Stock shelving, a packing bench and a fanfold label printer for selling toys through the Christmas peak, from pre-orders to January returns.
Built forYou already sell toys on eBay and Vinted, and from October to December your orders jump from a steady few dozen to over 100 a week as parents and grandparents shop for Christmas.
Kit total
£327 to £533
Running cost
£367 to £590 a month
Consumables at 90 orders a week
- Orders a week
- 30–150
- Space
- Spare bedroom
- Budget
- £650
Why this setup
You already sell toys on eBay and Vinted, and from October to December your orders jump from a steady few dozen to over 100 a week as parents and grandparents shop for Christmas.
Toy sales bunch into about ten weeks. You buy stock in September and October, sell most of it from Black Friday to the last posting days, and spend early January handling returns and unwanted gifts.
For that stretch, you run a spare room as a small warehouse. Two shelving units hold boxed stock in numbered bays, a folding table becomes the packing bench, and a fanfold printer runs a full evening of labels without a roll change.
The kit
Every item, why it’s here and what it typically costs in the UK.
MUNBYN thermal label printer
It takes the standard 100 x 150 mm labels that eBay, Vinted and Whatnot all generate, and generic labels work, so the running cost stays low.
Typical price£55 to £85
See on Amazon
30 kg digital postal scale
Covers the parcels most home sellers ship, up to 30 kg. Choose it when the 40 kg scale is out of stock.
Typical price£12 to £20
See on Amazon5-tier steel shelving, 180 cm×2
Floor space runs out before height does. Number the shelves and each item gets an address you can pick from.
Typical price£80 to £140
See on AmazonClear stackable 32 L tubs, 4 pack
Label each tub with a shelf code and record the code against the listing. A sale then tells you which tub to open.
Typical price£30 to £45
See on Amazon180 cm folding table
Packing on the bed or the kitchen table means setting up and clearing down every session. A table that stays up lets you leave your supplies where you need them.
Typical price£40 to £65
See on AmazonTape dispenser gun
Once you ship more than a handful of boxes a week, a tape gun saves minutes on every session and stops tape ends sticking to themselves.
Typical price£8 to £14
See on Amazon
Buy this kit
Copy the full list to take shopping, or print it.
Postage per order
What most orders like these go by, at today’s published prices. Prices checked 6 October 2026.
Royal Mail Tracked 48 Small ParcelUsual£3.75
TrackedUp to 2 kgClothing and small boxed items up to 2 kg, with tracking for less than untracked 2nd Class.
- Royal Mail Tracked 48 Medium Parcel
£5.70 to £12.25
TrackedUp to 20 kgTrainers, homeware and electronics up to 20 kg, tracked and cheaper than untracked 2nd Class.
InPost locker to locker, medium£2.59
TrackedUp to 15 kgShoe boxes, books and bags up to 19 cm deep, sent between lockers when the buyer picks a locker.
About £1,463 a month in postage at 90 orders a week On most marketplaces the buyer pays postage; this is the cost when you pay it.
How to lay it out
Where everything goes, so each order moves one way through the room.
- 1
Numbered shelving along one wall
Stand both shelving units side by side and number each shelf. Heavy boxed toys sit at the bottom, small stocking fillers in clear tubs at eye level, and each listing notes its bay.
- 2
Packing bench in the middle
Set the folding table where you can reach the shelves in two steps. Boxes, void fill and the tape gun go under it, tissue and stickers on top at one end.
- 3
Label and scale end
Put the printer and scale at the other end of the bench. Move each parcel left to right along the bench: box it, weigh it, label it and stack it.
- 4
Outbound stack by the door
Mark a patch of floor by the door for finished parcels, split by courier. Collection drivers and your drop-off runs take from one place, so packed parcels never get lost behind stock.
The guide
Each step in the order you'll need it.
Planning stock in September
Pull last year’s sold reports from eBay and Vinted and list your twenty best sellers from October to December. Order those first, before suppliers run short.
Clear slow lines in September with a price drop. Each shelf you empty before October frees space for stock that sells in December.
Storing stock in numbered bays
Give each shelf a bay code, such as A1 to A5 and B1 to B5, and add the code to each listing’s notes. A 9 pm order then means a walk to one shelf.
