Mod update :  This thread is for all non-technical questions about shipping on eBay and other marketplaces.

 

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I am relatively new to utilizing the eBay shipping tool. I like the convenience of it for sure. To those who have used or still use this tool, who do you normally ship with (USPS or FedEx)? I seem to find that FedEx is the cheaper of the two, but I see people referencing USPS as a cheaper option regularly. When I compare the (inserting package dimensions and weight) I might see $15 for FedEx and $36 for USPS Priority Mail. Am I missing something?

48 minutes ago, MotorCityMuscle said:

oh boy. so don't put the $500 set up first, eh?

I mean, the first thing I sold on eBay was a $500 camera, you just gotta be wary of scams. If it's a buy-it-now and they pay immediately, ship to a normal residential address that's paypal confirmed, then it should be pretty straightforward.

57 minutes ago, MotorCityMuscle said:

oh boy. so don't put the $500 set up first, eh?

How much feedback do you have and is it 100%? Buyers will be wary of sellers with high priced items and no feedback. Put yourself in a buyers shoes. Would you buy a high priced set from someone with no feedback? I wouldn’t.  If no feedback then sell small items to build your feedback up and then sell higher priced items. 

I mean, the first thing I sold on eBay was a $500 camera, you just gotta be wary of scams. If it's a buy-it-now and they pay immediately, ship to a normal residential address that's paypal confirmed, then it should be pretty straightforward.

Lol... the first thing I sold on Ebay was my childhood GI Joe USS Flagg aircraft carrier. I parted it out and sold it piece by piece instead of all at once though, I think the 2 highest priced pieces were the fantail deck railing and the microphone PA system... about $150 each.

Ok, I have a question for you guys. I recently sold a used Minecraft set as 100% complete and the buyer contacted me this evening saying that it was a few pieces. 6 green 6x6 plates to be exact. I found the plates and I did accidentally leave them out of the shipment.

Normally, I would just go on Ebay and buy another shipping label for the order and send them the missing pieces. I looked to do that tonight and realized that the buyer was international and the set had been shipped via Ebay GSP. What I am wondering is if Ebay will still forward the items to him or if that transaction is now considered complete by them and a second package wouldn't go through?

12 minutes ago, Shortbus311 said:

Ok, I have a question for you guys. I recently sold a used Minecraft set as 100% complete and the buyer contacted me this evening saying that it was a few pieces. 6 green 6x6 plates to be exact. I found the plates and I did accidentally leave them out of the shipment.

Normally, I would just go on Ebay and buy another shipping label for the order and send them the missing pieces. I looked to do that tonight and realized that the buyer was international and the set had been shipped via Ebay GSP. What I am wondering is if Ebay will still forward the items to him or if that transaction is now considered complete by them and a second package wouldn't go through?

This is bad. You will probably have to get the buyers address and ship on your own dime. 

Ok, I have a question for you guys. I recently sold a used Minecraft set as 100% complete and the buyer contacted me this evening saying that it was a few pieces. 6 green 6x6 plates to be exact. I found the plates and I did accidentally leave them out of the shipment.

Normally, I would just go on Ebay and buy another shipping label for the order and send them the missing pieces. I looked to do that tonight and realized that the buyer was international and the set had been shipped via Ebay GSP. What I am wondering is if Ebay will still forward the items to him or if that transaction is now considered complete by them and a second package wouldn't go through?

Contact buyer for his address since GSP only shows you the destination country, find those missing pieces from BL seller in his country, order him the parts for free.

Contact buyer for his address since GSP only shows you the destination country, find those missing pieces from BL seller in his country, order him the parts for free.

I thought of this idea too. But, I just finished chatting with Ebay customer service (apparently the chat function is back) and they said that it is ok for me to purchase and print a new shipping label on Ebay and send it through GSP. They said it would still get to them. So that is what I did, guess I will find out if it works soon enough.

14 hours ago, jbacunn said:

How much feedback do you have and is it 100%? Buyers will be wary of sellers with high priced items and no feedback. Put yourself in a buyers shoes. Would you buy a high priced set from someone with no feedback? I wouldn’t.  If no feedback then sell small items to build your feedback up and then sell higher priced items. 

only 20 feedback but it's 100%. i haven't sold something on ebay in probably 12-15 years. and yes i probably need to sell a few small items first. 

9 hours ago, Shortbus311 said:

9 hours ago, superlegolover said:

Contact buyer for his address since GSP only shows you the destination country, find those missing pieces from BL seller in his country, order him the parts for free.

