Bartertown.com

I am brand New to this concept, but I think its a great thing. Bartetown is so cool. ok on to the question.

I put up my offers, and a lot of people jumped at them.
Now I can ship to People, But have no idea how. Like Where do I go? The Post Office? What do I pack the Minis in? How should I pack them? How do you go about shipping Internationally?

IF anyone Could Provide some Insight, that would be great! ^-^

-//Brinkosanity\\]

welcome aboard brink...
you can go to any shipping place, UPS, the post office, DHL etc...
i used to do UPS exclusively because i liked being able to track my packages but it ended up being too costly so now i always use the post office. you can request something from the post office called delivery confirmation and it will give you a number that shows a) you sent a package and b) when it arrives at the location.

as far as packing goes it is really up to you. depending on what your shipping you just want to make sure it arrives in good shape. if i am shipping stuff that is new in the box i will just get a box and put it in there and if the box is too big i just stuff it with newspaper etc until the stuff stops sliding around. if your sending built models you have to be more careful. ive had people send me things wrapped in tissue paper, napkins, plastic bags, all kinds of things.

just keep in mind that you want to try and pack as efficiently as possible because you will be charged according to the size and weight of the package.

the post office has a couple of envelopes and boxes that they charge you a flat rate for no matter what it weighs so you might want to ask about those but be careful because you dont want to break anything jamming it into a box that is too small. i also recived some assembled miniatures in a bubble wrap envelope once. that didnt turn out so well. keep in mind these things will be stacked, thrown, dropped and whatever other handling nightmare you can think of.

i dont like international orders for a couple of reasons. there is more paperwork to fill out. you have to declare what you are sending. it takes longer. even knowing it is going to take upto X amount of days i start to get nervous when that day comes around just because i dont know if it will show on time reliably.

i hope this helps,
good luck...

P.S. you might want to add your location to your profile so people know where you're located. some people stop reading when they see international and nothing stinks worse than working out a deal only to find out it's international when you dont like to deal with that.

Couldn't have said it better myself!

the cheapest way to ship is thru the post office.

i work for usps. i used to be a window clerk, accepting pacakges, and when we were allowed to pack items, i was trained on how to. i packed and shipped computers, car parts, lamps, vases, you name it, i packed it. and i had no items ever damaged. the boxes yes, the items, no.

i posted a basic how to pacakge minis once, but it was a reply. i should post a complete how to so it can be stickied.

how they get wrapped depends on whether they're plastic or metal, heavy or light, big or little, fragile or not as fragile.

think plastic skeletons for fragile. no matter how you pack them, pieces break off.
tanks and other vehicles are big.
large all metal minis, like old dreads, greater deamons, ogres,are heavy.

the more fragile it is or the heavier it is, the more it should be padded.

some minis should each be wrapped in soft foam.

ALL MINIS, MAKE THAT ANYTHING SHIPPED, SHOULD BE PACAKGED WITH AT LEAST 2 INCHES OF LOOSE FILE MATERIAL AROUND IT. AROUND ALL 6 SIDES OF THE BOX.

NEWSPAPER IS NOT FILL OR PADDING. IT'S CRAP.

loose fill is packaging peanuts, bits of stryofoam or bubble wrap.
IF the items are still NIB in BOXES, not BLISTERS, you can use ziplock style bags filled with air. or plastic style grocery bags.

newspaper is not fill. it will continue to wad up and pack down during shipping. anything packed with newpaper will almost automaticlly void insurance claims.
so if you pack it bad, and it breaks, it's your fault.

i have a claim right now, for a stryofaom castle, that had 4 pieces of newspaper in the box. the box got chrushed, and because there was basiclly no padding, the claim will be denied.

the box should be corragated cardbaod. shoe boxes are crap.

if you don't have any fill or bubble wrap, you can buy cheap styrofoam coolers or sheets of stryofoam. break it up and , now you have pieces.


theres a quick rundown on packing.

go to usps.com and set up a free shipping account. now you can buy and print out postage, at home on your own computer. you need a scale. scales vary in price. i got a 10 pound scale at usps. it was cheaper than all the office supply stores, by half.
you can also get free priority mail boxes, shipped for free to you house, as well as free priority mail tape.
also you get FREE delivery confirmation, with each label. you just need a debit or credit card.
when your done, you can eitherleave it for you regular mail person, or drop it off at any local uspa, you don't have to wait in line.

