The step up from a spare room: a garage or small unit with picking shelves, two packing tables and a printer built for volume.
Built forYou sell mixed stock on eBay and Vinted, ship 150 to 300 orders a week and have outgrown the spare room.
Kit total
£602 to £924
Running cost
£356 to £568 a month
Consumables at 225 orders a week
- Orders a week
- 150–300
- Space
- Garage or unit
- Budget
- £900
Why this setup
You sell mixed stock on eBay and Vinted, ship 150 to 300 orders a week and have outgrown the spare room.
Past 150 orders a week, you have stock in every room and spend your evenings packing.
Split the space into picking and packing. Put the stock on four coded shelving units and set up two tables as the packing line, with a thermal label printer for batches of a hundred labels.
The kit
Every item, why it’s here and what it typically costs in the UK.
Zebra ZD421d
Once you print hundreds of labels a week, the faster prints and fewer jams are worth the higher price.
Typical price£200 to £260
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×2
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£80 to £130
See on Amazon5-tier steel shelving, 180 cm×4
Floor space runs out before height does. Number the shelves and each item gets an address you can pick from.
Typical price£160 to £280
See on AmazonClear stackable 32 L tubs, 4 pack×2
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£60 to £90
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.
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.
- 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.
About £3,656 a month in postage at 225 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 along the back wall
Run four shelving units and give each bay and shelf a code. Put fast sellers at waist height near the tables and slow stock high and far.
- 2
Two tables as a line
Use one table for picking and wrapping and the other for boxing, weighing and labelling. Move each parcel one way down the line.
- 3
Supplies in reach
Keep boxes flat under the tables, and mailers and bubble wrap at the end of the line. Hang the tape gun where you can grab it.
- 4
Dispatch by the door
Mark an area for packed parcels and sort them by courier, so collection takes minutes.
The guide
Each step in the order you'll need it.
A typical packing shift
Start with Click & Drop. Import eBay and other orders, sort by shelf code and print the whole batch in pick order. Vinted labels come from the app, so print those separately and add them to the pile.
Pick in one loop around the shelves with a crate or trolley. Then pack at the first table, move each parcel to the second for weighing and labelling, and set it in the dispatch area by courier.
At 150 orders a week, that is 30 a day across five days. Time your own first shift and plan from that.
Kit for this step
Keeping hundreds of items findable
Code every bay and shelf: bay A, shelf 1 is A1. Put that code in each listing's SKU field and on a sticker on the shelf edge.
Check once a month: walk the shelves with your listing export and look for items with no listing and listings with no item.
Kit for this step
Supplies at volume
Buy mailing bags, envelopes and boxes in bulk boxes rather than small packs. At 150 orders a week, a box of 500 grey bags lasts around two months.
Keep one shelf as the supply shelf and a reorder list on the wall. When you open the last box of anything, write it down and order that week.
Fanfold labels and tape run out fastest. Keep a full spare box of labels on the shelf.
The garage itself
Cardboard soaks up garage damp and goes soft. Keep boxes off the floor and run a dehumidifier if you see condensation in winter.
Keep a clear path from the shelves to the tables to the door. Move stock along it on a trolley or a crate on wheels.
Kit for this step
Collections and drop-offs
At this volume, a daily Royal Mail collection or a courier pickup saves a trip to the post office. Check the current terms and any charge for collections with each carrier.
Sort packed parcels in the dispatch area by carrier so the driver can take them in one go. Keep a short list of tracking numbers for that day's collection.
Taking on help and growing to 300
Past 200 orders a week, bring in a second person: one picks while the other packs at the two tables.
A second printer means both can label at once. Write down the packing order and box choices for your helper.
Kit for this step
Common mistakes
Each one costs you money or reviews, and each has a fix.
- Storing cardboard on a bare garage floor, where it goes soft and collapses under weight.
- Letting stock and listings drift apart over months, so items sell that you cannot find.
- Buying supplies in small packs at this volume and paying more per bag than you need to.
- Mixing packed and unpacked parcels in the dispatch area and sending something without a label.
- Training a helper by watching only, with no written packing steps, so parcels go out packed two different ways.
When to upgrade
At about 200 orders a week, move to honeycomb paper if buyers ask for less plastic. Beyond 300, add a second printer so both of you can label at once.
- 200+ Honeycomb paper wrap
Questions
Do I need a unit, or will a garage do?
A dry, secure garage works for most stock. Check that it stays above freezing and below damp levels for anything with batteries, cardboard or fabric.
Is a thermal label printer worth it at this volume?
Yes. At 150 or more labels a week, a thermal printer prints batches faster and takes generic labels, which cost pennies.
Should I keep using Click & Drop?
Yes, for orders where you choose the courier. Import your eBay and other marketplace orders into one list and print in pick order. Check Click & Drop's current import options.
How do I keep a garage dry enough for stock?
Raise everything off the floor on shelving or pallets, seal gaps around the door, and use a dehumidifier if you see condensation in winter.
Do I need business insurance for a garage setup?
Home insurance often excludes business stock. Ask your insurer, and look at a business or stock policy if you hold a lot of value.
Can two people pack with one printer?
Up to about 300 orders a week, yes, if one person picks and one packs. Beyond 300, add a second printer so neither of you waits at the labelling end.
Guides
Step-by-step help for the jobs that come next.
More setups
Updated 5 October 2026
