If you have been following my eBay series, you have already seen what I sell and how I effectively list those items. Today, I want to focus on another part of the selling and that is shipping.
Many people who have never sold on eBay always ask me how I handle shipping costs. The question I get most often is “Doesn’t it cost you a lot to ship?” The answer really is quite simple, “No.” To begin with, the buyer pays to ship the item, not the seller. What little the seller does have to spend on shipping supplies (if you spend any at all) can be easily factored into your listing price.
What you will need to ship from home:
Digital Postal Scale.
These run about $20-$25 and come in various weight capacities. Choose one that fits your need. If you are planning to ship your items from your home, you will need to know what the items weights so that eBay can accurately calculate the shipping cost for your buyers.
Mailers/Envelopes/Boxes
Because I ship mostly clothing, I purchase my Poly Mailers in bulk on eBay (of course). You can get around 100 self sticking mailers for about $12. That makes each poly mailer only around $.o8! Since these are self sticking, you don’t have to even buy tape! I also buy shipping labels in bulk, but you could just as easily print your labels on paper and tape them to your package.
While the Poly Mailers are great for my USPS First Class shipments, I use USPS Priority Flat Rate Envelopes & Boxes when the weight of clothing exceeds 1 pound or when my customer choose it as their preferred method of shipment. What is nice about Priority packaging is that it is FREE! Simply stop by your local Post Office to pick up the FREE envelopes or boxes or have them delivered straight to your home.
You shouldn’t ever pay for boxes to use to ship. Next time you are at a grocery store or drug store, just ask the manager if they have any boxes you can have. Even if they have advertising all over them, it is super easy to cover them using a brown paper grocery bag.
Printer
To print your own labels, you will need a printer. When printing your labels, be sure to choose the lowest ink setting so you are not wasting money. Printing in gray-scale works well. You can either print on white paper and adhere the printed paper to the package with tape or you can purchase labels to print yourself. I pay $7 for 200 labels on eBay, so comes out to about .07 a label.
Postal Worker
Develop a good relationship with your mail carrier as they can make your life much easier. I have the best mail carrier in the world and feel very blessed! Simply fill out an online request for mail pickup & your postal carrier will pick up your packages at your door!
Do you have any secrets to saving on shipping eBay items?
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I absolutely LOVE carrier pick-up!
Hi, I am going to try to sell some items on ebay, and I am using poly mailers, but I am not sure whether to select “envelope” or “package” when calculating shipping. Which selection is appropriate? Thank you! (and thank you for this great post too!)
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