Ebay Help!?

[Banzaitrooper]

Hello friends!
I just sold some things on e-bay and underestimated the shipping costs!
I figured Oh, ill just stick them in a big padded envelope and ship them out!
Was I wrong, I ended up having to buy box's (four of them) at $13, that jacked the shipping up to $7-$15 dollars each. I ended up just about breaking even, I feel like an idiot.
I know a lot of you are pretty proficient in Ebay'ing the one I know(i think) that sells the most is LuckyDog.

I was just wondering, if anything, if this could be a post for people to post tips, on how to sell things, how to choose a starting price, how to estimate shipping costs, how to attract people, what kinds of things to put in the description, etc... anything you use on ebay to get more money or sell a particular item if you could just share it with me as well as other e bay beginners.

Thanks Everyone!

[johntofva]

A very nice idea.

[BigBearSteve]

I've sold on e-bay on and off for several years (getting ready to list stuff right now)

The thing I found out about shipping is:
Use Priority mail, The boxes are free from the post office or through ebay.

Use click and ship through paypal and print your own postage
(first purchase a cheap digital postal scale, this will help you with the weight for the shipping calculater on ebay)

Click and ship priority mail also give your the tracking number for no extra cost (delivery conformation)

Always try to package and weigh your item before setting the weight in
the shipping calculater (this will save you money in the long run)
That postal scale will pay for itself.

If you have to ship a large or heavy item, use UPS or Fedex.
They are more cost effective than USPS.

[luckydog]

I use the free flat rate boxes on most of the items I sell. they have 2 cube sizes and one shirt size. you can order 25 of each on USPS website with free shipping.

check in back of stores at small malls. I've found a lot of odd or small size boxes dumpster diving there

I usually check other ads selling close to the same items, then charge about the same shipping. when I weight items I always add a few pounds for the packing and box.

I have lost money on shipping a few times, but, you have to just chalk it up to experience and move on!!

if your shipping is higher them other sellers you won't get a good sale. and I usually will combine shipping unless its in flat rate boxes and I can't fit anything else in them.

I have even made my own custom boxes sometimes, I have never bought a box

good luck in selling

[jwegger]

Here are some of the things I do when selling on ebay.

1: I listing the item at the lowest price I'm willing to sell it for. Don't mess with reserve auctions as many people will avoid them.
2: List the item for 5 days, ending on Tues, Wed or Thurs between 6 and 10pm. 3 Days is a little short, 7 and 10 days are long and people will loose intrest or spend money on something else, Monday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday auction for me have not worked as well as the middle of the week. Ending between 6 and 10pm you can cover most of the country and get a good amount of buyers at home during those hours.
3: Take a good picture of the item and describe it well, nothing worse than selling your item and the buyer wanting to return it because you forgot to mention it was broken or missing a part.
4:Make sure you know how much it will cost to ship, not only the weight but the size. Some items will fit really well in a flat rate box, others will not. For me 2 pounds and under is usually Prioirty mail unless it will fit in a flat rate box, if it's too big for a flat rate box then I use Fedex ground.
5ack it well, use lots of packing material, again you don't want to get an e-mail from the buyer that the item arrived broken.
6:State you shipping charges in the auction listing, buyers do not understand how much it costs to ship something and like to complain about the cost. A 2 pound priority mail package coast to coast costs almost $8.00, if you sell something for $9.99 that almost double what the item sold for, if it's not stated in the auction you may have an unhappy buyer.
7:If you make a mistake stand behind your item. I'm not saying let the buyer take advantage of you but if you make an error in the listing make it right for the buyer, too many negative feedbacks from the buyers and no one will want to buy from you.
8ay attention to the ebay fees, you don't need all the fancy upgrades, they eat up you profit, watch the listing points so you don't pay extra if you don't need to.
9: Start slow, Don't list a hundred items every day for a week and then get so far behind that you can't get them all shipped out in a reasonable amount of time.
10: Buy Low, Sell High and have fun

[Banzaitrooper]

Im confused with something, can someone help clarify this for me?

okay, i recently post 10 items, with a buy it now
so i owe ebay 5.50
they sent me an invoice saying I owe 5.50,
now this is showing up.

Amount due as of Oct-11-08: US $5.50
New activity not applied to invoice: US $3.50
Balance: US $9.00

Now at the top it's only saying "You will be billed 5.50 during the month of Oct"
which is fine, but what is that extra 3.50?
Is that the ebay fees they yoinked from the items I sold?
(four items @ 9.99)

[RaymondV]

It must be, there is a fee if your item sells.

[luckydog]

thats your final value fee added to your listing fees.

you can go to the site map and click on your invoice for detailed billing item by item.