Question for people who sell stuff on Ebay

When you put something up for sale on Ebay, how do you handle the shipping?

This may be a dumb question but do you wait until someone wins the auction, then go to the post office, get it weighed, and email the person the shipping costs, then go back to the post office and mail it?

I'm wondering because I have stuff that I want to sell on ebay but I know that I can't get to the post office during the week so that would make me a bad seller because I couldn't ship it out until the weekend.

How do you handle this?

Re: Question for people who sell stuff on Ebay

Yes, but make sure you post that the seller pays all shipping cost...and if its the dishes you are trying to sell maybe try a consignment shop or craigslist...something local...dishes might be a hard thing to ship! not impossible but just a pain in the @$$!

Re: Question for people who sell stuff on Ebay

i usually mail all of my stuff via usps priority mail, flate rate shipping. they have 2 size boxes (kinda small) and whatever fits in them, regardless of weight, it's one price. your teaset (i saw your other post) might be too big for one of those boxes. if i were you, i would pack it up in a box and go to ups and see how much it would cost to ship it to the any state in the US. that way when you list the item, you have the shipping already included. it's always better to give the shipping info when you list the item, IMO. i have a teaset i want to sell also!

good luck!

Re: Question for people who sell stuff on Ebay

Legally you have 30 days to ship the item but obviously sooner then that is better. I would state in your auction that you will ship on the Saturday after payment has been received.

You should determine the shipping costs prior to listing the item. That info is important to provide since it will help determine whether or not someone places a bid.

Even if you put the item in a box and on a bathroom scale to get a good idea of the weight (round up a pound or two if you will be including shipping material) and calculate the cost to ship to the furthest zip code. Or there is an option to let the buyer calculate the cost by entering the weight & your handling fees. When the buyer enters their zip code, the rate is displayed and includes your handling fee.

ETA: I tend to ship using priority mail since the costs are almost the same when you start adding buying boxes & packing material to the shipping costs. The flat rate boxes are a great option. Plus you can print the labels from USPS.com and get free delivery confirmation!

Message edited 1/9/2006 12:17:53 PM.