n00b ebay question

[vshah]

ok so this is my first time selling on ebay, i'm gonna do a couple "practice" transactions with small items.

first is a stock xbox composite video cable.

my question is how should i present shipping costs to the buyer/bidder? fixed rate, or negotiate after the auction is closed?

-Vivan

 

[MalikChen]

It really depends on what you want to do. You can be honorable, and say "Actual shipping costs, for an estimate email me your zip code", and use the usps/ups/fedex/whatever website to determine the cost. Or, figure out the cost by using the website to somewhere on the opposite side of the country, and have that be the fixed shipping price.

However, the best thing to do is to make money and set the shipping to be $15.99 🙂

 

[dc]

fixed rate

 

[fredtam]

What you need is the EpowerandProfits system. Saw it on one of those infomercials at 4am so it must be good.

 

[vshah]

k..i'm on east coast in maryland, so i just calculated shipping to some cali zip code and set that as the fixed cost... i guess it saves hassle for buyer and seller

thanks

-Vivan

 

[kami333]

For something that small and light, fixed rate. You could add a shipping calculator but there wouldn't be that much difference. Personally for something like that I would use a priority mail box and charge $5 or $6.

No shipping rates shown is a huge turnoff and even saying Buyer pays actual postage is still a turnoff for me. I always figure out shipping costs before bidding and for an item as common as a cable I would just skip to the next auction instead of emailing the seller to ask.

 

[HonkeyDonk]

For me, if the item is small and less than 1lb., I use USPS priority. Fast and relatively cheap @ $3.85 + extras if you want. I usually will charge $5 to ship a DVD, computer game, CD, etc.

However, if the item is more than oh, say 1.5 lbs, I will ship it via FedEx ground. B/C USPS priority will begin to rape you hard once you pass the 1lb limit.