....
That's the tell......
if the box was beat up.....it's the shipper....
if the box was clean........it's the packer !
(more often than not ! )

 

Ally didn't mention a box, just bubble wrap and packing paper. Which makes me think she wrapped it like you would a present you would hand over in person, no box.

 

What a shame! Some packing ideas on this.
Fill the interior with peanuts. Make little cardboard 'tents' to fit over the handle, spout and anything on top of lid if there. Wrap each piece in tissue paper.
Then wrap in bubble wrap. Then wrap in packing paper - much like newspaper.

Prepare the box by making a bed of bubble wrap on the bottom with peanuts on top. Shake down the peanuts so they don't move too much. Lay your item in and surround with peanuts - shake down again and add more as needed. Put in 'crushed' packing paper to stabilize.

Before closing, I frequently add half of a styrofoam box with the solid side down. (Think of boxes fast food or carryout frequently comes in.) This allows a little play if needed. Once you are used to doing it, it isn't complicated and doesn't take too long. Most items I get for free from family and friends.