Any tips on cutting down costs for posting small items such as stud earrings? Would like to offer

[misspearlygirl]

Hi, wanting to sell small jewellery items eg stud earrings and want to offer either free postage or minimal cost. I dont want to increase the "buy it now price" by costing  the postage price  into the asking price. Going by Australia Posts price guidlines it will cost a mnimum of approx $6.50, does anyone use envelopes or their own packaging of a particular envelope sized dimension and only pay for "envelope posatge" eg $1.20 for standard envelope up to 20mm  thick?

[digital*ghost]

I sell jewellery and other smaller items, and rarely need to send them as a parcel. I generally use small padded envelopes, but rigid card mailers are good if the item is a little more fragile, or would be suceptible to bunching up in transit (eg long, thick chains) and making the envelope more than 2cm thick.

Both the padded envelopes and rigid mailers are available on eBay at pretty good prices if purchased in bulk. 

[misspearlygirl]

Hi, thanks that sounds perfect. Are the rigid mailers charged on weight and size or  similar to envelope charges? Ie, a small pair of stud earrings weighing at 5 gms( including bubble wrap) plus the smallest rigid mailer i can find would cost approx what in postage?

[thecatspjs]

I send a range of items that are suitable to "flat pack" in rigid cardboard mailers.  Saves loads of post $$$

There are several reasonably priced AU sellers.   From my experience, a great seller with a good product, reasonable price if buying in large quantites & excellent service who has a range of different sizes sells "SuperFlat 310x220x16mm Large Letter Size - A4 size Rigid Envelope Mailer" - if you search that title you can go to their store from there and have a look, they include info and advice re Aust Post dimensions too.

[digital*ghost]

The rigid mailers are thin enough (if packaged properly) to be sent as a large letter, so postage would be according to weight - $1.20 for up to 125gm, $1.80 for 126-250gm etc.

If you do a search using terms like "flat mailing box", "rigid envelope", you should be able to find the ones I'm referring to - there a 18cm x 10cm size that is good for small jewellery items. 

[misspearlygirl]

Awesome, thanks again for sharing the info and pricing approximations.  Australia Posts website has really given me no joy or incentive to utilise their options.......shame...!   🙂