Ebay Selling Advise needed

[Jack Cook]

I've shipped all over the world with no problems.
Many to repeat customers some of whom I've built up a good enough
relationship with I just ship it has soon as the auctions over and have never not been paid. Paypal makes life much easier.

[TimAPNY]

For shipping, I have the shipper paying the actual cost ( I put in the weight of the item and they see the cost of shipping). What if the cost is a little less or a little more than what is estimated? Do I eat that little bit and do they eat that little bit or should I be penny pinching here? I'm not in business so if I loss 10 cents I could careless, but I know some folks might flip if they see it cost 10 cents less than they paid to ship it.

Is there a rule of Thumb?

Tim

[chico]

For shipping, I have the shipper paying the actual cost ( I put in the weight of the item and they see the cost of shipping). What if the cost is a little less or a little more than what is estimated? Do I eat that little bit and do they eat that little bit or should I be penny pinching here? I'm not in business so if I loss 10 cents I could careless, but I know some folks might flip if they see it cost 10 cents less than they paid to ship it.

Is there a rule of Thumb?

Tim

I usually fudge my shipping and just use flat rate. I weigh the item, post packing, and get a nice round number that's close. For example, i deal in smaller computer parts, always under a pound. Priority mail for those items is $4.60, so I do flat rate of $5 or $6 dollars. Once you factor in packing materials, time, gas, etc i feel pretty justified in those rates.

I like flat rate shipping since as a buyer, you know up front what you're paying. Some people put in ridiculous handling fees on top of the already inflated shipping charges. By the time you get the bill you're paying more than you expected, and that's irritating.

[Misterg97]

Two rules of thought ... How bad do you want to sell ... and Ebay buyers are looking for items cheap ...

For items over 1 lb, my sale items go by weight and zip code. The PO supplies the Priority Mail boxes for free (mails them to my location) and for packing I use old newspapers etc. so I have no packing charges. I very rarely make a special run to the PO as I am out anyway.

Less than 1 lb Iweigh the item, use the PO charge plus my cost of the boxes (I buy from U-Line) or the padded bubble bags.

Keep in mind, high shipping charges will keep buyers from bidding or buying an item.

Right now I have 24 items on Ebay and have been selling since 1999 with 100% positive feedback ... under the ID of Misterg97

[TimAPNY]

The biggest piece of advice I can give you is to research the catagories you plan on selling the item under. I can't begin to count the number of items I've stumbled across that were listed in the wrong catagory or just plain misspelled in the title. People won't bid on it if they can't find it while doing a search.

Due to the increasing ebay seller fees I've also shyed away from selling smaller ticket items. It's not even worth your while anymore unless you're like some sellers that screw buyers over with over inflated shipping prices. I pretty much stick to bigger ticket stuff which will make it worth my while (over $20.00).

Best of luck!

John

I've had a few items that went for just under $10, I'm not sure I did anything but brake even. I see what you mean about the Fees, once you start seeing the $$ some in and back out it adds up very fast.

Tim

[TimAPNY]

More help is needed

I have been contacted by a buyer saying they did not receive the item I shipped to them. It should have arrived by now but I cannot track it or anything because I did not get a tracking number. How do you would you recommend me to hand this?

And any advice on how to prevent something like this again? It could be an easy claim to get a refund if I can't track it as delivered.

Tim

[Jack Cook]

On every auction I run
Seller's payment instructions
money order, paypal or bid pay only please
insurance at buyers request

not responsible for uninsured lost items

[TimAPNY]

So should I suck this up as a learning exprience and give a refund? I guess I'm trying to figure out how to be a good seller but also not be a door mate. How does the "conflict stuff work for E-Bay?

I'll be updating my current and future auctions for sure with such wording!

Tim

[Jack Cook]

Unfortunately you really can't stop someone from giving you bad feedback and making a equally bad comment. I once sold a Doolittle B-25 print and shipped it uninsured and the PO smashed it. I refunded the buyer $300 and he send it back and the tube actually had tire tracks on it like the mailman ran it over!!! Live and learn!

[kmiles]

I have posted a few items on ebay lately as well (enough to buy a Nikon D40x). I have found that offering free ground shipping via UPS on higher dollar items really gets the bidding going early. It is hard to tell for sure, but some of my items have sold for much more than a similiar item with reasonable shipping. That more than covered the shipping costs.
With the new postal rates as of May, UPS is much more economical than sending larger items (even if they are light) through the Post Office. UPS also has the built in tracking ability that will help them track the package, and you know that it was delivered. The USPS charges more for that option. You may want to check with your local UPS store (most Staples stores can do shipping as well) to see if the pricing is any less than the post office.