Starting out, help understanding shipping?

[Spartcom5]

So I am going to start up my account soon and had a question about shipping. Do most of you use flat rate USPS? That seems to be the most simple and straight forward IMO. How are people shipping things for only a couple of dollars? Say I wanted to ship a heavy lot of watches, would USPS be my best bet? What about a small pair of earrings? Would the smallest flat rate box be a good idea? Any advice I can get from you guys would be much appreciated.

I think starting out I want to only allow U.S. buyers.

 

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[Beans]

When you list an item and get to the shipping part you can review what it may cost to ship, USPS, UPS and Fedex. Small items I use USPS. Some large Fedex or UPS. I print my labels at home and the small items I just place in the mailbox for pickup. You will figure it out it is pretty easy. As far as shipping I have only mailed to US. Never wanted to deal with shipping overseas, Canada etc although I may have lost some sells that way.

 

[trdhrdr007]

I buy all my postage through eBay. I've recently heard that Pirate Ship has good rates but haven't checked them out yet. Unless an item is heavy or bulky I sell with "free" shipping which means I build the shipping cost into my price. You absolutely need to register at USPS.com. They will supply you with priority mail boxes for free. I keep a few of each of the various sizes of regular boxes, a supply of every size/shape flat rate boxes, regional A & B boxes, & a stack of padded flat rate envelopes. The regional rate boxes & flat rate boxes come in more than one size at each level. I also keep a few different sizes of regular cardboard boxes for shipping first class, media mail, & items that won't fit in USPS boxes. I don't list anything until I know how much it will cost to ship AND that I have the right size box to ship it in.

If you want to expand and/or get the absolute top dollar for some items it may be worth it to you to ship international. The actual process isn't much different from domestic. There is a small amount of risk involved with shipping international that isn't there with domestic. I'm not in a huge hurry to sell, live in a smallish town with limited inventory sources, & so far have been able to get prices at the upper end of the range my items sell in so I don't ship international.

 

[cyberdan]

Pirate ship and ebay seem to have the same rates. I use ebay shipping for selling ebay items and pirate ship for non ebay. It is easier to ship and track ebay items using their labels.

To ship a small priority mail box or the padded mailer is about a five cent difference. The mailer could hold 5 times more merchandise. Both shipping items are free but no post office has the mailer in stock. You can order free online usps.com

I only ship USA. But have shipped to Russia, Japan and Bahamas not by choice. There are companies in USA that are freight forwarders for many countries around the world. The buyer lies to ebay and says they are in USA and give the forwarding companies address in USA. Only had one problem. The Bahama sale had me ship to a strange address in Miami. The buyer later said he never got it. I had the USPS delivered note. I looked up the address and it was the re-shippers address. I called ebay and they actually agreed with me. I was only responsible with delivery to Miami and no further.

Now for shipping smaller lighter items there are two ways. Say you have a rare postcard set that weighs 3 ounces. You could ship 1st class mail for $1.45 (4oz) no tracking. Or 1st class package $2.96 (4oz) with tracking. If you brought it into the post office in a regular envelope the P.O. would only accept it as 1st class mail. But take that same envelope and add a couple foam shipping pellets and now you can get package price with tracking. (has to be thicker than 1/4" I try for half inch) Many things really do not need tracking so regular mail is fine. But, if you have things you want to have proof that they got to the address get a tracking number.

 

[Plumbata]

A great deal for domestic USPS Priority Mail shipping is using the Padded Flat Rate plastic bubble mailers, I think they cost about 7.55 when labels are paid and printed through eBay and you can stuff almost a Medium Flat Rate box's worth of stuff inside. You will have to "order" them (they are free) through the USPS website and have packs of them delivered for free to your home as post office locations don't usually stock them. Best deal for Priority shipping in my experience.

 

[A2coins]

Good info

 

[deserdog]

I use Pirate shipping for all my shipping. Tracking updates to Ebay and Etsy. Plus Pirate shipping gives you cubic priority. I am mailing a quiche dish, ships at 2 lbs. using cubic priority. $8.92 to ship to zone 8. Regular priority is $10.86.

I have just started looking at priority mail cubic soft pack.
0.1 - Envelopes with a Length plus Width measuring more than 0" up to 21"
0.2 - Envelopes with a Length plus Width measuring more than 21" up to 27"
0.3 - Envelopes with a Length plus Width measuring more than 27" up to 31"
0.4 - Envelopes with a Length plus Width measuring more than 31" up to 34"
0.5 - Envelopes with a Length plus Width measuring more than 34" up to 36"
Say for instance I have an item that is too big when boxed to go into a priority padded flat rate envelope. I can ship it in an envelope that is 15" x 12" to zone 8 for $8.92. Up to 20 lbs. $7.34 to zone 1.

 

[CreakyDigger]

I'm thinking this is not an active thread.

 

[Keppy]

I'm thinking this is not an active thread.

Yes it looks to be 2and1/2 years old.