# Christmas toy rush setup for October to December > Stock shelving, a packing bench and a fanfold label printer for selling toys through the Christmas peak, from pre-orders to January returns. - Built for: 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. - Platforms: eBay, Vinted - Orders a week: 30–150 - Space: Spare bedroom - Kit total: £327 to £533 - Running cost: £367 to £590 (Consumables at 90 orders a week) - Updated 6 October 2026 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 - **[MUNBYN thermal label printer](https://sellersetups.com/product/munbyn-thermal-printer)** (£55 to £85): 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. - ×2 **[100 x 150 mm thermal labels, 500 fanfold](https://sellersetups.com/product/thermal-labels-fanfold)** (£12 to £18): Fanfold stacks feed flat behind the printer and hold more labels than a roll. 100 x 150 mm matches the label size UK couriers and marketplaces print. - **[30 kg digital postal scale](https://sellersetups.com/product/parcel-scale-30kg)** (£12 to £20): Covers the parcels most home sellers ship, up to 30 kg. Choose it when the 40 kg scale is out of stock. - ×2 **[5-tier steel shelving, 180 cm](https://sellersetups.com/product/shelving-unit)** (£40 to £70): Floor space runs out before height does. Number the shelves and each item gets an address you can pick from. - **[Clear stackable 32 L tubs, 4 pack](https://sellersetups.com/product/clear-storage-tubs)** (£30 to £45): Label each tub with a shelf code and record the code against the listing. A sale then tells you which tub to open. - **[180 cm folding table](https://sellersetups.com/product/folding-work-table)** (£40 to £65): 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. - ×2 **[Small single-wall boxes, 25 pack](https://sellersetups.com/product/single-wall-boxes)** (£8 to £14): Use these for boxed toys and beauty sets that a padded bag would crush, when double-wall board costs more than you need. - **[Double-wall boxes, 18 x 12 x 8 in, 15 pack](https://sellersetups.com/product/double-wall-boxes)** (£22 to £34): Double-wall board resists crushing better than single-wall, so your boxed trainers arrive intact. - **[Honeycomb paper wrap, 100 m roll](https://sellersetups.com/product/paper-void-fill)** (£18 to £28): Stretches into a cushioned mesh and goes in the paper recycling. Choose it if low-plastic packaging is part of your shop's pitch. - **[Acid-free tissue paper, 100 sheets](https://sellersetups.com/product/tissue-paper)** (£7 to £11): A sheet of tissue costs pennies and changes how a £15 vintage shirt feels on arrival. Buyers mention it in reviews. - **[Thank-you stickers, roll of 500](https://sellersetups.com/product/thank-you-stickers)** (£5 to £9): A sticker sealing the tissue makes the parcel look finished before the buyer opens it. Swap to custom stickers with your shop name once the brand settles. - **[Tape dispenser gun](https://sellersetups.com/product/tape-gun)** (£8 to £14): 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. - ×2 **[Brown packing tape, 48 mm x 66 m, 6 rolls](https://sellersetups.com/product/brown-packing-tape)** (£5 to £9): 48 mm is the width tape guns take. Six rolls last a shop sending a few boxes a week for a few months. - **[Royal Mail Click & Drop](https://sellersetups.com/product/royal-mail-click-and-drop)** (£0 a month): Imports orders from eBay, Etsy and other marketplaces, buys postage and prints to a thermal printer. Use it for the orders where you choose the courier; the platform labels its own. ## How to lay it out ### 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. ### 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. ### 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. ### 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. ## 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. ## 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. ## 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 - 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+ orders a week: **[Sortly](https://sellersetups.com/product/sortly-inventory)**: Suits you if you keep hundreds of items in tubs and lose time hunting for the one that sold. Scan a QR label on a box with your phone to see what is inside, then update counts as you go. - 100+ orders a week: **[40 kg digital parcel scale](https://sellersetups.com/product/parcel-scale-40kg)** (£15 to £25): A wrong weight costs you surcharges or overpaid postage. A flat platform scale with a separate display stays readable when a box covers the top. - 120+ orders a week: **[Zebra ZD421d](https://sellersetups.com/product/zebra-zd421)** (£200 to £260): Once you print hundreds of labels a week, the faster prints and fewer jams are worth the higher price. ## 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.