I recently purchased a necklace during an Instagram sale. When it came, the address had been handwritten and it had clearly been taken to the post office to be weighed and mailed. Y'all, this girl sold at least 50 necklaces. All paid through PayPal invoices. That she hand addressed. And then took to the post office. And she has 2 little kids. Why???
When I started DFD, I figured out pretty quickly that I did not have time to hand address packages or go to the post office every time I needed to ship an order and knew there had to be a better way. I thought I would take a few minutes to share my process and hopefully help some other shop owners streamline their process. I know there are a few different ways to ship orders from home, but this is what works best for me. I only accept payment through PayPal and I typically ship 5-15 orders at a time.
First of all, I don't ship every day. I typically ship orders out 2-3 times a week depending on volume. My ready to ship listings include 1-3 days of processing time since I know I don't ship every day. I have found that is much more efficient to prepare several orders for shipping all at once rather than just a couple at a time.
Here's how it goes!
Package up the order and weigh it! I actually use a food scale that I already owned since it tells me ounces, but you can buy a postage scale at the post office, office supply stores, or on Amazon. Trust me, it is $20 well spent to save yourself trips to the post office. If you're always shipping the same 1 or 2 items, you can take them to the post office and have them weighed there and then you'll know!
All of my payments come through PayPal, so I use PayPals' Multi-order Shipping Tool.
When I open it up, all of my orders are automatically imported. There are drop down menus to select how you're shipping (First Class, Priority, etc.) and weight.
Once you've entered all the information for the orders you're shipping, select "Pay and Print." PayPal purchases the labels from USPS using your PayPal balance.
Then you're able to print the labels right at home! I know there are sticky labels you can purchase for this, but I have always printed mine on paper and then taped them on the package.
All packaged up and ready to go!
Also, the rates are cheaper online! So you're saving money and time. Those pennies add up! Win-win, right? And all shipping labels come with tracking, so it's easy to help customers that are trying to track down a package or make sure that something was delivered.
PayPal's shipping tool also gives you the option to create address labels. This is great for when I have a giveaway or sample item to send or if I'm shipping a gift for someone. It takes a few extra minutes for me to enter the address manually, but it's still faster than handwriting it and going to the post office!
You can still add a personalized touch to your package with a cute sticker, stamp, washi tape, or include a handwritten thank you inside the package.
Any questions? Do you have a small business? How do you ship your orders? Please share your tips and tricks in the comments!
(I don't ship international, but if you, here's a great post on how to do that from home using Stamps.com)