I'm a little bit scared...

For the upcoming holidays... I've been having a free shipping sale in my shop for the last 12 days and I've gotten 40 sales from it. Which of course is totally amazing but a little scary at the same time since it was kind of sudden. I guess it's good to sort this out now though so that I will be prepped for all the chaos that comes with the holidays. So, I am reviving my shipping tips post from a few months ago.


1. Unless it's a HUGE order or a customer requests it why be bothered with printing an invoice? It wastes time, paper and if your printer is like mine it wastes A LOT of really expensive ink. I pack all of my stuff while sitting in front of my laptop so I have access to the receipt right in front of me. I guess if you can't do that then you don't really have a choice.

2. Organization is the key to success when it comes to shipping. Make sure you know where all of your merchandise is stored so that you don't go insane looking for that one pair of earrings. Summer is a great time to organize a system for storage.

3. Make sure that you have enough shipping supplies to last you a while and keep a stack of those customs forms on hand so that you have them ready to fill out. I like to pre-write my address and pre-stick custom labels to the envelopes I can fill it all out once.

4. Keep a good supply of business cards, stickers, coupons and promos stuff you throw in with your orders. Do some branding for your shop! Summer is a really great time to pass these out so that people will have them when the holidays roll around. They also might pass them along to friends and family! P.S. If you are forgetful like me you can slip your business card in the envelopes ahead of time.

5. NEVER try to pack multiple orders at once. Only one at a time!!! Otherwise you'll find yourself double checking every envelope to see if you got the orders right. Once you've packed an order seal it off.

6. Before I go to the post office I always make a list of which orders I've taken with me to ship. Once I get home I check off all the "shipped" boxes for those names and I write the names on the back of the receipt. This way, when a customer asks me when I shipped their order I can look back at my receipts and find their name. (My PO doesn't type in zipcodes/postal codes on the receipts and the method of shipping doesn't come with tracking so it's easier for me this way.)

7. Remember never mark as a gift unless it's actually a gift! You could be fined or even worse go to jail for this!