Setting up a packing & shipping station for sellers

Whether you have a whole room, or just a corner, there are some essentials that you must have at hand in order to be effient at packing and shipping the items that you sell on eBay or any other selling site.

The first thing that I suggest is getting yourself a digital scale. These are very accurate, and can be purchased at any office supply store. I purchased mine for about $50 several years ago, but it is worth it.

Set up a table, whether a long 6' table or just a card table, but some place that can be your designated packing station. On this table, or a shelf above or next to it, within easy reach, you should have the scale, tape & tape gun, pen, black marker, FRAGILE stamp,custom forms (for First Class International shipments)and any materials that you include with your shipments like business cards or coupons.

Have a specific tote or place to put your bubble wrap (please don't use newspaper!! (It is SO unprofessional looking!) and packing peanuts. I keep a supply of packing peanuts in a large tote under may packing table, and my roll of bubble wrap is next to the table. If you use the large rolls of bubble wrap, putting it on a clothes rack works wonderfully!!

It helps also, if you have a shelf or extra table to put the items on to be shipped along with the invoice. As I pack each item, I stamp the package with the Fragile stamp in several places, then tape the invoice to the top to keep from mixing up packages.

After they are all packed, I weigh each one, writing the weight on the box where the label will go, and also on the invoice (which I keep). You can include an invoice in the box if you wish. When I am finished weighing the boxes, I then take them to my computer and print the labels.

Below are a few photos of how I have set up my packing station. Keeping this set up helps me get the orders out quicker and keeps everything I need at hand.
Good luck setting up your Packing and Shipping station!!!

Makers Marks on Glassware

I found this great site for looking up maker's marks on glassware. It not only has the old marks like Westmoreland, Imperial Glass and others that are recognizable. It has marks of makers I have never heard of before, or didn't realize marked their glassware.

I am a real stickler on knowing what maker and what pattern a piece of glassware is before I will list it on ebay. Those keywords are what brings the buyers to your items that they are looking for. The more relevant keywords you can get into your title, the faster your items will be found.

Check out this site!! When you join, you get 10 free "lookups".

http://www.glasmarken-lexikon.de/

Introduction to the Glassylady

Hello! I would first like to introduce myself and tell you a little bit about me. My name is Sandy, and I love glassware of all kinds! No, I am CRAZY about glassware!!!! :-) My ebay seller name is Glassylady831, but on here, I am just the Glassylady.

I started selling glassware about 10 years ago, at a local antique mall. It was very profitable at the time, but my biggest joy was the hunt for the pieces!!! I went to every auction I could possibly find, hit all the estate sales, garage sales and even ran an ad saying that I would buy estates or partial estates.

I wanted to know as much as I could about all the different types of glassware, so I spent hours and hours reading through reference books on glassware. Trust me, that is alot of books!!! I would spend every night with a reference book in my lap, even while I watched tv! But in doing this, I learned quickly to identify makers and patterns at site.

I quit selling in the antique malls, and opened an ebay store 5 years ago. I specialize in stemware (crystal & other), but still have other pieces of glassware in my store.

In the blog, I'd like to share some of the things I have learned along the way. Glass collecting can be fun, especially if you use it and not just display it. So, I will begin to post informational and some fun things here in my blog posts.

Until later!