eBay Sellers: How To Get Accurate Pricing on UPS Shipping

I own a The UPS Store franchise and I see a lot of people losing money on items they sold on eBay. Why? They had no idea how much it would cost to pack and/or ship their item. This is especially true of large items.

One guy complained that after paying for packing and shipping he lost $80 on the transaction Don't let this happen to you! I've written some easy to understand guidelines to help you avoid his fate. These tips are for shipping by United Parcel Service. FedEx and the Post Office are similar in many ways, but also have some minor differences.

What I'm about to tell you applies only to shipping within the United States. International shipping is a whole different ballgame.

Follow this advice, and save yourself some money (and grief).

FIND OUT HOW MUCH IT'S GOING TO COST YOU TO SHIP (AND PACK) BEFORE YOU LIST YOUR AUCTION!!!

1. Weigh your item (UPS accepts packages up to 150 pounds) AFTER it is packed.
2. Measure your item's length, height and width AFTER it is packed. The size of the box can affect the cost of shipping, and the box you use may be somewhat bigger than the item itself. If your item is fragile, you'll need to bubble wrap the item and put a couple of inches of packing peanuts on all sides, necessitating a bigger box. Even if the item isn't breakable, you may not be able to find a box that fits snugly around your item. Recently, someone brought an item into my store that was 44 inches long, 6 inches tall and 1 inch wide. But the only box I keep in stock that I could pack it in was 48 inches long, 10 inches tall and 10 inches wide. That added to the price of his shipping. If he had charged his customer based on the size of the item without the box, he would have been costing himself money.
3. Multiply the length, height and width and divide by 194 to get your dimensional weight.
Example: Your package weighs 70 pounds, is 36 inches long, 18 inches tall and 10 inches wide.

l x h x w divided by 194 = 36 x 18 x 10 divided by 194 = 6480 divided by 194 = 33.40

(34 pounds) Dimensional Weight

Now let's use the information we've got:

Use the greater of the actual weight and the dimensional weight to calculate shipping. In this case you would use 70 pounds; the the dimensional weight were, say, 110 pounds, you would use 110 pounds.

Now all you need is the zip code you're sending the item to. Problem! You don't know the zip code. How could you? You haven't even listed the auction yet. You have two choices. You can use the eBay Shipping Calculator, which lets bidders type in their zip code to find out how much shipping is (The Shipping calculator is located on the Sell page when you list your auction). Or you can select a zip code that's the farthest distance from you, but still int he continental United States, and charge the amount it would take to send the package there (if a bidder were from Alaska or Hawaii this formula wouldn't work). In either case don't forget to charge for packing if you're paying someone like The UPS Store to pack your item.

Go to UPS.com or call your nearest UPS Store to get a quote on shipping (and packing if necessary) based on the greater of the dimensional weight or actual weight including the shipping box. You can skip this step if you're using the eBay calculator, which will work automatically when your bidder types in his zip code when viewing your auction Be sure to specify the amount of insurance coverage you will need for your package if calling The UPS Store or any other packing and shipping business. If using UPS.com be sure to type in the declared value of the package. Also, whether using UPS.com or calling for a quote, be sure to specify whether your package is going to a business or residential address, since shipping to business addresses is a buck or two cheaper.

For reasons I haven't been able to get to the bottom of, there is sometimes a $4 to $5 discrepancy on larger packages between the price on UPS.com and the price UPS downloads to us at The UPS Store. I was told that we at The UPS Store get our fuel surcharges downloaded to our system before they update the UPS website. That doesn't make sense to me, but that's what they said. (Fuel surcharges go up or down based on the price of fuel, and can change from day to day). You might want to tack on a few bucks to your packing or handling charge if you're shipping a larger item. Also note that certain UPS options, like Signature Required, can cost extra.

Now you're ready to list your auction. Simple, wasn't it?

Hope this helps you.