Our eBay Room

[fidgiegirl]

I am organizing our eBay room. I have been pondering all day how to organize the bubble wraps, etc. We can have varying quantities. Was on to a solution (those collapsible mesh hampers) but then dissuaded by cost. Then I thought I'd cover some cardboard boxes with fabric or paint them and make them into storage bins kind of like these from Ikea, but with no lid:

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/images/products/samla-bin-with-lid__0111867_PE262941_S4.JPG

They can't be collapsed if empty, though, or expanded if needing more room to contain more supplies. Bonus is that they would be economical and also they could stack. However, not being able to expand might be good. How many air packs or peanuts or bubble wrap do we really need at one given time?

I also thought about putting hooks on the wall and making some simple, large fabric bags to hang from them. However, horizontal space is at a premium. One wall is out completely because it has a heater on it.

Also planning to collapse all the boxes and will be making a simple structure to keep them upright.

I think one of the pieces of furniture needs to leave. This is our "outbox" room where we stage eBay but also our stuff that we are not sure what to do with and while I like the function of that, I don't like that it's an entire room.

I also like that we have shipping supplies on hand, keeping our costs down, but when we have so much, it's stressful to me.

I would also like to set up the library table (which will NOT be the piece of furniture that will leave, DH has assured me of that :) ) to be a more functional workspace. I don't like that DH hauls the packaging work down in the living room to do and leaves his little bits and pieces all over the place. We should be able to do all of it up there.

Still thinking, but thanks for letting me get it out there. BTW, this is the room now:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2803/5851009596_9efd5bafd6_m.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/7733846@N05/5851009596/)
Untitled (http://www.flickr.com/photos/7733846@N05/5851009596/) by fidgiegirl (http://www.flickr.com/people/7733846@N05/), on Flickr

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2579/5851008686_3c703588b1_m.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/7733846@N05/5851008686/)
Untitled (http://www.flickr.com/photos/7733846@N05/5851008686/) by fidgiegirl (http://www.flickr.com/people/7733846@N05/), on Flickr

OMG, taking pics is embarrassing. It's particularly torn up because I was digging out boxes for above-mentioned fabric covered box idea.

[Float On]

I do all the packing/shipping for our glass business. I can't use foam peanuts anymore because I've developed an allergic reaction to them (can't even drink out of a foam cup or eat off a foam plate at church meals anymore). Anyway my packing room is about 10x15. Product ready to ship is on shelves that line one wall on the left. I have a wrap bench where I keep the tissue paper layed out and to my right are two big hanging rolls of bubblewrap. To the right of that is a big wood frame where all my boxes are flat and stacked vertically. I buy boxes by the bundle so they are flat until I use them (takes up so much less room). I've also got a big organizing drawer bin where I keep the extra rolls of packing tape, gallery cards, small bags, price sheets/catalogs. The digital scale is tucked under the product shelf and easy to pull out when I'm ready to weight things for UPS. Before we built the addition to the studio the packing room was inside our house in a small 10x10 bedroom - it was always hard keeping that organized.

Trying to recycle cast off boxes and bubblewrap and tissue is hard to keep up with and keep neat but I admire anyone who can do that. I just couldn't with the volume we use to ship out so having standard box sizes 10x, 12x,14x, and 16x makes it much easier for me.

Tip: For tissue paper go visit shoe stores. Around here we have a lot of outlet malls and lots of shoe stores. I got to noticing that they would pull the tissue out of shoes when checking them at the counter for a sale and I asked once what they did with it. They said it just went to the dumpster so I ended up with garbage bags full of tissue paper for free.

[fidgiegirl]

Thanks for the tips, Float On. I was wondering if maybe we should do the same with boxes, but we sell such a variety . . . I will give it a shot first with collapsed boxes.

[Miss Cellane]

Just a few thoughts.

You and DH should think about why he goes to the living room to pack things. There's a reason, and the two of you need to figure out what that reason is, so that you can correct whatever problem is making him leave the packing room, lug everything to be packed and all the packing supplies down to the living room and then lug all the supplies back again. That's a fair amount of work, so there's an underlying reason it's happening.

Is it that there isn't enough flat space to lay things out? Then figure out how much space he needs and get a table that will give him that space. Is it that he wants to watch TV while he packs? Then consider finding a small, possibly used, TV set for that room. Is it that he feels alone and cut off from the rest of the family while in the packing room? Then maybe that room isn't the best choice for packing. Or maybe you need to find things you can do in that room while he's packing.

