How to ship live fish (beginner)

[bloodlucky]

Ok once I get my 40 gallon I'm planning to breed a lot of fish, Bolivian rams, cross breed livebearers, etc.

Anyway I'm actually trying to make a PROFIT, instead of ending up paying more money for shipping/packaging than the money I receive for selling my home-bred fish (which kind of depicts the reason why I want to breed them)

I'm 14, almost 15 but my dad is willing to help me out on this, and we will probably set up a PayPal account for me or he will use his metro card then give me the money I earn in dollars

NOW TO MY QUESTION

I checked the shipping tutorial on a fish auctioning website, and it makes 0 sense to me. First I don't know what an "insulated box" is. I know I have to label the box with "LIVE SHIPPING" or whatever for 24 hour delivery, but does "insulated" mean I need a box with that label on it or can I just take one of my Fresh Direct boxes and write "LIVE FISH DELIVER FAST" with a big sharpie on it?

Also where the heck do you find styrofoam? I'm very confused as to where to find this as well as how it will fit in the box and how it will HOLD the plastic bag with the fish. Do I need to cut a hole into it as a compartment for the fish? Please help!

Lastly, how much will shipping cost? Like I said I'm trying to make a profit out of this because I have almost no money compared to my spoiled friends who get all their PS3, computers and such from their PARENTS and STILL get a ridiculous amount of cash every week as an "allowance" which is probably more than some minimum waged salaries.

 

[Alyxx]

Insulated boxes just refers to the box being lined with styrofoam or some other insulating material to keep the temperature a little more stable in the box. As for where to get styrofoam, check local craft stores or go to a gas station or a sporting goods store and buy a few styrofoam coolers. They're maybe $3 each around here. I'm talking about the plain styrofoam ones used for live fishing bait or keeping a few drinks cold at a cookout or something. Line the boxes well and pack the area between the styrofoam and the bag of fish with newspaper, packing peanuts, or some other packing material to keep the bag for getting jostled around too much. Label it as live fish and be sure to use a delivery method that will only take a few days. Shipping can be very expensive, but the person buying the fish will be paying for it. Choose which delivery methods you are comfortable using and then you can use shipping calculators online to find out how much it will cost to ship a package of a certain weight (or you can use flat-rate boxes) to a certain destination, then you can let the buyer know how much it is before they pay you.

But of course, you need to have the fish bred first! Do you have additional tanks for raising fry?

 

[jetajockey]

Get the styrofoam in 4x8 sheets at lowes/home depot. It's in the insulation section.

Severum_mama did a good writeup on this, it will help answer your questions.

Shipping Fish and Invertebrates - Aquarium Advice

 

[bloodlucky]

I have a 10 gallon breeder tank and a 2.5 medical, both filtered and cycled

 

[bloodlucky]

What about the plastic bags? Can I buy those too?

 

[Alyxx]

What about the plastic bags? Can I buy those too?

Yes you can. I know you can find them on aquabid, and I think Drs. Foster and Smith sell the Kordon breather bags on their website. The breather bags are better than your typical fish bag for shipping as they allow CO2 out and oxygen in through the material.

 

[bloodlucky]

Ok. And I can use ordinary boxes right? Just take a sharpie and label it "live shipping"?

 

[Alyxx]

As long as you take care to insulate and pack them well, yes. I would recommend using the flat rate shipping boxes from the post office, though. They ship for a flat rate no matter how much they weigh and that can save a good bit on shipping prices. I'm not sure if you can use some of the faster shipping methods with them, though. People will be more likely to buy if the shipping prices aren't extreme. Just remember when choosing shipping methods that you don't want the fish to be in the mail too long, and be mindful of the weather when you ship both on your end and where they will be arriving. If it is not a good idea to ship fish when it is very hot or very cold, although you can invest in heat packs and cold packs to help them make the trip. That is another cost that can be passed along to the buyer.

 

[bloodlucky]

As long as you take care to insulate and pack them well, yes. I would recommend using the flat rate shipping boxes from the post office, though. They ship for a flat rate no matter how much they weigh and that can save a good bit on shipping prices. I'm not sure if you can use some of the faster shipping methods with them, though. People will be more likely to buy if the shipping prices aren't extreme. Just remember when choosing shipping methods that you don't want the fish to be in the mail too long, and be mindful of the weather when you ship both on your end and where they will be arriving. If it is not a good idea to ship fish when it is very hot or very cold, although you can invest in heat packs and cold packs to help them make the trip. That is another cost that can be passed along to the buyer.

Mm I have a post office right near my house. If the shipping is a lot, could I make a deal with my customer that he gets a discount of shipping if (blah blah blah)

 

[Alyxx]

Mm I have a post office right near my house. If the shipping is a lot, could I make a deal with my customer that he gets a discount of shipping if (blah blah blah)

Of course you can. You'll just have to pay the remainder of the cost to ship.

 

[bloodlucky]

Of course you can. You'll just have to pay the remainder of the cost to ship.

Gotcha

 

[jetajockey]

Your best bet is to just do flat rate to begin with. Get the medium flat rate boxes, there are two kinds, you want the kind that is mostly square, the other one is long and narrow.

You can order them online for free from the usps site and they will ship them to your house in about a week or so.

Shipping by weight is often cheaper, especially with smaller orders. The 7x7x6 priority box is a good one for this.

You can do a mockup on a shipping box to get an idea of what it's going to weigh. Go ahead and insulate a box and then estimate how many bags you'll need to put in there. Figure out how much water you have to put in them and then put it all together and weigh it.

Printing out your own postage through paypal or the usps site can save a few bucks, but if you do it by weight you'll need an accurate scale.

Most of my shrimp packages can be under 1lb total weight if I don't have to use a heat pack or cold pack.

Just about every fish package I've done with small community fish or fry has been 2lbs or under, with the exception of very large orders.

Priority mail goes by pounds, so 1oz -15oz is the same, so if you can't get it under 1lb for example, then you might as well add more insulation or whatever because the postage won't go up again until it hits 2lbs.

 

[bloodlucky]

What exactly is flat rate?

 

[jetajockey]

https://www.prioritymail.com/flatrates.asp

 

[bloodlucky]

So I buy flatrate boxes? And I can put fish in it?

 

[jetajockey]

It's just like any box, it just costs you the exact same amount no matter what's in it (i.e. could be 1 fish bag or 4 fish bags, same price), and where you ship it in the US.

 

[bloodlucky]

Ok thanks everyone. I will do a new thread when I'm ready to ship fish