I thought of this idea too. But, I just finished chatting with Ebay customer service (apparently the chat function is back) and they said that it is ok for me to purchase and print a new shipping label on Ebay and send it through GSP. They said it would still get to them. So that is what I did, guess I will find out if it works soon enough.

Good to know. Let us know how it works out. 

so what's the consensus for a newbie to eBay selling? 

• start small
• only do buy it now
• immediate payment only
• don't bullshit descriptions. say new in sealed box but don't say mint. 

anything else to add to this? 

2 minutes ago, MotorCityMuscle said:

so what's the consensus for a newbie to eBay selling? 

• start small
• only do buy it now
• immediate payment only
• don't bullshit descriptions. say new in sealed box but don't say mint. 

anything else to add to this? 

Make sure "Best Offer" is not checked off. Sometimes it can sneakily be added and then you get an auto accept of $30 for a $200 set.

so what's the consensus for a newbie to eBay selling? 

• start small
• only do buy it now
• immediate payment only
• don't bullshit descriptions. say new in sealed box but don't say mint. 

anything else to add to this? 

Know how much it is going to cost to ship it before listing it. Meaning, while creating your listing go ahead and enter the wieght and shipping box size into Ebay on the listing so you know how much shipping will cost and calculate that into how much you need to list it for to make money.

If my margin is tight on set then a lot of times I won't do free shipping and will do calculated based off of buyers location and then have the buyer pay the shipping. That way I can price the set a little higher. You will limit your pool of potential customers to those closest to you but you won't have to worry about spending a fortune and losing your profits shipping across country. For example, if it's a set going for $40 on Ebay and I paid $20 for it and it weighs more than 1 lb (not eligible for First Class mail), I would list the set at $32-$33 and have the buyer pay shipping. The buyers closest to me would get it for less than $40, but buyers across country would have to pay closer to $50 for it. But if you listed for $40 free shipping there is a chance a cross country customer buys it and shipping would eat up your profits completely.

Also, I highly recommended signing up for Ebay Global Shipping Program. There are no extra steps or costs for you as a seller to ship something through it. You are just mailing your package to a warehouse in Kentucky and Ebay takes care of the rest.

17 minutes ago, MrToes16 said:

Make sure "Best Offer" is not checked off. Sometimes it can sneakily be added and then you get an auto accept of $30 for a $200 set.

In other words: don't use the EBay app to submit listings. You can make drafts in the app, but use the EBay website to finalize everything and review all the settings. Best Offer is great, but the Auto Accept option is your enemy.

11 minutes ago, Shortbus311 said:

Know how much it is going to cost to ship it before listing it. Meaning, while creating your listing go ahead and enter the wieght and shipping box size into Ebay on the listing so you know how much shipping will cost and calculate that into how much you need to list it for to make money.

If my margin is tight on set then a lot of times I won't do free shipping and will do calculated based off of buyers location and then have the buyer pay the shipping. That way I can price the set a little higher. You will limit your pool of potential customers to those closest to you but you won't have to worry about spending a fortune and losing your profits shipping across country. For example, if it's a set going for $40 on Ebay and I paid $20 for it and it weighs more than 1 lb (not eligible for First Class mail), I would list the set at $32-$33 and have the buyer pay shipping. The buyers closest to me would get it for less than $40, but buyers across country would have to pay closer to $50 for it. But if you listed for $40 free shipping there is a chance a cross country customer buys it and shipping would eat up your profits completely.

Also, I highly recommended signing up for Ebay Global Shipping Program. There are no extra steps or costs for you as a seller to ship something through it. You are just mailing your package to a warehouse in Kentucky and Ebay takes care of the rest.

are there ever times where you just set worst case shipping costs? say it's $60 to ship coast to coast. and maybe you get lucky and make a few bucks off of shipping if the buyer is only one state over? or is adding it into the price and showing "free shipping" more enticing? 

what are the advantages to the global shipping program? and while on the subject, can i just stick to only shipping in the US?

10 minutes ago, Phil B said:

In other words: don't use the EBay app to submit listings. You can make drafts in the app, but use the EBay website to finalize everything and review all the settings. Best Offer is great, but the Auto Accept option is your enemy.

got it. i do favor the app over the site. but thanks for the suggestion of using the site for listing purposes. 

Edited April 23, 20205 yr by MotorCityMuscle

got it. i do favor the app over the site. but thanks for the suggestion of using the site for listing purposes. 

You can do flat shipping fee... I think as long as it is cheaper than other sellers, even by less than a buck, buyers will buy it.

