Shipping and packaging

[Improvise]

With my new business I am looking at mainly running it as an online shop, which includes the delivery of the metal art pieces I have made.
They will only ever be flat pieces and up to absolute maximum size of 1800mm high x 1200mm wide. Majority of pieces will be under 1000mm x 1000 however.

I have found a courier service that seems decent and can take these sort of items for a reasonable price.

I was thinking of wrapping the pieces in bubble wrap and then place in shallow cardboard boxes (ie 1050 x 800 x 75), or what they call in Australia "Picture/mirror moving boxes".

Does anyone have any experience or words of advice in regards to packaging and shipping metal artwork/pieces ??

[Rodw]

I run an online store based in Brisbane.
We ship from 0.5 kg to 150 kg.
Shipping is hard when you are starting off. The carriers want volume.
You could look at Sendle but their service is a bit poor.
I use Shippit which is fully integrated into our store at vmn.com.au.
We have a number of our own shipping accounts integrated with shippit. (TNT, Toll, Fedex, DHL, Australia Post)
Shippit also offer us other carriers as well. They have enough to get you going.
We just quote the cheapest and fastest (express) options as we have so many options it would be confusing to show them all..
Don't be frightened of going to a carton manufacturer and getting custom cartons made up. You need a minimum of 100.
I use the Box Factory who are near us.
We use a Ranpack machine that Signet will offer free of charge. It pours crumpled paper into cartons for void fill. You just have to buy the paper from them. Its reasonably priced and much better and cheaper then foam peanuts.
I also bought a carton strapper and strap all of our cartons, sometimes a couple together which will save costs. Second hand for $200 and its a ripper!
We don't use bubblewrap but use the thin white 1-3mm foam to line some custom made cartons for powdercoated items.
For pallets, we use a cordless strapping machine that melts the strap to join it. It set me back about $4k. We used to use strap with plastic buckles.

Hope that helps..

[adbuch]

I run an online store based in Brisbane.
We ship from 0.5 kg to 150 kg.
Shipping is hard when you are starting off. The carriers want volume.
You could look at Sendle but their service is a bit poor.
I use Shippit which is fully integrated into our store at vmn.com.au.
We have a number of our own shipping accounts integrated with shippit. (TNT, Toll, Fedex, DHL, Australia Post)
Shippit also offer us other carriers as well. They have enough to get you going.
We just quote the cheapest and fastest (express) options as we have so many options it would be confusing to show them all..
Don't be frightened of going to a carton manufacturer and getting custom cartons made up. You need a minimum of 100.
I use the Box Factory who are near us.
We use a Ranpack machine that Signet will offer free of charge. It pours crumpled paper into cartons for void fill. You just have to buy the paper from them. Its reasonably priced and much better and cheaper then foam peanuts.
I also bought a carton strapper and strap all of our cartons, sometimes a couple together which will save costs. Second hand for $200 and its a ripper!
We don't use bubblewrap but use the thin white 1-3mm foam to line some custom made cartons for powdercoated items.
For pallets, we use a cordless strapping machine that melts the strap to join it. It set me back about $4k. We used to use strap with plastic buckles.

Hope that helps..

[Improvise]

I run an online store based in Brisbane.
We ship from 0.5 kg to 150 kg.
Shipping is hard when you are starting off. The carriers want volume.
You could look at Sendle but their service is a bit poor.
I use Shippit which is fully integrated into our store at vmn.com.au.
We have a number of our own shipping accounts integrated with shippit. (TNT, Toll, Fedex, DHL, Australia Post)
Shippit also offer us other carriers as well. They have enough to get you going.
We just quote the cheapest and fastest (express) options as we have so many options it would be confusing to show them all..
Don't be frightened of going to a carton manufacturer and getting custom cartons made up. You need a minimum of 100.
I use the Box Factory who are near us.
We use a Ranpack machine that Signet will offer free of charge. It pours crumpled paper into cartons for void fill. You just have to buy the paper from them. Its reasonably priced and much better and cheaper then foam peanuts.
I also bought a carton strapper and strap all of our cartons, sometimes a couple together which will save costs. Second hand for $200 and its a ripper!
We don't use bubblewrap but use the thin white 1-3mm foam to line some custom made cartons for powdercoated items.
For pallets, we use a cordless strapping machine that melts the strap to join it. It set me back about $4k. We used to use strap with plastic buckles.

Hope that helps..

Thanks Rodw. Appreciate all the info. I will check out those carriers. I was considering using Couriersplease. Their website makes it easy to get a price for a shipping quote, prices seem good, and willing to take larger packages. Have you had any experience with these guys at all?

[Improvise]

...and just went to your website and read your background story about your business. Very impressive. Funny how small ideas/decisions can lead your life down a completely different path to what you thought it would end up!