For storage of the packing supplies, I would steer away from bags hanging on the wall. It would be hard to see at a glance how much you have of which supplies. And in order to get anything, you would have to a) take the bag down, b) open the drawstring, c) fish around in the bag to find what you want, d) close the drawstring and e) rehang the bag. Whereas putting the supplies in boxes without tops means that you can instantly take inventory. Getting supplies would involve a) going to correct box and b) grabbing the item you need.

I'd suggest open-topped boxes on shelves, instead of stackable boxes. That way, if you want to take a whole box down and move it to where you are working, it's easy. And you can move the boxes around to make space for different supplies, or have different sized boxes for different sized supplies. I don't think you need collapsible storage boxes. It might be better to determine how much of each supply you want to keep on hand. For example, two boxes of bubble wrap, one box of tissue paper, three boxes of packing peanuts. Then find the boxes, label them, and put them on shelves. If a box is empty, it's instant inventory control. You know what you need more of.

If you collapse the boxes, there's going to be a temptation to put other stuff on the shelves. And then when you get more supplies, the shelves are full and there's no place for the new bubble wrap. Dedicate space for the supplies and then don't put anything else there. And designate an overflow section, like maybe the bottom shelf, for extras, in case you run across a tremendous supply of free bubble wrap or something. If you are always going to be storing supplies, there's no need to have them in collapsible containers. It's better to make space for them and to keep that space reserved just for the supplies.

[fidgiegirl]

Thanks, Miss Cellane, for your thoughtful feedback. I really appreciate it!

As far as not packing upstairs, it could be any of those reasons PLUS climate control. Our upstairs is only comfortable if we plan ahead to turn on the portable A/C or the baseboard heaters. I know that keeps me from doing jobs upstairs, too.

We do have an offer in on a new house but still waiting to see. Because of this I may not go as far as shelving until we see if we are staying a while longer or moving soon, but I am totally on board with the logic - especially putting other things on the shelves. We are notorious for that.

[Selah]

These posts are fascinating and useful! I also did a fair amount of eBay/Amazon selling in my last house and had similar issues. I got many of my supplies from Uline (tidy but shipping prices are OUTRAGEOUS, so buy in bulk!), but was vigilant about picking up still-usable padded envelopes, bubble wrap, tissue paper, etc. from wherever I could find it. IF I took the time to collapse mailing boxes, they would store easily and not be too much hassle to reconstruct.

Peanuts are a PITA. Some vendors would just use their own shredded paper for fill, which is cheap. I got a lot of it at my dayjob...no one minded if I took it. It worked reasonably well, but then again, I wasn't sending highly breakable things like glass.

[Float On]

Some vendors would just use their own shredded paper for fill, which is cheap.
Shredded paper is a whole lot heavier than peanuts or bublewrap or those little air pillows. Since I developed my allergy to foam and had to go to only bubblewrap....I don't miss cleaning up the peanut mess.
I agree Uline is very expensive - thankfully I've got a great box supply company within 30 miles and a bag/paper supply as well (which also delivers for free to my area). I can't believe how expensive it is to buy bubblewrap or boxes at Wal-mart or staples or the UPS store. I love my suppliers.

[fidgiegirl]

Well, we went to Ikea tonight and bought those pop-up mesh laundry sorter things to keep the supplies in. I got four of them and they are pretty spacious. We will end up using the hooks to hang them to use the vertical space available for which it is difficult to find the right size shelving. I think it will work well. Tomorrow maybe I'll assemble my idea for a box rack. We will collapse all of our boxes and put them in the rack. We also need to get rid of some boxes. As far as inventory, well, we're not sure what to do with that quite yet . . . maybe we need some shelves or something for that. It will start to take shape soon. I might go up there right now and take a peek at some books I could part with. Part of the plan will depend on getting rid of a bookshelf in there.

[Sissy]

I have been researching starting an Etsy store, but my space is very limited. I would say about 850 sq. ft. and I would have to incorporate the supplies and products, etc. in with my living space. I want a Zen living space. I have not figured out a way to blend the two together, duh.
My projects aren't that large or messy, but there is still the problem of packaging, storing, etc. I have a basement, but it is musty and I really don't want to put things down there.

fidgie, my DD uses those mesh containers for laundry and toys, and anything else that needs corralling. They are so cool because they fold to nearly nothing when empty! Sounds like a good choice for you, too. Good luck on Ebay. Can you post a link? (mods??)