Your first packing station: what to buy and what it costs

It is very easy to buy packaging the way we buy sweets before Diwali. We buy too much, too early, and half of it turns out to be the wrong kind.

Here is the short answer. For your first 50 to 100 orders you need five things: something to seal with, something to protect the product, an outer pack, a label, and a home for the invoice. On our store that comes to roughly Rs 1,650 for a seller of clothes or other soft goods, and roughly Rs 1,700 to Rs 2,100 for a seller of fragile products. Buy the small packs first and grow from there.

What does a basic packing station need?

Think of the packing table as a line, from left to right. The product comes in on one side and a sealed, labelled parcel leaves on the other.

1. The outer pack: a courier bag for soft goods, a carton for anything that can break.
2. Protection: honeycomb paper, kraft bubble sheets or crinkle paper, only if the product needs it.
3. Sealing: packing tape, plus a tape gun to apply it.
4. Labelling: shipping labels and a printer.
5. Paperwork: an envelope for the invoice or packing list.

Add a small digital weighing scale, a measuring tape, a cutter and a thick marker. We do not sell these on our store. Any stationery or hardware shop near you will have them, and you do not need a costly brand.

What should I buy first, and what does it cost?

These are our store prices at the time of writing (October 2026). Delivery is free across India on every order, with no minimum order value.

I added up the two starter kits myself from these prices, so you can check every rupee.

A soft-goods seller (clothes, books, accessories) needs the courier bags, envelopes and labels. That is Rs 359 + Rs 839 + Rs 449 = Rs 1,647.

A fragile-goods seller (glass, ceramics, cosmetics) needs the brown tape, honeycomb roll, kraft bubble sheets, crinkle paper and labels, and the invoice can simply go inside the carton. That is Rs 379 + Rs 289 + Rs 199 + Rs 399 + Rs 449 = Rs 1,715. Add the fragile tape and it becomes Rs 2,104.

Cartons are extra, and their size depends completely on your product.

What can wait until orders grow?

A lot can wait. Here is my rule of the trade: the biggest pack usually has the lowest price per piece (do the division before you assume it), but the cheapest month is the one where your cash is not locked in stock you cannot use yet.

Buy roughly one month of material.

I would reorder when half of it is gone, not when the last roll is on the table.

These are good second purchases, once you know your numbers:

1. The 100 m honeycomb roll at Rs 889, instead of the 10 m roll at Rs 289.
2. Larger packs of envelopes and kraft bubble sheets.
3. The 250 m honeycomb dispenser at Rs 6,299. It is a good tool for a seller who wraps fragile items every day. I would not make it the first buy for someone shipping five parcels a week.

Also, keep paper materials dry. A carton of honeycomb paper left on a damp floor through the monsoon is money you have already spent.

Should I try the materials before buying a full pack?

Yes, if you are unsure. We keep a sample listing for exactly this, and it is listed at Rs 0. Pick the variant you want to try on the listing: brown tape, transparent tape, courier bag, crinkle paper, honeycomb roll, honeycomb mailer, stretch film roll, kraft bubble sheet or brown carton.

I suggest you pack one real order with the sample before you decide. A material that looks good on a screen can feel wrong in your hand, and the other way round.

If you need a larger trial for a bulk or custom order, write to us with your product and monthly volume.

Returns are simple if something is not right: unused items can come back within 15 days of delivery. For a change of mind, you pay the return shipping. If an item reaches you damaged or wrong, we replace or refund it and we pay the shipping.

How should I set up the table itself?

Keep it simple. I would start with one table, about waist height, against a wall.

Put the empty bags and cartons on the left, the wrap and fill in the middle, and the tape, labels and envelopes on the right, next to the scale. Weigh every parcel before you print its label, because courier charges depend on weight.

Stick the shipping label flat on the bag or the top of the carton. Do not put it across a seam or over the sealing tape, where it can lift or tear.

If you sell fragile items, our step-by-step guide on packing fragile orders without plastic shows how to use the wrap and fill from the table above.

Start small, pack 20 orders, then look at what ran out first.

That list is your real reorder list, and I am sure it will look different from the one you started with.

Questions new sellers usually ask

Do I need a thermal printer on day one?

Not on day one. The label roll in the table is direct thermal, which means it prints only on a thermal label printer, with no ink. If you are printing labels on a normal office printer for now, skip the roll and come back to it when you buy a thermal printer. Check the listing for the label size before you buy the printer.

Which courier bag size should I start with?

Only one. The 10 x 12 inch bag in the table is just an example. We sell six sizes, from 6 x 8 inch at Rs 199 to 14 x 18 inch at Rs 549. Buy the size that fits most of your products with room for the flap, not all six. Our courier bag size chart helps you pick it.

Brown tape or transparent tape?

Brown tape on brown cartons looks neat and hides small marks on the box. Transparent tape suits white or printed boxes, where you want the design to show. On our store, brown is Rs 379 for 6 rolls of 65 m and transparent is Rs 449 for 6. Both are 2 inch wide, which is the width I would use on most small cartons. You can see the full range in our brown tapes collection.

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