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If you missed Part 1 you can read it here.
Today is about shipping your item once it has sold and completing the transaction.
Before you even list you will need to know how much to charge for shipping.
Since I sell mostly clothes I am able to ship using the Post Office's flat rate shipping envelope. My cost is $4.95 no matter what and that is typically what I will charge the buyer. Occasionally I will add $1.00 or so more if I am fearful that the item will not fit into the flat rate envelope. I (nor do you) want to lose money on shipping.
So your item is listed, it sold and now you need to ship.
Here are a few tips to help you out when shipping.
1. This probably goes without saying, BUT DO NOT ship your sold item until you have received payment for it.
2. If at all possible ship through PayPal. It is easy to do so and will save you time from having to write out addresses and risk writing them down wrong plus delivery confirmation is FREE. However, even more importantly you can print your mailing label and mail your package all from the comfort of your home!
3. Always add delivery confirmation. This will save you should someone try to say that they never received the item. If you ship from the Post Office there will be a charge, it is a small charge, but at this time I cannot for the life of me remember how much. However, if you ship through Paypal then the delivery confirmation is FREE, did I say that already?
4. Pack your items as nice as possible and if it is fragile be sure to pack it securely. Sometimes I will include a note with my item thanking the buyer for their purchase.
5. Ship in a timely manner. I state on all of my auctions that I ship within 3 business days of receipt of payment and I do everything possible to adhere to that.
6. After shipping your item, the last step in completing the Ebay transaction is feedback. As a seller I typically wait until the buyer has left feedback before I leave mine. I do this because sellers can no longer leave negatives for buyers (even though there are some that really deserve it) so I like to wait and see if my customer was satisfied or not.
I hope these tips have helped you in one way or another and would love to hear of your successes selling on Ebay.
Linking up to Works For Me Wednesdays.
Can you give me an idea about how much profit you typically get on an item percent-wise. You mentioned keeping your purchase cost to $1 for clothing. What do you typically get for it on eBay? I have been interested in getting in on this for quite a while, but always wondered if it would be worth the hassle. Thanks for posting!
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I would say the average is about $10 an item , obviously there are times when it may be less and it for sure has been more. It does not seem like a whole lot, but when you have several items listed it really adds up. I always start the bidding out at the least I would want for it as opposed to starting it out at $0.99 like others do. Selling on Ebay paid for a huge part of our vacation last year. I am still learning about what sells and what doesn't. Check out www.mydeartrash.com, they have a Trash to Cash post every Wednesday. It always gets me motivated to list my items. I hope that helps you some!
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