Let's Talk Shipping on eBay
When you first begin selling on eBay, shipping can EAT UP your profits if you don't know what you are doing. Thousands of sellers ship items from home using USPS every day. If we can do it, so can you! The biggest obstacle is not understanding how to ship different items without spending a lot. eBay suggests shipping free. They feel this draws customers.
Instead of starting out with free shipping, wait until you are thoroughly acquainted with shipping procedures and choices. I suggest using calculated and putting in the weights. Calculated shipping is very easy and you don't do any thinking, the calculating is done by eBay. You enter TOTAL item weight (plus weight of box and packing) and the box dimensions, then when your potential buyer looks at your listing they will see the exact shipping fee (calculated per their zip code). They decide whether to buy your item and pay the shipping fee. It's all open and up front for them and easy to do for you.
Get a postage scale so you can weigh your packages. You can order free boxes/envelopes from the postal service website. The padded flat rate envelopes are great (ship for $6.10 anywhere in the US). Anything 15 oz. or less (at the time of this post) can go first class ($2.60 to about $3.50). Once you learn what you are doing, you can venture out into free shipping. I probably offer free shipping on about half of my items. If it's a heavy item, I use calculated shipping.
