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Sorry to bother everyone, but I am needing help with a shipping question…as of yet I have not shipped anything to BoardSort and am trying to figure which categories warrant shipping and which warrant depopulating and selling as board buyers really don’t exist in my area…..without “commercial” accounts etc, has anyone been able to figure the minimum category price which makes it possible to still profit if shipping? IE: don’t ship anything lower than $0.50/lb?? I ASSUME at this point I would be shipping via USPS Flatrate shipping as I haven’t any experience with any other method. Thanks to anyone who can offer any constructive advice.

My advice would be to try this out: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=19635. Basically, you email Chris (chris@boardsort.com) with your address, the weight of the package, and the package dimensions. He will email you back with a link to a prepaid shipping label on UPS. If you are satisfied with the price (if you're not, you are under no obligation to use the label as Boardsort only gets billed for labels that are actually used) you print out the label and attach it to your box. Then you just go and drop it off at a UPS store. After your material is processed, Boardsort will deduct the cost of the shipping label from your total payout and then issue you the amount that's left in what ever payment method you selected (check or PayPal).

I used this method for my last shipment and it worked out really cool and easy. I was able to ship a 50lb box of scrap for $35.93. That was a much better price than anything I could previously get. The total value of all my scrap was $162.35. When they issued me the check, they put a little slip of paper in with the check saying "$35.93 decuted for shipping". So I ended up making $126.42 on that shipment.

If you shipped a 50lb box of board boards that were $0.50/lb, you would lose money (50 * $0.50= $25) unless you were able to ship the box for under $25 which is unlikely. Even it you shipped 50lbs of boards that were $0.75/lb for say $36, you would only make $1.50. For that reason, I don't ship anything lower than $1/lb. Also, shipping 50lbs of boards seems to be the sweet spot (at least for me) to make the most profit. Just make sure you use a strong enough box.

Very good information! Thank you!

One thing to note on pricing limits: wire.

Especially if you have long runs of it.
I use wire as my packing material. The difference between wire and newsprint, cardboards, or plastics is you get paid for it as well.

Line the 6 sides of the box with tightly tied wires. It protects the he box from the. Oates and doesn’t further shred like plastic or paper packing materials. I use zip ties to make gangs. They 10-100 (occasionally more) per dollar or two depending on length and width.
I prefer 6-10 inches long and 1/8” wide.
Just clip the end off the tie.

—I also use much longer and slightly wider ties to tie my boards together by group.

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