Ebay shipping cost?

Question

hi, before i sell my items, i was wondering if shipping would cost me a lot to send to my buyer. Say that i had 5 lbs of dvds in a box that someone bought, what kind of shipping type would i choose to make it very simple and cheap? does each pound add $1? sorry if this question is unclear.

Answer 1

Ideally you tell the persons that are buying, that they are responsible for paying the cost of shipping. You can add that you don't mind packageing the DVDs but you will leave the cost to them, and not to you.

Answer 2

It is not apparent where you live, but you should be able to get Postal information on the internet. This will give you a good idea of the cost to send items overseas by air or surface mail. If you intend to sell frequently on eBay it will pay you to check what it will cost to ship and insure your items to say USA and Europe. It always helps potential buyers to know before they bid what the cost of shipping and insurance will be. Your item description should be quite clear about this. It will save you getting too many questions about this from interested potential buyers. I buy frequently on eBay but never bid unless I know what that cost will be.

Just today I asked a seller a question about the size of the item (a bronze warrior sword) he/she was selling. The first reply I got told me the size was 98MM. I asked for clarification as that did not appear correct according to weight (2.5kg) he/she had mentioned. His/her next reply stated the item was 10 inches long, and then his/her third reply stated that the item was 25 inches long. The shipping costs for this item to USA were  quoted as being US$79.00  and elsewhere the item description mentioned that the shipping costs were AUD $59.00 (I would assume that being quoted in AUD this was the cost to ship to Australia) then there followed another three charges  of AUD $15.00 Tracking + AUD$10.00 Handling + AUD$5.00 Insurance.  I did not bid on this item. There are many unscrupulous sellers on eBay who bury the details of shipping costs somewhere  in the listing ( where it is not very easily seen ). I remember looking at a small ornament that was listed at US$0.99. It was  something which would not cost more than say US$30.00 to buy normally. The seller was in China, and the shipping cost was an incredible US$300.00. Put yourself in the place of a potential buyer when listing your items for sale. If you were a buyer of that item, does it give you all the information you need to know  before you would bid on it? You will notice that many sellers on eBay include a postage calculator so that the potential buyer can check this themselves without needing to send a message to the seller. You should consider including this feature with your listings if you are able to do so. Have a look at some of the successful sellers on eBay and see how they list their items. These are people who have made many sales and have a large positive feedback score.