Bags

Every bag on this page is paper. No polythene, no plastic bubble lining, no mixed-material laminate that has to be separated before it can be recycled. That is a deliberate choice, and it comes with a genuine trade-off worth understanding before you buy.

A bag conforms to what's inside it. A box doesn't. For soft goods and flat items, that difference decides both what you pay the courier and how much air you ship.

Everything here is supplied in trade packs for UK sellers, with a £75 minimum order. Prices exclude VAT and are shown on each product page.

Padded, Non-padded, or purpose-shaped

The test is simple. If the item can't be damaged by a knock, an non padded mailing bag is lighter and cheaper. If it can, pay for the padding. If it's a number plate, the purpose-made bag exists because nothing else fits a 520 × 111mm plate without wasting half the pack.

Padded bags: picking the right size

Size up only when the item genuinely doesn't fit. A padded mailer that's one size too big lets the contents move, which is precisely the thing the padding is there to prevent.

Why a bag often beats a box on postage

Two separate savings, and most sellers only count the first.

Weight. Kraft paper weighs a fraction of corrugated board. On a lightweight order the packaging can be a meaningful share of the billed weight.

Volume. Couriers charge on the greater of actual weight or volumetric weight — dimensions divided by a figure your carrier sets, commonly 5,000. A box holds its shape whether it's full or not, so a half-empty box is billed as a full one. A bag collapses around the contents. For soft goods that difference alone can be larger than the weight saving.

There's also the Royal Mail angle. The Large Letter band allows up to 353 × 250 × 25mm and 750g. A flexible bag holding a soft item can stay inside 25mm where a rigid box of the same capacity can't. Our postal boxes and mailers page has the full band breakdown, including the depth trap that catches most sellers out.

Plastic-free: what it does and doesn't do

Paper padding absorbs shock. It does not do everything plastic bubble does, and it's worth being straight about that.

What you gain. Fully curbside recyclable with no separation step. No polythene in your packaging mix, which matters for plastic packaging tax exposure and for customers who notice. A kraft finish that takes labels and print cleanly.

What you give up. Honeycomb paper padding cushions well against knocks, drops and sorting-machine handling, but it isn't the right answer for genuinely fragile goods. Glassware, ceramics and anything you've had breakage claims on belong in a rigid format — see cardboard boxes.

What doesn't change. Paper bags are not waterproof in the way polythene is. Kraft is tough and handles normal UK transit, but if you ship anything that would be ruined by damp, factor that in.

Plastic-free here means what it says: paper outer, paper padding, no bubble film and no plastic window. The whole bag goes in the household paper recycling without the customer separating anything, which is the part that decides whether it actually gets recycled rather than just being labelled recyclable.

Free delivery to the UK mainland on every order, with a £75 minimum, and double loyalty points on everything you buy.

Three things that catch people out

Using a padded bag as a box substitute for fragile items. Padding is not rigidity. If the item needs to resist crushing rather than knocks, it needs board.

Ordering across too many sizes. Six padded sizes exist so the range covers everyone — not so that every seller stocks all six. Most operations dispatch the bulk of orders from two. Concentrating volume improves your break price and simplifies picking.

Overlooking the gusset on mailing bags. The expandable base means one size handles a wider range of order shapes than the flat dimensions suggest. Check the gusseted capacity before buying the next size up.

Not sure which formats cover your mix? Send us your dimensions and typical weights and we'll work through it with you.

Still deciding?

• Item needs to stay flat and uncreased? See board backed and cardboard envelopes.
• Item is fragile or needs to resist crushing? See cardboard boxes.
• Trying to hit a cheaper Royal Mail band? See postal boxes and mailers.
• Sending books, records or media? Variable-depth book wraps and record mailers fold to the contents.