Shipping internationally with GSP just simplifies it for you. Ebay would fill out all the customs forms, and charge the buyers the customs tax and delivery fees instead of you having to figure all that out. Like I said, you just ship it to a warehouse in KY and they take care of the rest, no extra cost to you. Shipping internationally definitely moves your stuff faster. I would say about 15% of my sales are to foriegn buyers.

15 minutes ago, Shortbus311 said:

You can do flat shipping fee... I think as long as it is cheaper than other sellers, even by less than a buck, buyers will buy.

Depends on where you live. I’m on the east coast and shipping to the west coast for large boxes is expensive. If you live in the center of the country flat shipping might work. 

1 hour ago, MotorCityMuscle said:

are there ever times where you just set worst case shipping costs? say it's $60 to ship coast to coast. and maybe you get lucky and make a few bucks off of shipping if the buyer is only one state over? or is adding it into the price and showing "free shipping" more enticing? 

 

I don't know if others do this, but when shipping is included in my price I take Alaska and Hawaii off of the list of potential bidders. I got screwed over twice on that so they're on their own! 

I don't know if others do this, but when shipping is included in my price I take Alaska and Hawaii off of the list of potential bidders. I got screwed over twice on that so they're on their own! 

Yeah, I exclude those as places I don't ship to

Depends on where you live. I’m on the east coast and shipping to the west coast for large boxes is expensive. If you live in the center of the country flat shipping might work. 

He is saying that if it costs $50 to ship it to the west coast can he just charge a flat $50 shipping to everyone

1 hour ago, Shortbus311 said:

Yeah, I exclude those as places I don't ship toHe is saying that if it costs $50 to ship it to the west coast can he just charge a flat $50 shipping to everyone

Yeah but then you lose every potential buyer in the eastern part of the country because competing listings that offer calculated shipping are showing $10-15 shipping for the same item. Calculated shipping eliminates the risk of getting burned while offering an accurate shipping cost to your buyers. 

1 hour ago, jbacunn said:

Yeah but then you lose every potential buyer in the eastern part of the country because competing listings that offer calculated shipping are showing $10-15 shipping for the same item. Calculated shipping eliminates the risk of getting burned while offering an accurate shipping cost to your buyers. 

I love when I have listings in which buyers pay exact shipping and then I get dinged in my feedback in "reasonable shipping cost."

9 minutes ago, BillyBricks said:

I love when I have listings in which buyers pay exact shipping and then I get dinged in my feedback in "reasonable shipping cost."

Or I combine shipping for them, and get dinged because shipping is too high...

UK sellers - where do find boxes big enough for something like Destinys Bounty and who do you use to post them out?

I've always avoided listing them but really do need to clear some space!

4 hours ago, Lego Benito said:

UK sellers - where do find boxes big enough for something like Destinys Bounty and who do you use to post them out?

I've always avoided listing them but really do need to clear some space!

I used to buy big set boxes on ebay, but for some reason sellers dont stock them anymore.

I ran out at start of the year and bought from the below place:

https://www.lilpackaging.com/products/g30

The g30 box 60 x 45 x 15 cm is big enough to fit sets like Saturn 5 / voltron etc. Dont have destiny bounty (I thought it wouldn't do good, bad mistake not buying when it was £50 at argos). It is single walled cardboard, but to be honest, I've never had any buyers complaining about issues with damage to sets etc.

I bought 25 boxes and it end up costing me about £2.66 per box, very expensive. You used to be able to buy same boxes for about £1.20 to £1.50 each, but I cant find any sellers in UK that stock them anymore for that price.

You can bring cost down if you order more quantity, but my wife already has a go at me for having so many boxes lying around the house. I just re-order when I get low stock.

I've never used FedEx to ship on eBay, but the time has come to try to sell the 10273 Haunted House I bought. I recall reading a couple things about dim wt and issues with that. It appears that the eBay shipping calculator works to show the retail price (price to customer) correctly, but the eBay discounted price is different if I enter the Dim Wt vs the Actual Wt. Not a huge difference to me, I'll probably just go with the Dim Wt to be safe, but I'm curious what the right thing to do actually is.

5 minutes ago, keymomachine said:

I've never used FedEx to ship on eBay, but the time has come to try to sell the 10273 Haunted House I bought. I recall reading a couple things about dim wt and issues with that. It appears that the eBay shipping calculator works to show the retail price (price to customer) correctly, but the eBay discounted price is different if I enter the Dim Wt vs the Actual Wt. Not a huge difference to me, I'll probably just go with the Dim Wt to be safe, but I'm curious what the right thing to do actually is.

I read this quickly and thought you were referring to issues with "dimwit" buyers.