Your guide to Holiday shipping with Geartrade

To the avid outdoors enthusiast, Geartrade during the holidays is like a direct peek into a merry elves’ workshop full of skis, boots, goggles, coats, snowshoes, and joy. It’s a perfect time to sell gear you haven’t been using and stock up on things you’d love to use. This year just, like last year, the word of caution is to keep shipping times in mind—whether you’re buying or selling. The postal service is always more overloaded during the holidays, and this year with supply chain and shipping bottlenecks this year will likely be worse than last year. As this article in the New York Times states before buying lift tickets, get your skis; inventory is limited folks- now is the time to buy and sell your winter gear. So if you’re buying, especially as a gift (or a gift to self), buffer your timeline and try purchasing two to three weeks ahead of time. And if you’re selling, you technically have five days to ship according to Geartrade rules, but it’s all the better if you can hustle a little faster and drop your items in the mail sooner. You have to think: shipping takes a while these days, and if the buyer is trying to get their item in time for the holidays, this is your chance to be gear-Santa and help deliver on time by shipping fast.

Sellers, know the process: stay a step ahead.

The easiest way to sell your gear is to have us do it for you, but if you are listing gear yourself here are a few tips for the season. Before your item even sells, start thinking about getting a box to ship it in, especially if it’s an oversized item like skis, a snowboard, snowshoes, or a surfboard. This is the kind of box you either have to buy special or source from a local outdoor shop for free. Once your item sells, print off the shipping label right away, or, make a plan to swing by your local U.S. Postal Service, FedEx, or UPS location as soon as possible. Print the item invoice if you can, as it’s a nice touch if you can tuck it into the box. Then … send that sucker as soon as possible. You’ll earn bonus love through reviews on Geartrade and garner extra street cred by shipping quickly.

Buyers, know the realities of holiday shipping: buy early.

Shipping across the U.S. can take a couple of weeks—more than usual, but not so bad if you plan ahead. Keep in mind that Geartrade sellers do their best to ship as soon as they can, but buy as early as possible to help make sure that gifts arrive on time! To everyone taking a stand keeping gear out of the landfills: we salute you. And we hope these instructions make it easier than ever to earn money or save money through Geartrade. Beth Lopez is a seasoned writer and creative director who loves to tell tales of adventure and discovery—and finds writing a powerful way to give a voice to people, causes, and places. Beth runs amok in the Wasatch mountains when untethered from her computer. She believes there’s no such thing as a bad ski day and considers animals her favorite people. Don’t tell her mother about her Instagram mountaineering photos. Follow us on Instagram + Facebook: Tag us @geartrade with the hashtag #unnewoutdoor #wearitout on your post or story for a chance to be featured on our page.

Have Winter gear to sell? Get cracking.

It is now easier than ever to sell your gear on Geartrade. With our new Consignment Selling option you can finally reclaim your gear closet. Send it in. We take care of the rest.