In my first article in the Selling Your Art Work series I talked about how to create digital prints.  In this next part of the series I will be covering shipping.

Shipping prints can be daunting because the last thing you want to do is crinkle someone’s print in the mail.  Luckily, the postal service invented the magical Stay-Flat envelope that not only ensures your print will make it to the buyer’s door (unless the postal machines suck it into the alternate universe where all lost packages go) but that it arrives in the same condition you shipped it.

Stay-Flat envelopes can be found at a variety of places online.  If you want to support the government postal service, you can buy directly from them.  For US residents, you can visit http://www.usps.com.  Many Etsy sellers swear by ULINE shipping because it offers reduced prices, as compared to the postal service, and ships quickly.  ULINE supplies can be found online at http://www.uline.com.  If you want to save even more money, you can do what I do and search Ebay, http://www.ebay.com, for bulk envelopes.  (This was seriously one of the best tips I received from someone in the Etsy forums.)  I managed to buy 100 envelopes there for about $10 – $15 less than on ULINE.

Obviously, you don’t want to just shove your print into the mailer without any protection.  Not only could you damage the print while packaging up a customer’s order, but the acid from the cardboard interior could potentially cause harm.  If the print is only in the mailer for a week or two, the acidic cardboard shouldn’t hurt the print, but if the buyer keeps the print in its mailer for a year or more, the acid will turn the paper yellow and change the colors.  So why not protect your print with something as simple as a cellophane wrapper.

cellophane wrappers from Momgen

There are dozens of suppliers on Etsy who sell cellophane wrappers in dozens of sizes.  These wrappers also serve the purpose of upping your presentation.  Your buyer can easily display their work as is this way.  Another way to spruce up your prints, if you have extra archival mat board lying around, is to include a backing for your print.  Just slip a piece of matting in with your print when you put it in the cellophane wrapper.

Luckily for us art sellers, it doesn’t cost us much to ship our work.  Most prices range between $2.50 and $3.50 depending on the country you’re shipping to.  The best advice for figuring out where to set your shipping prices is to look through other shops that sell prints.  Some of the top print sellers include The Mincing Mockingbird, http://www.etsy.com/shop/mincingmockingbird,  and The Black Apple, http://www.etsy.com/shop/theblackapple.

Marianne and Marshmallow by The Black Apple