Those of you who sell on E-bay.....

[debby]

Okay....I am going to ask some really dumb questions here, I am sure, but I have never sold anything on e-bay...only bought some things for my daughter when she was first born, and now I have TONS of baby clothes to sell that are almost new...some she only wore once, some not at all...so......how do I go about this? I know I need to take pics with my digital camera and then also give a very detailed description of every article of clothing in the picture...size, brand name, etc...and I have to give my payment option...which unfortunately I have no idea how to accept money with paypal, so it would have to be check or money order, and I know I need to include that they will have to wait so many days till the check clears...big hassel for them, I know,

....but that is the only way I know how to do it...and also, how do I figure shipping costs? Do I just box the stuff up, once I have taken the pictures of it, and take it to UPS to have it weighed and then tell them what the weight of it is and have them figure the cost from their individual zip codes or what????
Any suggestions or tips on how to do this would be appreciated...and how do I receive payments from paypal and does it cost money to do that through paypal? I am clueless here.

All I know is I have probably 40 outfits or more to sell and want to sell just a few at a time...6 or 7 in a lot. They are beautiful clothes. I also have a basinet swing and things like that to sell that she no longer uses.

 

[mzjazz2u]

Debby, it's much easier to accept payments through paypal. If you sign up then there are instructions that tell you how to accept the payments. You can even send someone a bill. It's easier if you just sign up and then look around. Someone else might be more gifted at giving exact instructions!

 

[princess purr]

I found for shipping it is best to buy a cheap scale from some place like staples and weigh the items yourself. It is normally cheapest to ship USPS. if you go to www.usps.com they have a place where you can calc postage. That way you don't have to worry about running around places.

 

[sicycat]

Val I cant believe you're missing 300 feedbacks!!! btw your record is stunning..

Debby I would go ahead and get a paypal account. It's much easier to accept payments that way. And I personally just estimate shipping.. I've done it so many times I can just guess and I'm usually pretty accurate

But I do also have small postal scale that my dad just gave me.

 

[sicycat]

Val your shipping prices are extremely reasonable. I wish everyone was like that.

 

[princess purr]

Thank you

I try to be fair

 

[sicycat]

Same here. I try to charge only actual postage. I hate people that jack their shipping way up. I bought an item once and the guy charged me $4.75 to ship it and it cost him 60 cents to mail it

 

[mzjazz2u]

I hear ya sista's! I was looking at DVD's the other day and they want $3.50-$3.99 for shipping. What a rip! It doesn't cost that much to ship unless they are shipping it priority. I think some of them charge shipping AND "handling." The handling is for packaging and taping up the box.

 

[sicycat]

Well, we do have to pay for the packaging.. I spend a bit on bubble mailers and bubble tape, however I still only charge actual postage ( I get stamps from work.. shhhh

) But some people jack it up way past the price of the packaging and the shipping.

 

[twiggylynn]

My ebay username is stac1911. I am still kind of new to ebay selling. It's really fun. I started right off with selling. I also have about 10 feedbacks that weren't left for me either. I started emailing the person who bought something from me telling them I shipped the item and to leave feedback and I will be glad to do the same. So far it has been working good for me.

 

[sicycat]

Oh this is so cute!!

Christmas Western Decor Cowboy Santa & Horse

And you're getting bids, congrats!

 

[twiggylynn]

I sold two others for over $30. They are really adorable. That is my last one but it sure was a good seller for me. I can't wait to see how much this one will go for.

 

[debby]

Okay...so signing up with Paypal....how do they pay me? I am clueless on this. What do I have to pay them for this service? I'm sure paypal doesn't do it for free. So I should buy a scale to weigh everything then? It might just be easier since I don't have that much, to just take it to UPS and have them weigh it for me...I dunno...this is confusing.

 

[sicycat]

When people pay you by paypal, the money goes into your paypal account. So you can either have a check sent to you (I think) once you decide you want to 'cash' out your paypal account, or if you're a shopaholic like me you'll just use it to buy items from other auctions

This link is very helpful.. it answers all your questions

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/websc...t&source_page=

 

[mzjazz2u]

You can either have the money left in your paypal account for when you purchase or pay for things, or you can have the money transfered into your checking account. I don't know about them sending you a check. I don't remember seeing that in the help files but sometimes I just skim over things quickly and miss a lot! Mostly it is free unless you use some of their advanced features. Which I think some of their bigger merchants use. Paypal is an ebay company so they make money eventually!

As far as a scale goes.... I leave the shipping info blank and there is a spot where you can type in your shipping and return policy. In there I explain they will be charged actual shipping only. Be specific about what you want your return policy to be. For example, I say that every item is inspected and tested by myself for quality but that returns can be made within something like 7 days from when the customer receives the item, at 90% (That helps cover the fees I already paid ebay)and that they are responsible for return shipping.

 

[coco maui]

A few notes about eBay and Paypal.
Please be aware that Paypal is not always a great idea. Steven and I both had our Paypal accounts shut down and put under investigation after we changed our addresses. They held ALOT of money for about 8 months without us being able to get it out. www.nopaypal.com
I now use www.2CheckOut.com, It is secure and works just about the same way PayPal does.

I usually charge actual shipping + the cost of my packaging materials. Plastic baggies, paper, mailing envelopes, etc... can get costly especially since the items I sell only sell for $3.00 each. Actual shipping is $.83 and I charge $2.00 per package. This helps cover my www.stamps.com account and packaging costs. Keep that in mind if you are a new seller. You will have to buy boxes and packing tape, etc...
www.USPS.com is GREAT for calculating shipping charges. It is fast and very accurate

On feedback, I do feedback once a month. That way I do not have to leave feedback each day. Once a month seems to be a good time-frame.