Topic: Does any know much about shipping or postage? Please help!
Anonymous A started this discussion 15 years ago#730
I would like to start selling things on ebay but I have absolutely zero knowledge of how to post things bigger than letters! Any advice for someone just starting out?
Mindwurms !!4IKKtS9GG joined in and replied with this 15 years ago, 18 minutes later, 36 minutes after the original post[^][v]#14,165
Flat rate boxes and envelopes are good if you don't have a shipping scale, but if you're selling cheap, small things they'll cut into your profits if you take the cost or deter potential customers if you pass the shipping on to them.
What I do is weigh and catalog everything (pre-packaged), then post them on Ebay with their proper shipping prices. Paypal (you need an account if you're going to sell things on Ebay) lets you print out the postage for a fee (usually deducted from your paypal account - which gets filled up as people buy your stuff - it's a cycle), which you can then affix to your box/envelope/etc. Try to keep a minimum amount of money in Paypal in case one or more of your buyers wants a refund (if you're selling pricy stuff, this minimum will need to be higher than if you're selling cheap trinkets).
I prefer media mail for digital and print media, and parcel post for everything else. Remember to pre-calculate the shipping price and factor that into the end price of your product.
Hope I helped!
(Edited 40 seconds later.)
Anonymous A (OP) replied with this 15 years ago, 2 minutes later, 39 minutes after the original post[^][v]#14,166
@previous (Mindwurms !!4IKKtS9GG)
I have bathroom scales? How accurate does the postage weight have to be?
Can you explain a bit more about printing out the postage from paypal? I don't understand what you're talking about...
Mindwurms !!4IKKtS9GG replied with this 15 years ago, 4 minutes later, 43 minutes after the original post[^][v]#14,168
@previous (A)
Okay, bathroom scales will work if you are selling a few items and you can lay your boxes or envelopes on top of them. Generally for budget shipping what you do is round up to the nearest half pound for under 2 lbs and to the nearest pound 2 lbs and up. It doesn't need to be precise, but if you're going to be selling a lot of stuff I'd recommend getting a shipping scale that can go up to at least 10 lbs.
Now, printing postage from paypal is fairly simple. All you need to do is wait until the auction ends and you are paid. Then, you'll see a tab or link in your ebay menu that says, "You need to ship X items." You click on that, you go to the print shipping labels screen. From there you can choose to pay via credit card or paypal (paypal is much faster), then you print out the postal tag and tape it to your box or envelope.
(Edited 1 minute later.)
Anonymous A (OP) replied with this 15 years ago, 2 minutes later, 45 minutes after the original post[^][v]#14,169
@previous (Mindwurms !!4IKKtS9GG)
but why does it cost money?? Why can't it be done for free?
Anonymous D joined in and replied with this 15 years ago, 1 hour later, 2 hours after the original post[^][v]#14,220
@14,168 (Mindwurms !!4IKKtS9GG)
the paypal postage was the reason i stopped selling stuff on ebay. Is it still *required* that you use it once your ebay auction sells?
this was about 2/3 yrs ago...they held my money from the auctuion until i bought their shipping label...which was $8.00...and the auction sale was a total of $20...plus ebay listing fees :\
Falco !MzQCNUfXbc joined in and replied with this 15 years ago, 17 minutes later, 2 hours after the original post[^][v]#14,227
@previous (D)
I didn't know you had to do that. They require a lot of bullshit now.
Anonymous A (OP) replied with this 15 years ago, 1 hour later, 4 hours after the original post[^][v]#14,283
@14,220 (D)
Are you serious??? How could anyone make a living from that?