Keep toys in their outer cartons until they sell. Buyers won’t give a new toy in a dented retail box as a gift, and they send it back.
Kit for this step
Pre-orders and stock promises
List a pre-order only once a supplier has confirmed the delivery date to you in writing. Give yourself a week of slack on the date you show buyers.
If a delivery slips, message every pre-order buyer the same day with the new date and an offer to cancel. Parents planning Christmas need to know in November, while they can still buy elsewhere.
Last posting dates
Royal Mail publishes recommended last posting dates for Christmas each year, and DPD and Evri publish their own. Write the earliest date for each service you use on a note above the bench.
Update your listings and shop banner with those dates as soon as they appear. After the cut-off, switch listings to a faster service or state that the parcel may arrive after Christmas.
Gift wrap and notes
Wrap gift orders in tissue inside the box, seal with a sticker and tuck the printed note on top. Use a plain outer box so the toy stays a surprise on the doorstep.
Leave prices off everything inside a gift parcel. Keep the packing slip for your own records instead.
Kit for this step
Safety checks on new stock
Check each new line for a UKCA or CE mark, the maker or importer’s name and address, and age warnings in English. Some cheap imports lack them, and platforms can remove those listings.
Keep supplier invoices and any safety paperwork in one folder. If a platform or Trading Standards asks, you can show it the same day.
January returns
Expect a wave of returns in the first two weeks of January. Keep one shelf empty for them and check each return within a day: sealed and unused goes back into stock, opened goes into a separate listing as open box.
Refund within a day or two of checking the item. Quick January refunds protect your feedback for the rest of the year.
Common mistakes
Each one costs you money or reviews, and each has a fix.
- Guessing the Christmas cut-off from last year leaves parcels arriving late, so take this year’s dates from Royal Mail and each courier when they publish.
- Taking pre-orders on stock with no confirmed delivery date turns into cancellations in mid December, so wait for a written date from the supplier.
- Putting a gift-wrapped toy in a printed retail box tells the child what is inside, so pack gift orders in a plain outer box.
- Buying cheap new toys with no UKCA or CE mark gets listings pulled and puts children at risk, so check markings before you order in bulk.
- Running out of boxes in the second week of December stops dispatch, so buy your two busiest sizes in bulk in October.
When to upgrade
At 60 orders a week, inventory software tracks which bay holds what across both platforms. At 100, a 40 kg scale handles bulky ride-ons and big playsets. At 120, a desktop label printer with larger rolls keeps up with the peak evenings.
- 60+ Sortly
- 100+ 40 kg digital parcel scale
- 120+ Zebra ZD421d
Questions
When are the last posting dates for Christmas?
Royal Mail publishes its recommended last posting dates for each service every autumn. Check that page, plus your courier’s own dates, and put the earliest one in your listings and shop banner.
Should I take pre-orders on toys for Christmas?
Take pre-orders only for stock you have confirmed with a supplier and a delivery date in writing. Put the dispatch date in the listing title or first line, and check eBay’s rules on pre-sale listings before you start.
Can I offer gift wrap?
Wrap in tissue inside the shipping box and leave the outer box plain, so a child can’t see what the parcel holds when it lands on the doormat. Offer it as a listing option or a message request and keep the wrap neutral.
How do I include a gift note?
Ask buyers to message you the note text and print it on a plain card, with no prices on it. Leave the invoice out of gift parcels, or put it in a sealed envelope marked for the buyer.
How do I handle returns after Christmas?
Many buyers want to return gifts in January, after the normal window. Set a clear extended returns window for orders placed from November in your eBay returns policy, and say in the listing that it applies.
Do new toys need a UKCA or CE mark?
New toys sold in Great Britain need a UKCA or CE mark, and the maker or importer must be named on the toy or its packaging. Buy new stock only from suppliers who can show this, and read the GOV.UK toy safety guidance.
How much stock should I buy for the peak?
Base it on last year’s sold numbers in each line, plus a margin you can afford to hold until spring. Toys that miss Christmas sell slowly in January, so favour lines that also sell for birthdays.
Guides
Step-by-step help for the jobs that come next.
More setups
Updated 6 October 2026
