Lessons on Selling on Ebay for Beginners: Shipping

Practical lessons learned from selling as a beginner.

 

 

This week, I sold my first item on Ebay!! It took me weeks to get started, I was so worried about not doing things right. I've bought things on Ebay but I hadn't ever sold anything. Although  I didn't know much before researching and reading tons of books, I DID know that your seller rating is SUPER important. In order to make sales, you have appear trustworth, dependable and honest. And they only way potential buyers know if you are or aren't is based on if you have a high seller rating. If you don't have a high rating, you won't make sales.

 It's the whole "what came first, the chicken or the egg" cunundrum. Or, It's kind of like trying to get your first job. You can't get experience without a job, but you can't get a job without experience. Seller ratings seem to be the same way. The good news is, I have a high buyer rating, having bought lots of different stuff previously, so at least buyers can look at that, and realize that if I am a good buyer (sending payment quickly), then I'll most likely appreciate good sellers (shipping quickly and honest communication), so that's at least something to reccomend me. Still, I had a bit of anxiety going into it, knowing what buyers expect of me and really wanting to live up to it and get good ratings so I'd sell more stuff. 

So I prepared well.. maybe too well. I read lots of books and articles on how to sell on Ebay, agonized for about a month and a half, and finally, bit the bullet and put a few items up for sale. By the way check out my eBay auctions live!! It took a few tries, and a few fruitless auctions, but then, I finally made my first sale. I did it!! I was pretty excited, but I still had some pretty serious trepidation when it came to one last area; shipping!

I've sent lots of care packages to my military husband and brother, both overseas and locally, so I know all about flat rate boxes, and the money you can save with them. But the first item I sold via eBay was too big to fit in even the largest flat rate box, and I didn't know if that was the most effective, low cost

shipping option available. Could a lighter item fit in a non-flat-rate box, and cost less? Or was flat-rate the least expensive option? So, when it came to even setting up the listing, I was hesitant, mainly for the reason that I don't know how much shipping will cost for the item, because I don't know who, from where, will buy it. I worry I'll ask too much or too little for shipping, and then have to pay out of my own pocket if it is too little, and will get a bad customer review if I ask too much. I set up the ad so it would be calculated shipping based on where the buyer lived. I figured that would be the best way; to say “when I know where you live, you'll know how much it costs to ship”, and the discrepancy would be at a minimum for figuring out the shipping.

Problem was, when I went to ship the item, in my own box, it wasn't the weight that was the problem, it was the size of the darn box! So, in order to ship it using the funds allotted by the buyer and the Ebay shipping calculator, I couldn't ship it 2-3 business days, but in 7, maybe even more (though I sent it on a Monday). The other option was to take a $15 bath, eating my profits and spending $30 on shipping to assure that it'd be there in 2-3 days. Grrr! Obviously I didn't want to do that either. So, the dilemma is, ship it slower and risk your buyer getting mad at having to wait longer to get it, or spend your profit money on faster shipping for the sake of a (hopefully) good rating. What to do??

In the end, I sent it slower with the allotted shipping money from the buyer and then contacted them to let them know about the estimated ETA, give them the tracking number, and ask them to write a review once they got their item. I figured optimism, honesty and good communication were the best way to go without losing a profit or a good rating.

So, thoughts on selling things on Ebay as a means to supplement income from home? Ok, yes, I made about 3 ½ X the amount I originally spent, but it felt like I made a pittance compared to the time and trouble of that one item cost me. It serves as a lesson about buying and selling on Ebay.

If you want to make a profit, you need to make either lots of sales on less expensive items OR you can get away with making fewer sales but you need to sell higher pricing items. So where do you get those and still make a profit? Good question!

For example. If I wanted to make $2,500 to $3000 per month, I'd have to sell, say100 items at $25-30 each/month to make $2,500-$3,000 per month, which is 25 items/week, 5 items/day – 5 days/week. And if you're like me, and you want to get your stuff at thrift-shop and garage sales? You're gonna have to do a LOT of bargain hunting!

Shipping

If you are selling larger items, chose a box as close to the size of the item, or take the box into the post office for the most accurate shipping estimation

 

Or just don't sell big items.

Otherwise, sell items small enough to fit inside the flat-rate boxes and smaller, less expensive mailers.

Get a scale, a measuring tape, and try to use standard size boxes or flat-rate boxes. Plus, you can always use the online USPS shipping calculator, <--- link here!!

If you were looking for a direct, cut & dry answer to the question "how much does shipping cost?" then I'm afraid I don't have a good answer for you. It depends on variables such as: what are you shipping? where are you shipping to and from? how fast do you want it to get there? how much does your item weigh? how big is your item? how much extra room is there in the box? (shipping costs are extra for non-standard size packages). Whew! So, the straight answer? It depends... sorry if that isn't more helpful. 

 

Well, I'm still just learning myself! If you are a new eBay seller then we're in this together!!

 

Got questions?? Answers?? Comments?? Me too! :)) Leave 'em here, I'll do my best to answer them for you.