Can I pack my product in a regular box for priority mail instead of using the USPS priority box?

Your eBay Questions & Issues Answered Here

When I've sold items on ebay, I would use the USPS priority supplies. 1) because I had a problem with my 1st item I sold and 2) because it's free. This time I want to sell a hoodie and the only USPS priority box that fits is a medium flat rate box which is $13.45 to ship (which is way too much). If I want to use my own box, do I have to select "Priority Mail (1-3 days)- Package/Thick Envelope"? That way, I can get a discount on printing the shipping label online.
Sorry, I'm a total noob at this stuff.

This is a very good question. Many people new to eBay or who don't take the time to investigate and understand the various shipping options pay way to much to ship items. For example for my first few years on eBay I would send everything from the automated machine at the post office. This machine didn't used to offer First Class which meant I was selling tshirts and other very light items and paying a fortune for priority flat rate boxes. f

In reality I could have been sending those items under 15 ounces by first class mail for $2 as opposed to paying $8 for priority flat rate boxes at the time.

For heavy items, if you can fit them in a flate rate box it's a bargain. For lighter items however your much better off using your own packaging. Also, not everything fits nicely in a priority box all the time. 

 

 

 

eBay For Parts or Repair - Know When To Use This In Your Listings

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How to handle eBay situations where you can't ship on time?

Today were addressing a question a Redditor asked on the eBay subreddit regarding how to handle not being able to ship an item because an auction was ending after he was leaving on an unexpected vacation.



Unexpected vacation will leave me unable to ship an item that is ending in two days. What's my best move?

I've had items being relisted automatically for ages, they don't sell so I didn't expect anything to. I'm flying out of my city in a few hours, and just now noticed an auction ending in two days has a bid. Because of the duration of my trip, the duration of the auction, and the shipping and handling time (none of which can be extended) I will be unable to ship this in the time provided in the listing, and i can't seem to find a way to cancel the listing altogether. (I presume I can't since someone has bid.)

My thought is that I should contact the winner, whoever it may be when it ends, and explain the situation and offer either a discounted shipping rate and shipping immediately when I return home or a refund and not ship it when I return home, their choice. Is this indeed the best way to handle things, or is there something else I should do over this plan?


Obviously never schedule items to end while you are going to be away but it's understandable unexpected trips and events do pop up so we have to make the best of the situation.

As the Redditor mentioned he could offer some type of discounted shipping or discount for any inconvenience. He could contact the current high bidder and give them a heads up as well as any future bidders. If someone snyped it at the last minute there's really nothing you could do to warn them. The others however would have a chance to cancel their bids if that was an issue.

I believe the option of contacting the highest bidder and offering some discount isn't a bad one, though personally speaking I would just cancel the auction early, inform the buyer why and relist when I got back.

Here's why I would take this course of action. eBay's seller metrics have changed and though I don't recall them off the top of my head I do know they are starting to measure, like Amazon has long done, how quickly a seller uploads tracking and how quickly that tracking gets a scan to make sure sellers aren't just printing labels but not actually dropping an item off for several days after that. 

Because of this if the seller has it marked they will ship within 24 or 48 hours, their metrics will be dinged for shipping late and uploading traffic late, plus some buyers can be unpredictable and difficult so I wouldn't want to leave it open for some buyer to hold me over the fire threatening negative if I dont' refund 50% of purchase price or something crazy like that.

How would you handle this situation? Let know in the comments section below.

How to find items that sell well on eBay

What items should I sell on eBay?

Many new and old eBay sellers struggle trying to figure out what type of items they should sell which will actually sell well and which have good margins.

This video explains how to do research on potential products to sell on eBay. By researching products ahead of time you can find out if there's actually a market and a want or need for a product before spending your money buying inventory.

Watch the video below to learn more...

eBay's Re-Stocking Fee Take Returns WIthout Losing Money

eBay's Restocking Fee Let's you Charge 20% fee on returns

Many eBay sellers understandably don't want to accept returns. That said by offering returns when selling on eBay you not only gain ranking in searches which is essential to selling. It also  makes you eligible for Top Rated Seller and Power Seller discounts on listing fees and final value fees which puts more money in your pocket.

Many eBayers don't know that eBay allows you to charge a 20% restocking fee on returns where nothing is wrong with the item but the buyer just decides they don't want it. This allows you to cover any costs associated with a return such as wasted shipping money or ruining the resale value of the item.

Watch the video to learn more about how to use this feature.

Amazon to eBay Dropshipping a bad business model?

Amazon to eBay Dropshipping a Bad Idea

You're probably familiar with what drop shipping is. Lately there's a movement of using Amazon products to sell to eBay customers.

Some people claim great success with this model but in reality it's a recipe for disaster. If nothing else buyers are going to be confused when they order an item from eBay but receive an item from Amazon, even if with a blind packing slip.

Many customers are then likely to go over to Amazon to checkout the product there. When they realize you sold them a $10 Amazon product for $20 it's going to lead to people doing returns to buy the product cheaper or leaving you negative feedback because they feel duped.

I'm not disagreeing that people should be allowed to make money but ordering wholesale from China and reselling at least takes a bit more work than two clicks on Amazon.com and it will and it does rub customers the wrong way.

Many Amazon sellers will also include marketing materials in their packages which means they will wind up stealing the customer you sold to if they offer a coupon or include some marketing materials.

Watch the video below to learn more about why Amazon to eBay dropshipping is a bad idea.