Materials for Shipping and Selling Prints/Greeting Cards

[carlianne]

Hello, amazing people! I'm wondering if anyone has some good resources on where to buy archival quality paper for prints and greetings cards as well as information on where to buy and what kind of shipping materials are needed?

I'm finally going to open my own store and sell prints!

[korilynneillo]

Hi there!

I sell prints both online and in person.

I’m going to address shipping stuff first, because that’s by far the easier question.

Shipping products are ultimately decided by how big you’re printing. For small stuff (anything below letter/legal size, typically, but sometimes people ship 11x14/11x17 prints this way) you have a couple options. I personally use a bubble mailer with chipboard inside, and then I seal the print + receipt + my business card + anything else extra inside a clear cello bag. Other people use rigid cardboard mailers, in much the same way. I like the bubble mailer+chipboard (chipboard keeps it from bending) because it lets me be more flexible with the product I send out. I can’t fit a keychain/my art book, or greeting cards, when I used to do those, into a chipboard mailer but the bubble mailer gives me a lot more wiggle room!

For bigger prints (I ship my 11x14 or 11x17 prints this way) I put them in a clear bag, roll them, and stick them in a poster tube and throw my business card/receipt/any extras down the middle.

To summarize:

Small stuff: You need clear cellophane bags (keeps water out) and EITHER rigid mailers or bubble mailers + chipboard to keep it flat. The cost is about the same for either option, if you want the option to sell packs of 5-10 greeting cards in an order, a bubble mailer will be the more flexible option.

Big, flat stuff: clear cellophane bags and poster tubes that are generous in diameter. The less tightly you need to roll, the better. Heavy stock plus layers of cello take up more room than you think, and you don’t want to crush your print! I think mine are 2” diameter, but when I run out I want to get one size bigger.

I get my clear bags at clearbags.com and my other stuff at wherever I can find a sale.

For the prints themselves, I’ll let others speak to their printer/paper setup. I get my prints done at catprint.com and have always been super thrilled with the quality (plus I can get things like foil finishes/embellishments and other things I wouldn’t be able to get from a home printing setup). I may eventually get a nice printer for my home office (I’ve heard great things about the Epsom EcoTank and the Canon Pixma Pro) but for now it’s more economical and space friendly for me to have prints done out of house (plus not having to worry about being my own tech support for getting the printer/driver set up. I bought a laser printer for my buttons, stickers, and backing cards and one printer is enough headache for a lifetime, thank you very much lol)

If I missed anything or you have further questions, definitely let me know! I’ve got a lot of experience, plus I’m plugged into a bunch of “merch” communities and other resources. I’m an open book, ask me anything about that side and I can probably answer it, and if I can’t I probably know the person who can!

[korilynneillo]

((Also CONGRATS!!!! That’s such a big and exciting step!!!)

[burvantill]

@korilynneillo great information! Thanx for sharing.