Best Deal on Ebay packing materials

[grlpwrd]

No I wasn't joking. I don't use Ebay often (3 times) so I wasn't aware of the debate.I guess It really just depends on the postmaster. Our PM has no problem with it. we get people doing it everyday. I have also delivered mail and have never seen someone charged for priority mail, when using media mail, in a priority mail box as long as priority mail was completely blacked out. I'm sorry If I touched on a hot topic. I was speaking as a postal worker not an ebayer.

Wow...you must be the first postal worker that I have heard "say" this and really it's against postal regulation to misuse USPS property like that.

For me I get my supplies thru ebay or www.uline.com, too. I use USPS boxes and supplies which are free or I recycle boxes. Just make sure you get a reliable postal/weight scale for accurate or near accurate shipping quotes.

Also, I want to add the link to order free shipping supplies: http://shop.usps.com/cgi-bin/vsbv/postal_store_non_ssl/home.jsp This is for USPS Priority Mail, Express Mail, and Global Priority Mail items, like boxes and labels. The USPS ceased supplying free Priority Mail tape. You can get Priority Mail labels, but no free tape.

Also want to add that you can get labels printed off from PayPal plus include delivery confirmation and get the fees deducted from your PayPal account. I believe it's .20 per transaction with .13 for delivery confirmation for Media mail, 1st class, and Parcel Post. No surcharge for Priority Mail, .20 surcharge for the other ways. You may also use the hide/stealth mode in which your postage/cost is hidden......There's also free USPS Priority Mail delivery confirmation and the link is http://www.usps.com/cgi-bin/api/shipping_label.htm . It's also for Express Mail, and international mail delivery confirmation. For other delivery confirmation or insurance check out their Click n Ship page: https://sss-web.usps.com/ds/jsps/ds_landing.jsp

Some folks use www.stamps.com or www.endicia.com instead for their postage needs which also often offers weight scales with their services.

Other shipping options are DHL, UPS, FedEx, and such.

HTH*

 

[extremesoccermom]

I realized the expense after I sold my first book on Amazon a month ago. What I did was take an old paper bag, cut off the bottom then cut in half. I am able to wrap 2 books from one bag. Then after getting tape from the Dollar Store I found out that the Post Office needs to see the book and they can tape it closed after verifying it is a book. Now I don't even have the expense of the tape either.

 

[robinb]

Then after getting tape from the Dollar Store I found out that the Post Office needs to see the book and they can tape it closed after verifying it is a book.

What a PITA. Thank goodness my PO doesn't check my packages since I sell an average of 5-10 books per day. I now have a thermal label printer and I print all my postage at home, most of it media mail. I then just drop my packages off in the nearest mailbox.

 

[crazymomof4]

As far as reusing it..in the same rule book, it states it can only be re-used for priority mail also.

I had no idea such a "rule" would be placed on what I consider to be trash (most people throw away the boxes items mailed to them come in)

No disrespect to you DMRick but that is OUTRAGEOUS!

Everyone knows that the USPS is not losing $ by offering these "Free" supplies, the cost is worked into the rates we pay for Priority Mail shipping. Each and every Priority Mail purchase has a portion of that rate that goes to cover the cost of the "Free" shipping materials. If I already paid for an item to be shipped to me via Priority, then the box should be mine to with as I wish. And it essentially it is: If I want to cut it up and use it for a craft project, I can. If I want to toss it into the recycle bin, I can. If I want to burn it in my fireplace, I can. But I can't cover it w/ brown wrap and use it to mail something Media Mail???????????? What????? They'd rather I purchase an identical box from an office supply store and toss the perfectly good Priority Mail box into the trash? Does the USPS have stock in the paper industry?

What other distributor of a product similar to this continues to dictate the use of their product after it becomes the property of the customer? By forcing a customer to pay for Priority Mail over and over again using the same box, they are getting paid for that box over and over again.

If I sell a Hess truck on ebay and decide to throw in a new pack of batteries, can I tell the buyer that they can ONLY use those batteries in the Hess truck they purchased from me?

If Pepsi does a promo where they offer a free mug with the purchase of every 2 liter of Pepsi, can they mandate that the ONLY beverage you are permitted to put into the mug is a Pepsi product?

How would it be, I wonder, if Ford Motor Company hooked up with Mobil Oil and from now on all owners of Ford vehicles can only purchase their gas from Mobil stations?

Rant over.

 

[robinb]

Each and every Priority Mail purchase has a portion of that rate that goes to cover the cost of the "Free" shipping materials. If I already paid for an item to be shipped to me via Priority, then the box should be mine to with as I wish.

The problem is that the Post Office cannot tell the difference between a recycled box which has been turned inside out or covered in paper or a brand-new box turned inside out of covered in paper. They look the same to the agent. Unfortunately, there are plenty of people who would take the free supplies and use them for parcel post or media mail instead of the Priority Mail for which they were intended. It is the theft that the PO is trying to stop and I don't see anything wrong with it.

 

[DMRick]

What other distributor of a product similar to this continues to dictate the use of their product after it becomes the property of the customer?
***********
LOL! If it makes you feel better, UPS will accept the USPS Priority box for mail (and USPS will accept a UPS box for shipping LOL). You actually can use it for the other uses (rip it up for crafts, etc), you just can't use if to ship USPS, unless you are shipping it Priority. I couldn't believe it myself, the first time someone posted where on the USPS site it said that. But maybe they think people would use new boxes, and just mark them up and turn them inside out (although most of them are now stamped inside too) to send via a cheaper type of mail. And I guess they must figure it's harder to control which is new, and which is a used box.

In any case, I feel good. I put three hugh plastic bags full of air pillows and two big bags of peanuts on the Free Cycle board today, and within seconds someone claimed them. I have a ton, thanks to the stores that save them for me, and it's nice to get the ones I can't use, recycled!

 

[crazymomof4]

The problem is that the Post Office cannot tell the difference between a recycled box which has been turned inside out or covered in paper or a brand-new box turned inside out of covered in paper. They look the same to the agent.

This may sound like a stupid question, but if I leave the postage paid shipping label on the box and cover it, wouldn't that obviously indicate that my box was indeed a recycled one? Does the old barcode, under the brown paper, somehow mess up the USPS scannning system. Sorry, but I just don't get it. If they are suspect, I would have no problem opening the box and showing them the old shipping label. I'm not a thief and I, too, am appalled by people taking the free supplies and using them for cheaper shipping options. It's theft and it's wrong and it drives up USPS rates for all of us. But I save ALL boxes and envelopes to re-use for my ebay sales, why am I not allowed to re-use these? It's not about the box really, it's the principle.
BTW- These are retorical questions, not directed at anyone here, since I'm fairly certain that none of the posters here made up this idiotic "rule".

LOL Maybe the tag fairy will give me a tag that reads: "Is determined to re-use Priority Mail shipping supplies, on principle."