how to ship photo prints

[Charliedelta]

I would like to start selling prints of my photos online. I am looking into shipping costs, but everything I checked with USPS, FEDEX, or UPS is incredibly expensive. It would basically make no sense to sell the photos. My plan is to buy the prints from the lab and then ship them myself, so I thought I would "sandwich" the photos in 2 layers of foam core, or cardboard, so I thought an 8x10, would be shipped in a box that is roughly 8x10, and maybe up to half an inch in thickness. How do you ship them? Do you ship them as a box, an envelope? And which courier is the cheapest?

Thanks

 

[Big Mike]

There are 'photo mailer' envelopes that you can buy. They should be available at any office supply store (Staples).
These are semi rigid cardboard that should offer some protection. I might not be comfortable sending these through the mail though, so what I've sometimes done, was to place the photos into one of them and then put that into a foam padded envelope.

But a better way to ship photos, is likely in a box that allows for some padding and a snug fit.

A quick Google search found plenty of results, here is an article from one of my favourite sources. http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/shipping.shtml

What I've been doing lately, is just having my (professional) lab do the packaging and shipping. They call it 'drop shipping'. They have all the right size boxes and packaging. I think they charge a $10 flat fee.

As for shipping being expensive, you have to consider that as part of the cost/overhead and build it into your prices.

 

[KmH]

]I'm not a fan of drop shipping.
I want to inspect the items before my customer sees them because even the best labs can't get it right 100% of the time.
Many labs offer some very nice packaging for drop shipping at an extra cost.

I pay close attention to the way the lab packages products they send to me.

Presentation is an often neglected part of delivering a product to a customer.
High quality photographs are a luxury item and IMO should be presented and priced as such.

As Mike mentions shipping is part of your cost-of-goods-sold and should be accounted for in your pricing.

I get my shipping supplies from ULINE - Shipping Boxes, Shipping Supplies, Packaging Materials, Packing Supplies

 

[ronlane]

mpix sends me prints in a box. inside the photos have always been sealed in a clear plastic wrap (think shrink wrap) with a piece of cardboard to help keep them from bending.

I agree with Keith, that if I were mailing them, I would imitate this packaging.

 

[Charliedelta]

Thanks for your replies. I'll look into those websites. I understand that it is a COGS. I'm just surprised that if I buy a book online, they will charge me $3.99 for the shipping (on Amazon at least), but if I send a print to a client, USPS Fedex or UPS will charge me about $12. And that is not even any fancy shipping...I guess I am doing something wrong. I'll play sith their shipping calculators a little more

 

[ronlane]

Thanks for your replies. I'll look into those websites. I understand that it is a COGS. I'm just surprised that if I buy a book online, they will charge me $3.99 for the shipping (on Amazon at least), but if I send a print to a client, USPS Fedex or UPS will charge me about $12. And that is not even any fancy shipping...I guess I am doing something wrong. I'll play sith their shipping calculators a little more

I"m sure that some of those places use flat rate shipping to help lower the cost. Keep in mind that some of those places ship so much stuff out, that they get a price break, so it costs them less.

 

[Big Mike]

Thanks for your replies. I'll look into those websites. I understand that it is a COGS. I'm just surprised that if I buy a book online, they will charge me $3.99 for the shipping (on Amazon at least), but if I send a print to a client, USPS Fedex or UPS will charge me about $12. And that is not even any fancy shipping...I guess I am doing something wrong. I'll play sith their shipping calculators a little more

Amazon gives them millions and millions of dollars worth of business. You are just a single customer asking for a price to ship one thing. Thus, Amazon gets a better rate than you do.