selling chips in case - best way to ship? (1 Viewer)

[mstang1988]

I'm looking to list a 1500 or so chip set (china clay Dunes from around early 2015). Given the set probably isn't worth a ton I'd like to find a way to ship them (hopefully with cases) for an affordable cost. The chips themselves, yeah, USPS flat rate all day but with the 500 chip cases I'm not sure what's the best method. Suggestions?

Also, anybody know pricing on china dunes these days?

 

[DrStrange]

Shipping chips in cases has an assortment of risks. More so if the "case" is a bird cage or if the case is flimsy or made of wood/plastic. I have plenty of times where the cases or racks ended up broken - - - or - - - the chips and case break open and spill the contents all over the post office,

Maybe a briefcase style case matched with careful packaging could work out reliably well. Expect the shipping costs to be ouchy as that sort of package isn't fitting into a flat rate box.

I wouldn't be shocked to find the shipping costs rival the price for the chips. There may not be a good answer. It is expensive to ship that much weight outside of a flat rate box. it might end up being worth the effort / cost to pack the chips so they fit in a flat rate box.

DrStrange

Ambassador Plaza roulettes, San Juan. Damaged in transit

• DrStrange
• Dec 9, 2015

This sort of breakage on the chip side

Smith & Wesson presentation box

• DrStrange
• Jul 18, 2016

This case was shattered in transit and had to be rebuilt / restored. It might look ok now, but not so when the shipping box was opened.

 

[kaimat]

You can fit 6 small flat rate boxes perfectly into one medium flat rate box. If you pack 80-100 chips in each SFRB with some padding you'll be just fine. Much cheaper and safer than shipping them in a case.

My strategy for packing a SFRB is pushing down a plastic grocery bag, adding the chips, then another plastic grocery bag on top. I also ship in Warneke boxes, but I think any simple padding inside the SFRB will be sufficient. It is more the double layer of cardboard that is protecting the chips.

 

[upNdown]

I have few concerns about shipping chips in a briefcase case as long as they’re tightly packed inside the case. The problem is that briefcase cases are expensive to ship because they don’t fit into USPS flat rate boxes (unless they still have those board game boxes, but I don’t think they do, and even then they might not fit.)
Maybe there’s a good solution with ups or fedex, I dunno.
My advice would be to sell the chips without cases. Especially since you’re talking about relatively inexpensive China clays, because with the cases, the shipping could end up costing as much as the chips.

 

[Johnblue]

I am not an expert, but the reason I have way too many extra chip cases is because there’s no easy/affordable way to ever ship them out. I am a nit, and I have looked, and the only way is to cut a custom box from a bigger box, and cut perfect styrofoam, and then pay dearly.

If you do decide to do it, Saran Wrap each row separately inside the case, then Saran Wrap each case shut. Then Saran Wrap them all cases together that would be a fat brick of chips, maybe worthy of freight shipping. Haha