Shipping is part of the eBay learning curve and requires some study. Sellers must buy the shipping label and maintain control over the entire process. This is an important part of the mail order business. After all, selling on eBay is essentially mail order.
The cost of shipping needs to be passed on to the buyer. That cost needs to be estimated when setting the price of goods to ensure the expense is covered when free shipping is offered. When using calculated shipping, the exact postage cost is shown on the listing when the buyer looks at the item, and is added to the price at check-out. eBay does this automatically, but the seller must still enter the packaging data into the listing form—more on this below.
Keep in mind that shipping costs are broken out as one of your expenses when filing your income taxes.
To keep shipping costs as economical as possible, you need to have a postal scale, a measuring tape and a selection of boxes, padded mailers and tyvek envelopes. In addition, you will need filler like packing peanuts, packing paper or air pockets. You can order free Priority mail boxes and supplies online at US Postal Service website.
Prior to listing, select your packaging and pack your item. (Don’t seal it.) Weigh it and measure it to input that data in the listing form. Estimate what the postage cost will be to ship the item to the farthest point domestically if you are offering free shipping, and use that figure to ensure your item price covers that cost plus cost of packing material, gas to the PO, etc.
Be sure to order the free flat-rate padded mailers from USPS. They are a great economical choice to mail your smaller clothing items in. Then your Priority postage cost will be a flat rate of $8.74 to anywhere in the US. For more info about flat-rate shipping, see first link below. The second link is to eBay’s Help pages on Shipping.
Good luck to you. You will have this all in hand in no time!
The first bag I sold had me pay 35$ for shipping which I believe is not accurate... any advice to this issue so I can sell smarter on Ebay?
In this example there has to be something wrong with the dim's and weight in the listing. You are in Seattle WA and had I purchased this item the shipping cost I would have paid $2 for the calculated shipping from Seattle to Virginia.
You seem very confused and need to understand how shipping works before you list anything else. Free shipping means you bake the shipping cost into the price of the item to cover what it will cost you to ship the item. Calculated shipping means the buyer pays you the cost of the shipping and you use that money to buy the label.
It is hard to believe you paid $35 to ship a handbag! When you say you go to a local shop station rather than UPS or fedex, are you implying you go to a place like a postal annex? If that is the case you may be paying full retail rates or even more for them to handle your shipping needs.
I sell small items such as handbags or clothes that weigh less than a pound and usually measure under 10 or 15 inches... I am aware that Ebay does not pay for the shipping... but if I select the exact measurements for the buyer to pay for their own shipping, will that keep me from having to pay for a shipping label???
No. You ALWAYS have to buy the shipping label yourself; the buyer just pays you the money for the cost of the shipping.
fashunu4eeuh
·2 years agoShipping is part of the eBay learning curve and requires some study. Sellers must buy the shipping label and maintain control over the entire process. This is an important part of the mail order business. After all, selling on eBay is essentially mail order.
The cost of shipping needs to be passed on to the buyer. That cost needs to be estimated when setting the price of goods to ensure the expense is covered when free shipping is offered. When using calculated shipping, the exact postage cost is shown on the listing when the buyer looks at the item, and is added to the price at check-out. eBay does this automatically, but the seller must still enter the packaging data into the listing form—more on this below.
Keep in mind that shipping costs are broken out as one of your expenses when filing your income taxes.
To keep shipping costs as economical as possible, you need to have a postal scale, a measuring tape and a selection of boxes, padded mailers and tyvek envelopes. In addition, you will need filler like packing peanuts, packing paper or air pockets. You can order free Priority mail boxes and supplies online at US Postal Service website.
Prior to listing, select your packaging and pack your item. (Don’t seal it.) Weigh it and measure it to input that data in the listing form. Estimate what the postage cost will be to ship the item to the farthest point domestically if you are offering free shipping, and use that figure to ensure your item price covers that cost plus cost of packing material, gas to the PO, etc.
Be sure to order the free flat-rate padded mailers from USPS. They are a great economical choice to mail your smaller clothing items in. Then your Priority postage cost will be a flat rate of $8.74 to anywhere in the US. For more info about flat-rate shipping, see first link below. The second link is to eBay’s Help pages on Shipping.
Good luck to you. You will have this all in hand in no time!
https://goshippo.com/blog/usps-flat-rate-box-sizes-prices-how-it-works
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/default/shipping-policy?id=5035
dbfolks166mt
·2 years agoThe first bag I sold had me pay 35$ for shipping which I believe is not accurate... any advice to this issue so I can sell smarter on Ebay?
In this example there has to be something wrong with the dim's and weight in the listing. You are in Seattle WA and had I purchased this item the shipping cost I would have paid $2 for the calculated shipping from Seattle to Virginia.
chapeau-noir
·2 years ago@affolivia Let's step back and start here so you get a good grasp on how to ship on eBay to begin with.
broto_64
·2 years agoGround Advantage USPS
Use the smallest box that will fit your item comfortably with some room for padding.
Make sure to measure and weigh it, use those figures when purchasing the label.
Takes practice.
ebeths_eclectic_collectibles
·2 years agoYou seem very confused and need to understand how shipping works before you list anything else. Free shipping means you bake the shipping cost into the price of the item to cover what it will cost you to ship the item. Calculated shipping means the buyer pays you the cost of the shipping and you use that money to buy the label.
It is hard to believe you paid $35 to ship a handbag! When you say you go to a local shop station rather than UPS or fedex, are you implying you go to a place like a postal annex? If that is the case you may be paying full retail rates or even more for them to handle your shipping needs.
yuzuha
·2 years agoNo. You ALWAYS have to buy the shipping label yourself; the buyer just pays you the money for the cost of the shipping.
affolivia
OP2 years agoThank you for your answer, I was thinking of that