Ebay what's the best shipping method?

[dis2cruise]

Hi I have sold items on ebay however, shame on me sometimes I lost money on the shipping. I have seen where people would put on their item they're selling and put a link to place your zip code to see how much shipping is does this make better sense ? My pet peeve is I need to pay ebay for shippjng and paypal do you add extra $ to make up the difference? Any input would be greatly appreciated

 

[la79al]

We've done both ways. Lately with the calculated shipping, we have been losing money. With this option, there is the choice to add a 'handling charge'. It has taken a long time but for the most part, we now do flat shipping prices and generally break even. I like to do a lot of the flat rate shipping and print the labels out at home to save a bit of money.

 

[richmond282]

I do the calculated shipping but I weigh everything first. Do you have a shipping scale?

 

[tracyz]

Uh, totally new to this and I'm wondering if I've just caused myself a bunch of trouble. I've sold a few items recently and ebay just calculated the shipping, charged the buyer, then I printed the label at home and just dropped the items at the post office. Have I made a mistake??

 

[OrangeBirdGirl]

For ease, what I do is weigh the item before I do a listing. I then put a zip code that is on the other side of the Country and see what it'd cost to ship there. I then do the listing and include that and state my fee as "xx S/H charge". Sometimes I end up with a dollar extra or a dollar short, but that is the easiest solution for me.

 

[peel]

For ease, what I do is weigh the item before I do a listing. I then put a zip code that is on the other side of the Country and see what it'd cost to ship there.

This is what I usually do too. Since I'm in CT, I use 90210.

 

[tracyz]

So, what happens if ebay undercalculated the shipping and the post office just accepted my packages? Will the buyer be billed?

 

[Dawnlight]

I'm an avid ebay seller and use a kitchen scale to weigh my items. I print out all my shipping labels at home to save money (online costs are cheaper than post office costs).

I usually estimate shipping and add a bit more to the actual cost to cover expenses such as packaging, labels, and tape. I print at home, but usually drop the packages at the post office counter instead of leaving them in the mailbox. I do this so that I know the packages are scanned in, whereas sometimes the postal carrier does not scan them at pick-up.

You should have a supply of priority envelopes and boxes on hand, and they can be ordered free and delivered to your home (free) at USPS.com

 

[Dawnlight]

So, what happens if ebay undercalculated the shipping and the post office just accepted my packages? Will the buyer be billed?

If ebay undercalculates, and you ship at that cost, it could happen that the buyer will have to pay the overage, or worst case, it will be redelivered to you. I've heard of this happening, but it has not happened to me before. I think that most cases, the post office and carriers do not check the actual package weight against the weight on the label.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. If it does happen, then as a seller, I would reimburse the shipping costs to the buyer.

In the future, weigh the item, and pay actual shipping cost even if it is over. I find ebay automatic calculated shipping to be very accurate, but I've had some cases where it's underestimated, and I've had to eat the overage.

Good luck!

 

[tracyz]

Thanks very much!!

 

[peel]

Our local post office does weigh each package to check it against the purchased postage rates. It stinks that we still have to stand in line and wait for service, but it's great that my buyer won't get hit with an upcharge upon receiving the package, and since printing postage at home is cheaper we balance out the Ebay shipping fees with the print-at-home savings.

 

[richmond282]

Uh, totally new to this and I'm wondering if I've just caused myself a bunch of trouble. I've sold a few items recently and ebay just calculated the shipping, charged the buyer, then I printed the label at home and just dropped the items at the post office. Have I made a mistake??

Did you weigh it first? How would ebay calculate a shipping cost without a weight?

So, what happens if ebay undercalculated the shipping and the post office just accepted my packages? Will the buyer be billed?

Yes. The buyer will be billed if the postage is not enough or the package will not be delivered.

 

[jls886]

So, what happens if ebay undercalculated the shipping and the post office just accepted my packages? Will the buyer be billed?

It is also likely that if the departure post office catches the mistake that the package will be returned to you for insufficient postage. My post office does measure my boxes even though I already have the postage label on them when I drop them off. I was off by 1 ounce on a first-class package and it was returned to me because I did not have enough postage on it.

To answer the OP:

Get a postal scale. I got mine on eBay for less than $20 and it was life-changing, seriously. I sell a lot on eBay so to me it was a necessity. I do like a couple of other PPs, and if I am charging for shipping, I calculate shipping to a coast and use that as my flat rate. Now, I have "free" shipping on all but one of my items for sale. I put free in quotes because I really just add my shipping cost into the price of the item, but a lot of buyers mentally love items with no technical shipping cost. I print all of my postage through eBay because it is discounted from post office prices, and plus I am able to just drop them off then instead of having to wait in line at the post office.

 

[dis2cruise]

Thanks everyone for all your replies this did help