Two scales, rigid mailers and shelves sorted by code, so 20 to 80 books, games and records a week go out in the cheapest postage band that fits.
Built forYou buy books, DVDs, video games and vinyl in bulk from charity shops, car boots and house clearances, and sell them one at a time on eBay.
Kit total
£222 to £369
Running cost
£94 to £160 a month
Consumables at 50 orders a week
- Orders a week
- 20–80
- Space
- Spare bedroom
- Budget
- £400
Why this setup
You buy books, DVDs, video games and vinyl in bulk from charity shops, car boots and house clearances, and sell them one at a time on eBay.
Media sells for a few pounds an item, so postage decides your profit. A paperback that weighs 20 g too much, or an envelope a few millimetres too thick, moves from Large Letter to Small Parcel and eats the margin.
A 500 g pocket scale reads to the gram for books and games. A parcel scale handles stacks of hardbacks and boxed records, and two shelving units hold a few hundred items, each with a shelf code.
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
500 g precision pocket scale
Card orders often sit within a few grams of a Royal Mail weight limit. A precise small scale tells you whether a mailer goes as a Large Letter or a parcel.
Typical price£8 to £14
See on Amazon30 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 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
Royal Mail Click & Drop
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.
Typical priceFree
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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 2nd Class Small Parcel
£4.40
Not trackedUp to 2 kgFolded clothes, books and boxed small items up to 2 kg, posted from a postbox or Post Office.
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 £813 a month in postage at 50 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
Two shelving units, spines out
Give every shelf a letter and number, such as B3, and put it in the eBay custom label. Books stand spines out, games and DVDs in rows, and records upright at the end of a shelf so they don’t lean.
- 2
Weighing spot at table height
Keep both scales side by side on a clear shelf at waist height. The pocket scale stays switched on through a packing session so you weigh every Large Letter.
- 3
Mailers in size order
Padded envelopes, small boxes and the vinyl mailers stand in a row by size on the bottom shelf. Grab the smallest one the item fits in, which keeps more parcels inside Large Letter.
- 4
Label printer by the door
The printer and the finished parcels sit by the door, sorted into two piles: Large Letters for the post box and parcels for the counter.
The guide
Each step in the order you'll need it.
From car boot crate to listed
Sort a fresh crate into three piles: worth listing alone, bundle material and charity shop. Scan barcodes with the eBay app to see what each title sells for before you spend time on it.
Clean covers and discs as you go, check each game case holds the right disc, and write the shelf code on a sticky note inside the cover. Fifty items take an evening.
Weighing every item before you list
Weigh each item in the envelope you will post it in, not bare. The envelope can add 20 g or more, and that is enough to push a heavy paperback over a band.
Put the packed weight and the postage service in the listing. When it sells you print the label without weighing again.
Kit for this step
A packing session for 30 orders
Print every label first and stack them in shelf code order. Walk the shelves once with the stack, pulling each item and leaving the label in its place.
Pack Large Letters first, sliding each through your thickness gauge, then boxes and record mailers. Thirty orders take about an hour once the shelves and labels follow the same codes.
Kit for this step
Records, box sets and hardbacks
Vinyl, hardback box sets and heavy art books go as parcels. Wrap box sets in bubble wrap so the corners survive, and pack records upright in a rigid mailer with stiffeners.
A “do not bend” note on a rigid mailer is optional. Couriers sort by machine, so the mailer and stiffeners protect the sleeve, not the note.
Kit for this step
Keeping consumables stocked
Padded envelopes go fastest, about one for every two orders. Reorder when the pack is half gone, since delivery can take a week and media sales come in steady waves.
Keep two sizes of small box for boxed games and hardbacks. Buying one size means wasted space and extra wrap on half your orders.
Kit for this step
Growing past 80 orders
Stock space runs out first. Past a few hundred items, add a third shelving unit and move slow sellers older than six months into bundles or a clearance sale.
Sourcing takes over your week next. Set a buying price per item, such as 50p a paperback, and stick to it at car boots, since one bad lot can tie up a whole shelf.
Kit for this step
Common mistakes
Each one costs you money or reviews, and each has a fix.
- Weighing a book without its envelope, then paying a surcharge when the packed weight crosses into the next band.
- Sending a thick hardback as a Large Letter when it is over 25 mm, and having the buyer pay the difference to collect it.
- Posting a record inside its sleeve, so the disc splits the jacket seam on the way.
- Listing a game without checking the disc matches the case and refunding a buyer who opens the wrong game.
- Buying whole house clearance boxes of book club editions that sell for pennies and fill a shelf for a year.
When to upgrade
At 50 orders a week, inventory software matches each sale to its shelf code and tracks what you paid per lot. Past 100, a Zebra printer handles the long label runs that media sellers print every day.
- 50+ Sortly
- 100+ Zebra ZD421d
Questions
What are the Royal Mail Large Letter limits?
A Large Letter can be up to 353 mm long, 250 mm wide, 25 mm thick and 750 g. Most paperbacks, DVDs and game cases fit if you use a slim padded envelope. Check Royal Mail’s current size guide before you set a postage price, since the limits can change.
How do I check a parcel is under 25 mm thick?
Cut a 25 mm slot in a piece of stiff card and slide each sealed envelope through it. If it catches, it is a Small Parcel.
How should I post vinyl records?
Take the record out of its sleeve and put it behind the sleeve inside the outer jacket, so the disc cannot split the seam. Pack it in a rigid record mailer with card stiffeners. A 12-inch record is too wide for a Large Letter.
Do I need a separate scale for books?
A 500 g pocket scale reads to the gram, which matters near the 750 g Large Letter limit and the weight bands for parcels. Use the parcel scale for anything over 500 g.
Is it worth listing books that sell for £3?
At £3, sell them in bundles by author or series, or list them in bulk with a barcode scan. A single £3 paperback in a padded envelope leaves little after fees and postage.
Which courier is cheapest for heavy book bundles?
Royal Mail suits most Large Letters and small parcels. For heavier bundles, compare InPost and DPD, and Evri for low-value items where price matters more. Weigh the bundle first, then compare each service’s current price for that weight.
More setups
Updated 6 October 2026
