Best packaging techniques for video games and related

There are many different ways one can package a video game for shipping, and many different materials. One of the most common methods is to ship via Priority Mail and use the free packaging provided by the USPS. However, for many items, size or object shape may make this less cost effective in the long run for both you (if you're providing free shipping) and the buyer. Sellers must be aware that these free supplies are ONLY for Priority Mail. Small items may be shipped for much cheaper via USPS First Class Mail, which makes it easier to offer free shipping. Other factors may include weight and destination. I cannot stress enough how important it is to have a scale! I hope to upgrade my 5# scale soon to something that can handle more weight when needed. The USPS does have some sort of scale/postage rental deal, but as I am still a small seller, it is not cost effective for me.

Recycling:
I make a habit of reusing boxes I get when I mail order something, and since I live in a rural area, I mail order a lot of my purchases over the course of a year. Mind you while this is a good practice both for cost and environmentally, you must make sure your handling charges are not excessive when you reuse packaging. So far in my experience, buyers don't mind it as long as you take steps to make sure their item is protected, that old information won't delay shipping (by not covering bar codes, for example), and that you don't overcharge for recycling packaging. I usually charge a flat S&H fee of $1, to cover the small cost of envelopes (padded or not), tape, protective plastic bags, bubble wrap, and any printed papers that I include such as a flyer or invoice. I've never had a buyer complain about a reused box or packing materails, although other sellers may claim it's too unprofessional. Personally I prefer to save the money where possible as I already have the items available, as well as reducing S&H charges.

Specialty packaging:
Sometimes however, an item will be large and awkward and require special care. For example, I recently shipped a PS3 Rock Band drum set to CA that did not have the original box. Upon dismantling it, I realized that while I had 2-3 boxes that *almost* fit it, they either weren't quite wide enough for the curve of the drum heads, or too shallow for the stack of parts. Again I live in a rural area, so there is no option really for going out and buying a special box for something like this. In the end, I fortunately had a large box from a recent computer chair purchase that I was able to cut down to size and make a custom box from. Even then, the weight restricted shipping options to oversize parcel post, with the 'balloon' fee. If it had been much larger, I expect I'd have ended up at the UPS 10 miles away. Long story short, when all was said and done, it required an entire roll of tape, foam and cushy wrapping for the legs and feet, as well as the pedal, and plain brown paper around part of the box to cover the original Serta box art. Perhaps this sounds like too much effort, but I thought it was mostly worth it. However because of all the extra materials used, the S&H fee was a bit higher than my usual (plus it took like an hour to build, although I didn't factor that into the fee or it would have been tripled)

Priority packages vs. generic:
The more common problem you might run into is shipping a strangely shaped controller, or a game system that needs protective padding and won't fit in a cheaper box. So far I have handled these on a case by case basis as I don't deal much in systems, but it can be a trial getting them to fit. The standard Priority boxes at my local USPS tend to be of only three sizes (and I don't use them that often so haven't special ordered any), so my random mail order boxes have come in handy - something that doesn't quite fit in a 'small' box might fit in a 'medium', but there's about double the shipping charge. The alternative of another box may be that the priority cost is another dollar above the 'small' rate, but you've now saved ~$4 on shipping.

Destination:
Destination is important to consider if you ship internationally (which I do). I have shipped random things all over the globe, including Russia, New Zealand, Italy, South Africa, Ecuador, Indonesia, and Japan. Often when I get an order from out of the US, I will package an item differently than if it were just going to spend a few days in transit here. You can never tell when a foreign postal service will employ a dishonest person, or a lazy one, or even go on strike, which can result in your package sitting in a warehouse for weeks on end. That happened to me twice in 2011, for Canada and Brazil. Shipping internationally can be risky but if you take the precautions of packing carefully and securing all openings to the package, you can cut your risk of theft and damage by quite a lot. Let's just say I go through a lot of tape.