Do / Can you reuse envelopes?

[musicyouneed]

I have about 20 used bubble envelopes that I would like to reuse for shipments.  Most are from Amazon and a few are the Amazon prime envelopes.  Do / Can I reuse them?  Have you reused them and what  happened?

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

@musicyouneed 

I repurpose them all the time. Brown bubble type just lightly score and remove old labels, stamps etc. Amz type, remove labels and use as inner protection for fragile items. My way of reuse/recyle....save on packaging expenses. You can even cut em up and wrap them around more sensitive items.

-Lotz

PS. As side note using AZ packaging to reship only advertises that company. Personal preference has always been to use generic packaging. Reduces chance of distinguishing a package as something of value and risk of sticky fingers walking away with it. Had a AZ package the other day dropped half way down sidewalk to house. So much for "not in plain sight". Only noticed by accident looking out front window.

[38e_avenue]

Reused all the time. A strange question ......  😄

[msau4301]

As others have said I absolutely reuse them! As lotz says I also remove all labels (sometimes this is tricky though and have needed to actually cut them out!) but I basically reuse them as packing (instead of bubblewrap) inside of my boxes. I have never used them for actual outside packaging, I prefer them to look more unanimous. I have a bin I collect all mine in and they never last there long before they go on their next journey!

[musicyouneed]

I want to reuse them for  actual outside packaging.   Any problems with using an an amazon prime envelope for ebay?

[38e_avenue]

I think most of us are the MASTERS of reuse of the old packaging material. Concerning the labels - some are really nice! Look at these: 

And here is the proof, that I am not short of the original Ebay bubble mailers:   😁

[msau4301]

I don't think it would be a problem but haven't actually tried it myself as outside packaging. I'm curious what others have done, I will check back and see!

[msau4301]

You're absolutely right, those Do Not Bend and Fragile are still keepers. And as for your back up stash...wow! Puts mine to shame! (I rarely have more than 25 tops!) Well organized! 

[pjcdn2005]

I wouldn't reuse Amazon packaging for an eBay sale..at least not for outside packaging.  Some people tend to get upset if they order from eBay and then think the package came from Amazon.  There are some Amazon haters out there and their initial reaction might be negative.

Plus, I just don't think it's very businesslike to use another company's clearly branded packaging.  That's just my opinion. I'm sure that others disagree.

[marnotom!]

I agree with you fully, @pjcdn2005.  The "optics" of receiving Amazon-branded packaging for an eBay sale aren't very good.

[ypdc_dennis]

I primarily reuse amazon envelope exteriors for my amazon sales 😉

On occasion will use for ebay sales but with all amazon marks covered (easy to do for me since I mail using stamps plus a magic marker does wonders on the paper envelopes).

-;-

[femmefan1946]

Interior packaging--no problem.

Exterior packaging- in addition to the question of advertising a different company, by the time you have done all the work to remove labels and black out addresses, are you actually saving any money (the Earth yes, but your wallet?).

The minimum wage here in BC is 26 cents a minute. If it takes five minutes to tidy the envelope, you just spent $1.30 of your time.

[recped]

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@musicyouneed wrote:

I want to reuse them for  actual outside packaging.   Any problems with using an an amazon prime envelope for ebay?

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I would not do that, a buyer will suspect you are dropshipping from Amazon, if they report that to eBay you will have issues you absolutely do not want.

Recycled for interior packing material is fine, I did that this morning for a shipment.

[38e_avenue]

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@marnotom! wrote:

I agree with you fully, @pjcdn2005.  The "optics" of receiving Amazon-branded packaging for an eBay sale aren't very good.

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 Might be true - it's why I always cover the Amazon logo with a "fragile" label, or similar. 

[recped]

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@38e_avenue wrote:

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@marnotom! wrote:

I agree with you fully, @pjcdn2005.  The "optics" of receiving Amazon-branded packaging for an eBay sale aren't very good.

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 Might be true - it's why I always cover the Amazon logo with a "fragile" label, or similar. 

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That's fairly easy with an Amazon box but their bubble envelops are covered in Amazon logo's, 16 of them on a #4 envelope.

[musicyouneed]

Thanks for all the suggestions/feedback etc.  I am going to use the envelopes as most of you suggested.  If I can cover up the amazon info, I'll use them for outside mail.  The ones that I can't do that for, I will use as filler if I ever need some.  

[ilikehockeyjerseys]

You can re-use them. You need to make sure you remove any numbers or bar codes since they can interfere with Canada Post sorting your package. 

Re-using Amazon shipping supplies is extremely common because they are so abundant. While anything is possible, your average person isn't going to confuse it as something nefarious like drop-shipping. Their first thought will probably be "oh this guy didn't want to pay for a bubble mailer". There is nothing in eBay rules that stipulates you cannot use shipping supplies with other brand names on it. If eBay really cared, they would make shipping supplies with their branding accessible by selling them at market value, and not at the inflated price they do. The $70 coupon gets you maybe $20 of boxes when you compare them to what they cost at somewhere like Staples. 

While most people don't care if you re-use a box, some people might have an issue with a bubble mailer being reused, not because it is from Amazon, but because you're retaping a bubble mailer that has been torn open already. They might think their item wasn't sent safely.

It also depends on how much skin you have in the game. If you are a seller who does this as your full time job, and you're trying to run your store in a reasonably professional way, you probably should purchase new bubble mailers or poly bags. If you are selling a handful of items a week, it may not be worth it to go all in. 

I would never re-use a bubble mailer personally. While I buy boxes for sizes that I use regularly, I do re-use boxes for odd sized items that I do not sell enough of to merit buying a 25 pack of boxes for. 

CDs are pretty fragile shipping wise, and without cardboard stiffeners can easily crack, even in strong bubble mailers. One thing to consider is that if you re-tape a bubble mailer and it looks suspect, a customer who otherwise might have shrugged off the case cracking in a clean bubble mailer might blame your unwillingness on using new supplies on their item arriving damaged. How often could that happen? I don't know. But it's like anything, you have to weigh the pros and cons of cutting corners. Maybe it won't happen often enough for it to be a hinderance.

[dinomitesales]

If you want to use an Amazon (or other branded) bubble mailers as... well, bubble mailers, I would recommend picking up some inexpensive poly mailers. Just slip the bubble envelope inside that and it looks nice and clean.

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

I only reuse bubble mailers as exterior if I can get them very neatly cleaned up. Otherwise I only reuse them as inside paddings... or reuse the bubble mailer as is, with a plain paper envelope outside. 

[38e_avenue]

And why not just turn them inside out? 😄