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Cheapest way to ship a piece of clothing?
 

Hi all, I am selling some clothing and the item weighs just over 13 ounces, making it ineligible for USPS first class mail. Unfortunately, this is by far the cheapest way to ship this item, and any other shipping method would really cut into my profits.

I wanted to know if anybody has a better way to ship this item? The item by itself inside the plastic weighs 12.70 ounces. I was planning on shipping them in a padded envelope, but an envelope that accommodates this clothing puts it over the 13 ounce mark.

I was thinking of just completely wrapping brown tape over the plastic that the clothing is already in. This would cover it completely and probably still keep it under 13 oz, but do you think buyers would not like receiving it like this? Or it wouldn't matter?

Anyone have any suggestions?

Re: Cheapest way to ship a piece of clothing?
 

I use 10 x 13 poly mailers like these ~

http://i43.tinypic.com/2ega2xc.jpg

http://i41.tinypic.com/2chnwcl.jpg

They can be purchased here or just Google "poly mailers."

http://www.ebay.com/bhp/100-poly-bags-10x13

My 10 x 13 bags weigh 0.4 ounces each.

These bags come in different sizes (9 x 12, etc.) but I personally like the 10 x 13 size.

Hope this helps.

Re: Cheapest way to ship a piece of clothing?
 

Oh wow. 0.4 ounces on the dot? I feel like if I take the clothing out of the original plastic, and place it in these mailers, I might be able to meet the 13 oz requirement without going over.

Re: Cheapest way to ship a piece of clothing?
 

what about rounding down? if my item weighs 13.4 ounces and i put it down to 13 ounces, will USPS bust my balls about it?

Re: Cheapest way to ship a piece of clothing?
 

Sometimes you can get away with it and sometimes USPS will put postage due and the buyer will have to pay the postage to get there package than you will have a angry buyer to deal with and possible get negative feedback.

Re: Cheapest way to ship a piece of clothing?
 

you can get away with putting 13 ounces on it but if that random employee that thinks they know it all weighs it then they will charge the buyer or return it to you.

Rarely happens but does happen.

Re: Cheapest way to ship a piece of clothing?
 

Been sending packages USPS for 10 years. The other posters are correct. You can often times skim on the weight send a 14-15 oz package first class mail. However same with putting 1lb on a Priority Mail package when it is over or 2lb and it is over. If someone on the other end picks up the package and weighs it they will assess the unpaid postage.

More often than not these tend to be smaller and rural area post offices which don't have the traffic. But like stated above, nothing is worse than getting a message from a buyer you shorted them on postage and they had to go wait in line etc and drive there to pay for it. Go out of their way, etc.

It is a slippery slope to go down.

Re: Cheapest way to ship a piece of clothing?
 

I once shipped an item in the wrong box. It made it all the way to the buyers house and the postman noticed it was the wrong box and sent it back.

Re: Cheapest way to ship a piece of clothing?
 

There are reports of items coming back due to being cheap with the shipping and trying to pass it off as lower weight - it's a gamble.

Re: Cheapest way to ship a piece of clothing?
 

Put you in the buyer shoes. Will you happy of what you received?