Question for people who sell on eBay...

[princessapphire]

Ok, so I rarely ever sell on eBay. When I do I never have a clue on what to charge for shipping so I don't put anything (and I have to wait until the auction ends to go find out shipping which is a pain in my rear!) or I'll just pick an amount similar to what other people are charging for the same type of items. I've had boxes and envelopes sent

Comments

[melancholywings]

You have to use your own box, but I would charge handling fees to tack on tracking. Otherwise Paypal won't protect you as a seller and if the package gets lost.

[princessapphire]

Thanks for the tip! Now I don't use paypal as a business, so I can't accept credit card payments. Would it be better if I went to the trouble to do that? It seems like it wouldn't be very cost effective. I don't sell that often, and even if I start, I think the fees may end up being more trouble than it's worth?

[hylianjean]

From what I understand now, it is against Ebay's terms of service (and can get your auction pulled) if you state that you accept Paypal but not credit cards in your auction. They've made up the rule to "avoid confusing customers" but mostly so that Paypal is sure to make money on all your auctions. (because once you upgrade and accept credit card payments, Paypal takes the fee from EVERY payment, not just credit cards. It's completely bogus.)
So basically, if you want to let people pay with Paypal, it's all or nothing. You have to eat the fees.

(This stuff is pretty much why I don't want to sell on eBay anymore.)

[princessapphire]

Ouch! That REALLY sucks. Because like me....I won't bid on an auction that doesn't take Paypal. Of course, that makes me such a hypocrite because I never have a paypal balance so I need to make credit card payments-yet I don't want to bother to do it in my own auctions lol.

[skyesurfer]

...I'm not sure I follow you? Shipping is by weight and distance regardless of what kind of box it's in. The only exception to this is the flat-rate priority box, but the only reason you'd use that is if you had a small heavy item (so that the flat-rate price was cheaper then what it would ordinarily be by weight).

You can get regular (ie NOT flat-rate) priority mail supplies for free from the post office, and there will be no difference in price between that and using your own packaging (assuming you are sending priority mail. Obviously you can't use priority mail boxes to ship other ways). If you want to send things first class, parcel post, media mail, etc you need to use your own packaging.

If you're selling light things and want the cheapest shipping possible, buy your own boxes/envelopes and ship first class.

[skyesurfer]

And if you want to take all the guesswork out of shipping, get yourself a scale (stores like staples, office max, etc usually have a decent selection of postal scales, ranging from cheap mechanical models to expensive digital ones). Then all you need to do is weigh your packaged item and put the weight into eBay's shipping calculator thingy.

People looove knowing the shipping beforehand. Personally I avoid auctions where shipping isn't mentioned, since so many people overcharge and I don't want to get screwed.

[princessapphire]

Ok, well that's what I thought, but when I looked it up on the website it said priority boxes cost $8.05 no matter what was inside, and I didn't see anything that included the boxes I had that was cheaper?

How do I know that mine are regular and not flat-rate? (they look just like the ones pictured that say they are $8.05 to ship- skinny and long rectangle shaped)

And everything I'll be shipping is so light I can't imagine weighing it will be beneficial. It will all be much less than 1lb.

[skyesurfer]

This is what the flat-rate box looks like: http://shop.usps.com/wcsstore/PostalStore/upload/images/ofrb2_d.jpg

That box (and another one thats a different shape, but also has the "flat rate" red circle thing) cost $8.10 to mail no matter what (any weight to any state)

Any of the other boxes are $4.05 for up to 1lb, above that it varies by destination. Doesn't matter if you use your packaging or theirs. (And you can get boxes completely free delivered to your house thru usps.com)

And everything I'll be shipping is so light I can't imagine weighing it will be beneficial. It will all be much less than 1lb.

Ah, I see. Didn't know if you also sold ponies or anything else. If you're sending priority mail, then anything up to 1lb is $4.05, so it doesnt matter.