Hey everyone…so it’s been a minute since I shipped babies. I can’t seem to find a very large size Priority box on the USPS site. What size boxes are artists using nowadays? I’m reborning 22-24" kits right now. I’ll be enclosing a few goodies but not an excessive amount…a change or two of clothes, a couple of small toys and a care sheet packet. Thanks!
I’ve been using large priorty boxes, not flat rate. The 12x12x8 https://store.usps.com/store/product/priority-mail-large-box-P_O_BOX7
I, among many other artists on here, have been using Pirate Ship to get shipping quotes. They even offer discounts on priority mail shipping. I highly recommend trying Pirate Ship. It’s completely free
Some of the ladies have recommended Uline for buying boxes. You could buy some of their longer boxes and have the opportunity to use other shipping services, such as USPS ground advantage, to save your buyers some money. But what stopped me from buying boxes from Uline was their outrageous shipping. Their cheapest shipping is 2 days (they offer 2-day and overnight), and my order was quoted $36. I don’t know if it is different across the states or if it depends on which location your boxes ship from.
Surprisingly, out of all the research I did when I was considering investing in more boxes, Uline was cheapest (compared to Amazon, Walmart, Office Depot/Max).
As for me, I have been reusing boxes from other purchases. I don’t make dolls that often, though.
Hope this helps!
I do much of my shipping in recycled boxes from Amazon and other mail orders. I just flatten them and put them away until I need them. I save the packing materials, too. Toddler boxes I have to buy individually. Depending on how many boxes you ordered $36 might not be unreasonable. What does it come out to per box? They’re heavy.
If you curl the baby in half on it’s side, after you wrap it in a blanket, you should be able to get it in a large flat rate box. It’s not as nice a presentation as lying flat but most people won’t care about that and you can tuck the other things in the spaces around the doll so they serve as packing.
This is what I do, it works great for newborn and preemie sized babies!
I recently mailed - Seven kits, two heads, two bodies (12lb) = $18.10 in a regular brown box thru Pirate Ship. Mailed on the 3rd, received on the 6th. I know this is not a completed kit, but wanted to share the money you can save going thru this site using a plain box vs. USPS using priority/flat rate. I often see a single kits shipped for $25. Just remember to match the box type to the shipping option-that’s something I tend to space out and have to backtrack and recalculate.
I sent an 8 pound box with a baby in it and insured for $800 through PirateShip using Priority Mail for $21.53… I always use PirateShip. It would have been $15.83 without insurance,