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  • November 8, 2018 at 4:03 pm #464529
    Dapple115
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        Hi there everyone,

        I have a quick question about how to weigh paintings in order to get shipping estimates online from the UPS site for example. Can you weigh them on a normal scale (i.e. the kind you would measure your own weight on), or do you have to buy a commercial one specifically for mailing packages?

        A person who works in a small shipping supplies store told me that the commercial ones are too expensive and break easily and that I should just use a normal scale. Is that true? Are a normal scale’s readings accurate enough for this purpose?

        Any other tips or tricks for weighing paintings or any other info requirements for shipping estimates is very much appreciated! Thank you so much in advance! :)

        November 8, 2018 at 6:00 pm #725098
        Robin
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            I bought a vintage scale 24 lbs, 15 oz. It is very, very accurate, it’s lasted probably 50 years. My smallest postage is for my repro prints, they are 4 oz and it is accurate for that. I got it for $5 at an auction. Since being over 1 oz can make a huge shipping cost difference, to me, it’s very important to have those oz on there.

            Robin

            November 8, 2018 at 11:06 pm #725103
            CarlyHardy
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                I usually package and take it to the post office…they will weigh and tell you the required postage. Then I let the client know the cost of shipping added to the cost of the painting.

                UPS will do this too.

                I also have an old weight machine which works well for the smaller packages.

                Carly's Website
                Abstract Color, Carly's Blog
                My Etsy Shop

                November 10, 2018 at 2:57 pm #725111
                Dapple115
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                    I bought a vintage scale 24 lbs, 15 oz. It is very, very accurate, it’s lasted probably 50 years. My smallest postage is for my repro prints, they are 4 oz and it is accurate for that. I got it for $5 at an auction. Since being over 1 oz can make a huge shipping cost difference, to me, it’s very important to have those oz on there.

                    Thank you! This makes a lot of sense, I didn’t think about the precision in ounces! I will look for one that can be very precise like yours. Thank you for sharing! :)

                    November 10, 2018 at 3:03 pm #725112
                    Dapple115
                    Default

                        I usually package and take it to the post office…they will weigh and tell you the required postage. Then I let the client know the cost of shipping added to the cost of the painting.

                        UPS will do this too.

                        I also have an old weight machine which works well for the smaller packages.

                        Ah okay, this makes sense too! So is it not really practical to put the weight of just the painting in its info on my website so that the customer can use that to estimate shipping costs online on UPS for example? Because it won’t be accurate I guess since it wouldn’t include the packaging weight. Is there any purpose for me to weigh the painting before packaging it at all?

                        Thank you so much for your input! It’s very helpful and I appreciate it! :)

                        November 11, 2018 at 11:58 am #725099
                        Robin
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                            All of the digital ones are precise, too.

                            To answer your question to Carly, imo, there is no reason to weigh it without packaging. You will be undercharging for shipping.

                            Robin

                            November 13, 2018 at 9:19 am #725113
                            Dapple115
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                                All of the digital ones are precise, too.

                                To answer your question to Carly, imo, there is no reason to weigh it without packaging. You will be undercharging for shipping.

                                Thank you for answering this! That was my biggest question moving forward – about if a digital scale is accurate enough. And that’s also super good to know about weighing before/after packaging. Thank you so much for clarifying both points! I really appreciate it! :)

                                November 13, 2018 at 8:35 pm #725106
                                contumacious
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                                    As noted already, you need to have the complete package, as it will be shipped to your customer, including all the padding etc.

                                    Once you are shipping on a regular basis you won’t enjoy driving to the UPS store or the Post Office to weigh everything. I would recommend a digital scale that will weigh high enough for your largest piece. Since paintings can be pretty big, don’t get a scale that has the display on the scale or you won’t be able to see it when the box is on there. Something like the one below which goes up to 110 pounds will be more than accurate enough for UPS as long as you round it up to the next pound which is what they do anyway.

                                    https://www.amazon.com/Accuteck-ShipPro-Digital-Shipping-W-8580-110-Black/dp/B00KYA0RC2/ref=sr_1_20?ie=UTF8&qid=1542159005&sr=8-20&keywords=ups+scale

                                    Finding a mechanical scale that is as accurate as the one above, +/- 1/10th of an ounce is going to be very difficult even for twice the price.

                                    November 13, 2018 at 9:40 pm #725104
                                    CarlyHardy
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                                        Weight is not the only thing that figures into shipping….size of the package and distance also plays a part. That’s the reason I took them in for pricing. However once you know the sizes of your paintings and the packaging, you can pretty much make a chart for yourself.

                                        Example…my 11×14 canvas (no framing) weighed 3.8 lbs packaged…then just put that into the usps site calculator with location and you have a price.
                                        Priority boxes can be ordered in bulk from the PO online and they will send to your home addy. I get those all the time for shipping…saves me money on boxes!