1st class is 'normal' mail. anything can be shipped 1st class, that is UNDER 12 ounces. after 12 ounces you must choose priority mail or parcel post.
priority mail is usually 2-3 days anywhere in the US. there are a couple boxes that are 'flat rate'. that means, anything that you can fit in there, is shipped for the same price.
parcel post is slower than priority. it's 7-10 days. it's not much cheaper UNLESS it staying local.
a box shipped halfway across the US will only cost 5-25 cents more priority than parcel post.
why. because almost everything usps sends goes by comercial airliner.
every item has a ticket bought and space saved for it.

yes, fed ex, ups and the other common carriers have a ground rate, which is trucked from hre to ther. most times the ground rate is more expensive than priority mail. all have websites and have a shipping calculator. all of the shiiping stores, like mail boxes etc, CHARGE YOU A FEE IN ADDITION TO THE SHIPPING COST; even if you send it usps.

if you only have 1 or 2 items and you're not planning on selling alot, you can box up you item and weigh it on a scale that is outside the post office. it's called an APC; automated postal center. basiclly a self-service window. it will show you the cost, and allow you to add insurance and delivery confirmation.

i believe all companies, EXCEPT USPS give your 'free' insurance for the 1st $50 -100. but then again, their fees are higher, so it's not really free.

INSURANCE.
if it's not worth the couple dollars to insure it, it's not worth the time to complain about it if it's lost or damaged.
insurance at usps is about $1.65 for the 1st $50, it's over $2 for $51-100.
if you don't care if it gets lost or damaged, and will reimburse the buyer the money lost, then don't insure it.



if i get time later, i'll add how to make custom shaped packaging. from cutting and reshaping boxes, to making custom shaped stryofoam.

.

Ok, Thanks alot all! ^-^

I've found that padding the sides of the box with bubble wrap and then wrapping figs in toilet paper or paper towels works well. I also tape all the edges of the box so that if anything breaks off, it can't find it's way out of the box. If you have lose bitz, or expect something to break off, I stick it in a ziploc bag.

So , paper towels are a good packer? Thats surprising!
Ok I think I have a good handle on the subject. Thanks Alot Everyone!

What I found to be a great way to ship miniatures is by wrapping loose miniatures in the small bubble wrap, then separating individual units by zip lock bags, and finally packaging them in a box full of packing peanuts. This way everything stays together and is secure by the box, packing materials, and finally a nice solid layer of bubble wrap.

Well, Brink... my first thought was to chime in with some words of wisdom... but I think usernames... and kturock stole them all from me before I could type 'em.

That's fine. LOL
Less typing for me.

Re:

So , paper towels are a good packer? Thats surprising!

No.
They absolutely are NOT.
What they DO a fairly good job of, however, is protecting a paint job (good toilet paper works better, though), provided the package is packed well enough to avoid a lot of rubbing.

NEVER use it for padding.

I know kturock is the pro... but I have a longstanding disagreement with him (though this might be the first he's heard of it) when it comes to newspaper and plastic bags as padding.

I believe that, under the right circumstances, they make perfectly good padding.

Those, however, are fairly specific circumstances.

When you're shipping NIB items that are already in their own boxes in a larger box... So what if the box slides around a bit?
When you have (properly) packaged a bunch f items in small boxes, then put those (properly packaged) boxes into a larger box... "Filler" paper or plastic isn't bad there.

My thing is, as long as you use it in a "supporting" role, like the ones I mentioned above, it isn't bad (188 rating and NOTHING ever received broken by the party I'm sending to), as long as the "main character" does their job right.

Eric

like i said. paper is bad. it wads down or worse. when it gets wet, it disintagrates. anything that flies will get condestaion in or on it. unless the lugage compartment gets presurized. which it almost never does. if the mail sits on the tarmac, on the runway or the loading area in the rail or snow, it gets wet.

the same guys who throw you luggage around, throw you mail around, with even less care.

i wish the old 'american tourister]' luggage ads were still available. they showed what happened when a gorilla plays with thier suitcase vs another brand. same idea. different .. hmm handlers. but not by much.

plastic bags wad down, but because of their actual physical construction, their is air inside them.

the best method is to individually wrap each mini in soft foam or small bubble wrap. bubbles INWARD. then the entire box gets filled with fill, peanits or more bubble wrap. each item should have 2" of padding between it and the next item, and the sides, top, bottom of the box.

yes, all boxes should be sealed with a plastic type tape. seall all the edges and put several layers over the top and bottom where the flaps meet. not 3 layers thisck, but several overlapping layers.
one to keep parts in and 2 to keep moisture out.

also, no matter who you ship with;
PUT A PACKING INVOICE, LISTING EACH ITEM AND VALUE, AS WELL AS BOTH ADDRESS, TO AND FROM.

i believe paypal and or ebay has a guide that states this. if the box breaks open, or the address side gets destroyed or obscured, it still can get read. yes the box will have to be open, so ut the invoice on the very top, above all the fill.

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