Advice on selling online

[Tala the Ookami]

Honestly I have no clue what forum to put this in but I guess I'll start here and try others if I dont get any feed back. I mean its technically art.

My friends and I have started making kemonomimi (animal ears and tails) and we wanted to sell them online. We have an Etsy account and have pretty much everything set up we just dont have a clue what to do about shipping. Like what would be the easiest way to ship it, the least expensive and what type of packaging would we use? Currently the things we are making are bear ears and tail, which is rather small, cat ears and tail, which could easily be folded up and wolf ears and tail. The wolf tail may need the most room so it'd probably need a larger package? It'll be the size of the fox tails one usually sees throughout cons. Oh and I'm shipping from the US currently we're not doing any international shipping.

There are so many different ways to ship things and I'm severely at a loss. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Also I have pictures of most of what we're selling if you need to see.

[Reigeckt]

Flat rate boxes from the post office are probably the cheapest way to go.

[Tala the Ookami]

Reigeckt

Flat rate boxes from the post office are probably the cheapest way to go.

So those priority mail flat rate boxes you see on tv all the time?

[Nolongeractive12]

Tala the Ookami

Honestly I have no clue what forum to put this in but I guess I'll start here and try others if I dont get any feed back. I mean its technically art.

My friends and I have started making kemonomimi (animal ears and tails) and we wanted to sell them online. We have an Etsy account and have pretty much everything set up we just dont have a clue what to do about shipping. Like what would be the easiest way to ship it, the least expensive and what type of packaging would we use? Currently the things we are making are bear ears and tail, which is rather small, cat ears and tail, which could easily be folded up and wolf ears and tail. The wolf tail may need the most room so it'd probably need a larger package? It'll be the size of the fox tails one usually sees throughout cons. Oh and I'm shipping from the US currently we're not doing any international shipping.

There are so many different ways to ship things and I'm severely at a loss. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Also I have pictures of most of what we're selling if you need to see.

I sell a bunch of things on ebay, which I find is the easiest site to sell things and keep track of items sold, etc. I can tell you the honest way to do things and the cheapest (dishonest) way to do things.

The best way for you (right way) would probably to ship things would be USPS ground (not internationally) this will cost somewhere around 5-7$, this still comes out to be a bit high in my opinion so...

The cheat way to do things is to use media mail (which usually is a couple bucks) and enter the weight less than 13 ounces (less than 1 pound) anything over 1 pound is generally priced higher. This would cost somewhere around 2$

[Reigeckt]

Tala the Ookami

Reigeckt

Flat rate boxes from the post office are probably the cheapest way to go.

So those priority mail flat rate boxes you see on tv all the time?

Yep. You get the bonus of quick delivery time, and I think they come with insurance. I believe they run from $5 to $12 depending on the size of the box, but that could change depending on where you live.

[gupey]

i think your best bet would be padded envelopes ! they're more forgiving than regular envelopes and more efficient and cost effective than a box. usually if its just fluffy stuff, it'll fluff back up easily. i know if you go straight to usps they have flat rate priority packets/envelopes that arent too expensive that come with tracking, so that's really awesome, especially if you're a seller. also, if you're like most sellers, you're having the customer buy the shipping, so really you can do whatever you think is best, but the customer might be less inclined to buy if the shipping is expensive.

i would also suggest selling on furaffinity and furbuy! that crowd is really willing to purchase crafts like that. i get most of my digital art commissions on furaffinity.

good luck ! i hope you get lots of customers.

edit: i checked the padded envelope pricing and the largest one is $5.90 !

[Tala the Ookami]

gupey

i think your best bet would be padded envelopes ! they're more forgiving than regular envelopes and more efficient and cost effective than a box. usually if its just fluffy stuff, it'll fluff back up easily. i know if you go straight to usps they have flat rate priority packets/envelopes that arent too expensive that come with tracking, so that's really awesome, especially if you're a seller. also, if you're like most sellers, you're having the customer buy the shipping, so really you can do whatever you think is best, but the customer might be less inclined to buy if the shipping is expensive.

i would also suggest selling on furaffinity and furbuy! that crowd is really willing to purchase crafts like that. i get most of my digital art commissions on furaffinity.

good luck ! i hope you get lots of customers.

edit: i checked the padded envelope pricing and the largest one is $5.90 !

Ok thanks for the advice! I'll check those sites out when I get home! =D

[gupey]

Tala the Ookami

Ok thanks for the advice! I'll check those sites out when I get home! =D

no problem ~ good luck!

[Ashenflame]

One time when I bought a shirt online they just sent it in one of those orange bubble mailers you pick up on the office aisle. I reckon that's always an option if it'll fit.