                                        Carly's Website
                                        Abstract Color, Carly's Blog
                                        My Etsy Shop

                                        November 13, 2018 at 10:29 pm #725114
                                        Dapple115
                                        Default

                                            As noted already, you need to have the complete package, as it will be shipped to your customer, including all the padding etc.

                                            Once you are shipping on a regular basis you won’t enjoy driving to the UPS store or the Post Office to weigh everything. I would recommend a digital scale that will weigh high enough for your largest piece. Since paintings can be pretty big, don’t get a scale that has the display on the scale or you won’t be able to see it when the box is on there. Something like the one below which goes up to 110 pounds will be more than accurate enough for UPS as long as you round it up to the next pound which is what they do anyway.

                                            [URL=https://www.amazon.com/Accuteck-ShipPro-Digital-Shipping-W-8580-110-Black/dp/B00KYA0RC2/ref=sr_1_20?ie=UTF8&qid=1542159005&sr=8-20&keywords=ups+scale]https://www.amazon.com/Accuteck-ShipPro-Digital-Shipping-W-8580-110-Black/dp/B00KYA0RC2/ref=sr_1_20?ie=UTF8&qid=1542159005&sr=8-20&keywords=ups+scale[/URL]

                                            Finding a mechanical scale that is as accurate as the one above, +/- 1/10th of an ounce is going to be very difficult even for twice the price.

                                            Oh wow, I somehow did not think of this at all. Thank you so much, this reminder along with the specific link is incredibly helpful!! This is great, and will save me so much time and headaches. Thank you so much!

                                            November 13, 2018 at 10:35 pm #725115
                                            Dapple115
                                            Default

                                                Weight is not the only thing that figures into shipping….size of the package and distance also plays a part. That’s the reason I took them in for pricing. However once you know the sizes of your paintings and the packaging, you can pretty much make a chart for yourself.

                                                Example…my 11×14 canvas (no framing) weighed 3.8 lbs packaged…then just put that into the usps site calculator with location and you have a price.
                                                Priority boxes can be ordered in bulk from the PO online and they will send to your home addy. I get those all the time for shipping…saves me money on boxes!

                                                Ah true, I keep forgetting about size for the paintings too. Distance I’m nervous about, so I like the idea of making a chart like you said. I want to have a general idea of how much shipping costs to various countries/parts of the country.

                                                For boxes – are those “double walled” or corrugated? (I’m still learning the correct terms). I went to a local shipping supply store (because I read online it’s cheaper to find a local supplier than order online from ULine) and they said the safest is custom boxes which are significantly more expensive…

                                                November 16, 2018 at 2:00 pm #725107
                                                contumacious
                                                Default

                                                    Oh wow, I somehow did not think of this at all. Thank you so much, this reminder along with the specific link is incredibly helpful!! This is great, and will save me so much time and headaches. Thank you so much!

                                                    You are welcome. I posted that information because I bought a scale with the display attached to the body of the scale so I have to use a mirror to read the weight with large boxes on it! (One plus is I am learning to read numbers that are reversed in a mirror.)

                                                    November 17, 2018 at 2:47 pm #725116
                                                    Dapple115
                                                    Default

                                                        You are welcome. I posted that information because I bought a scale with the display attached to the body of the scale so I have to use a mirror to read the weight with large boxes on it! (One plus is I am learning to read numbers that are reversed in a mirror.)

                                                        Haha, that is a useful skill to have! Always good to have a positive take-away :) Thank you again though for sharing this experience with me!

                                                        November 17, 2018 at 7:11 pm #725105
                                                        Harold Roth
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                                                            I have never used a custom box nor a double-walled box (except when I shipped a painting to Amsterdam, and then I put two boxes together with bubble wrap in between). The kind of box called side-loading is good–tends to be the right proportions for paintings. I can’t remember where I bought them last time. I quit buying from Uline on account of their reactionary politics; there are plenty of other vendors. Shipping for a bunch of boxes can be real steep, though, as they are heavy and big. Sometimes you can get them locally, like from staples or one of the big box stores, so no shipping.

                                                            https://www.haroldroth.com/
                                                            https://www.instagram.com/haroldrothart
                                                            https://www.facebook.com/haroldrothartist

                                                            November 17, 2018 at 7:53 pm #725100
                                                            Robin
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                                                                My 11 x 14s are well under 2 pounds packaged. I’ve never had one arrive damaged. I’ve shipped well over 1,000 paintings and only had one that was damaged and that was a watercolor that the deliverer stood on to bend in half to stick between the doors and then he forged the customer’s signature. It had his boot print on it. Nothing you can do about that! I was so glad it was insured!

                                                                I think it’s possible to over pack and over pay for shipping.

                                                                Robin

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