A fixed packing station with shelving, a thermal printer and supplies in reach, built for one person shipping up to 100 eBay orders a week.
Built forYou sell toys and collectibles on eBay, ship 50 to 100 orders a week and pack every order yourself.
Kit total
£247 to £407
Running cost
£114 to £187 a month
Consumables at 75 orders a week
- Orders a week
- 50–100
- Space
- Spare bedroom
- Budget
- £450
Why this setup
You sell toys and collectibles on eBay, ship 50 to 100 orders a week and pack every order yourself.
Past 50 orders a week, finding items and fetching supplies takes longer than packing. This setup puts stock on numbered shelves and every supply within one arm’s reach of the table.
Import your eBay orders into Click & Drop as one list and print straight to the thermal printer, so labels come out in the order you pick.
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
40 kg digital parcel scale
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.
Typical price£15 to £25
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 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
Visit site
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 £1,219 a month in postage at 75 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
Shelves behind the table
Two shelving units stand behind the table, with every shelf numbered. Put the shelf code in eBay’s custom label field so the sold order shows the location.
- 2
Supplies under the table
Store boxes flat underneath and keep padded envelopes and a bubble wrap roll at the end of the table, so you fetch nothing mid-batch.
- 3
Printer and scale on the right
Keep the printer and scale side by side, so you weigh and label each parcel as it moves left to right and off the end of the table.
- 4
Batch once a day
Print every label at once in pick order, then walk the shelves once before you pack.
The guide
Each step in the order you'll need it.
The daily pick and pack
Open Click & Drop around mid-morning, import the eBay orders and sort them by shelf location. Print the pick list and labels together, then walk the shelves once with a tub and collect every item.
Back at the table, work left to right: item, wrap, box or bag, tape, weigh, label. Twenty orders take around an hour once you know the routine.
Pack the whole batch in one sitting.
Kit for this step
Numbered shelves and listing codes
Give every shelf a code such as B3, and type that code into the custom label field of the eBay listing. Click & Drop can show it on the pick list, so you walk straight to the right shelf.
Group similar toys by size. Put small figures in labelled tubs on one shelf and boxed sets on the bottom shelf, where they are easier to lift.
Boxes, envelopes and wrap
Stock two box sizes and padded envelopes for small items. Boxes go flat under the table, envelopes in a tray at the end, bubble wrap on a roll beside the tape gun.
Restock the table at the end of every session, and count tape and labels so you don’t start a batch short. A shopping list on the wall with box sizes and pack counts makes reordering a two-minute job.
Weighing and postage
Weigh every parcel after sealing it, because wrap and a box add weight, and Royal Mail and other carriers charge by weight band and size.
Check each carrier's current size and weight guide when you add a new box size. Click & Drop lets you save common packages, which cuts typing for repeat items.
Kit for this step
Collectibles that need extra care
Boxed figures and sealed sets sell on the condition of the box. Wrap the box, then put it in a larger outer box with padding on every side so corners stay sharp.
Photograph high-value items as you pack them. If a buyer claims damage, a dated photo of the packed box helps your case with eBay.
Kit for this step
Past 100 orders a week
You run out of table space first, so add a second table for wrapping and keep weighing and labelling apart. Add shelving next, and buy fanfold labels by the box so you stop reordering mid-week.
Past 150 orders, the next step is a garage or unit with a packing line. The garage setup on this site covers it.
Common mistakes
Each one costs you money or reviews, and each has a fix.
- Leaving the custom label field empty, so every pick means scrolling photos to find where an item lives.
- Weighing the item before packing it and buying postage that is too light for the finished parcel.
- Packing boxed collectibles in a box that fits exactly, so the corners take the knocks in transit.
- Letting tape, labels or the main box size run out mid-batch because you didn’t count stock after the last session.
- Printing labels one at a time from the eBay app instead of batching through Click & Drop.
When to upgrade
At about 100 orders a week, switch to honeycomb paper if buyers ask for less plastic. Past 120, an industrial thermal printer costs more but runs batches faster.
- 120+ Zebra ZD421d
- 100+ Honeycomb paper wrap
Questions
Is Click & Drop free?
Royal Mail Click & Drop is free to use: you pay only for the postage. It imports orders from eBay and other marketplaces.
How big should a packing table be?
180 cm gives you room for supplies at one end, packing in the middle and the printer and scale at the other. On a shorter table you end up stacking.
Should I batch or pack as orders come in?
Batch once a day. One walk round the shelves with a stack of labels is quicker than a dozen separate trips.
How do I add a shelf code to an eBay listing?
Use the custom label (SKU) field when you list. It stays hidden from buyers and shows up on your orders and in Click & Drop.
Can I send toys in padded envelopes?
Small, sturdy toys and loose figures travel well in padded envelopes. Anything boxed or fragile needs a box with padding.
How much stock should one shelving unit hold?
Count what fits on one shelf of your unit, in tubs and in boxed sets, and multiply by the shelves. Leave space on each shelf for new stock.
Guides
Step-by-step help for the jobs that come next.
More setups
Updated 5 October 2026
