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.

Product Sourcing for eBay

Where do you get things to sell on eBay?

After 10 years selling on eBay I still don't have a good answer. I've tried just about everything, and I'd like to share with you what I've learned. I'm only going by my experiences; I can't comment on what other people say works for them.

Yard sales are a lousy place to get merchandise for resale. Most yard sale stuff I've seen is junk. Maybe - maybe - if you're an expert in a category you could find a bargain that you could resell for a profit. However, you'd have to do a lot of driving before you sorted through all the junk to find it. Which brings us to another drawback to yard sales: they are costly and time-consuming. Even if you find things to sell, when you factor in the cost of travel and the cost of your time you're not making any money. On the eBay discussion boards I see people brag about something they bought at a yard sale for $5 and resold for $300. That's great, but how many of those deals are out there? Certainly not enough to obtain a regular supply for inventory.

Thrift Stores. The local Salvation Army and Goodwill thrift stores in my area are full of things that are too junky to be in yard sales.

A creative idea that I've used is to buy things that are "Free After Rebate", get the rebate and then sell the item. I've been successful doing this, but again, such items aren't consistently available and the profit is small. Plus, I hate dealing with the rebate paperwork.

Wholesale lists. One word: Scams.

Wholesale publications such as The Closeout News. A good source for products to sell at flea markets, but not on eBay. Items sell for more at flea markets than they do on eBay, which is also why buying at a flea market for resale on eBay is tough.

Items you make yourself (including information products) are a possibility: just know what your cost (including time) is for each item. For more information on this, see the post Can You Make Money on eBay?

Finally, don't go on the discussion boards on eBay and ask where people get their inventory. If someone has a good source they're not going to tell you.

Can You Make Money on eBay?

This seems to be the million dollar question (no pun intended). Everybody thinks they can, and even more people are willing to sell them information on how to do it. But can you really make money on eBay?

The answer is (drum roll please): Yes, but not much. Yes, but the same effort would make you more money doing something else. eBay is a great way to liquidate merchandise from your business or get some money for stuff lying around your house that you no longer use, but it's VERY difficult to buy something and resell it on eBay for a profit.

Here's why:

1. You're competing with the whole world. Sure, you have millions of potential customers, but you also have millions of potential competitors. You're much better off to be the only seller of an item in your town with fewer potential customers than you are to be on the internet facing such stiff competition. And the competition on the internet can almost always sell for less than you can. Maybe they have a source of merchandise you don't because they can afford to spend $10,000 to buy it. Or maybe there are other reasons they undersell you, such as:
2. Your competitors are stupid. That's right, I see stupid sellers on eBay all the time. They buy a ton of merchandise they shouldn't have bought and just want to unload it at giveaway prices. Or they don't know they're not making any money; they forget to factor in the cost of fees, or their labor. Real life example: I have a friend who makes craft items. "I made $500 on them," she told me. "Did you factor in the cost of materials?" I asked. "Yes" she said. "How many hours did it take you to make them?" I asked. "Oh, probably a couple of hundred hours." Congratulations! You just make $2.50 an hour. (I didn't tell her that).
3. They're offering things at a low price as a loss leader. I don't agree with this strategy: Offer a low price on your auctions then get the buyer to click on your web site where he can make other purchases from you. Inevitably, I can buy the cheap item from his auction, then go back to eBay to find a cheap price on the same things he has on his web site at a higher price. So why would I buy from his web site? Still, all the eBay gurus say this is a good strategy, so it must work. Right?
4. Your competitors are addicted to eBay. Some people can't help themselves. eBay becomes a compulsion. They don't care that they're not making money.

Soon we'll take a lot at product sourcing.