New to Selling on Ebay

red dress

Hi Guys, I'm hoping someone might be able to give me some advice. I'm having a complete clear out of Clothes, Books etc. recently engaged and decided i cant hold on to stuff anymore.
So i have added about 100 items on ebay. The issue im having is the postage. A lot of the products im selling im using national postage to Ireland only and not tracking the item.
I'm using the handbook provided from the post office and weighting the items at home to get the cost of shipping.
1: Should I provide tracking, if so some of the items will be crazy expensive and wont sell. (i have a lot of small bits that are only worth €1 etc)
2. Is there another alternative (cheaper) way of posting within Ireland, ie another company that's easy to use.
3. If i don't provide tracking, can i display a message in the description that im not responsible if item gets lost/undelivered etc.
4. Would you recommend I provide international shipping. Is there any complications that may arise if i don't track item, or should i for international shipping always track item.
5. How do i get people to follow/like my shop

Thanks in advance, really appreciate any advice.

ED E

Just bin anything under €15, don't waste time with €1 bits and pieces. Literally not worth your time.

If you don't track the seller can get the item for free if they wish. Ebay/Paypal will always side with them. You cannot disclaim this away.

UK shipping go for it, whole EU us prohibitively expensive for anything other than small and very valuable.

You don't. Ebay is about the items not the shops.

red dress

Cheers for the advice - really appreciate it

red dress

Also I should have mentioned, I have the An Post booklet for selling online, prices and weight etc. I have weighted my items at home worked out the costings for using registered post. But just in case my scales is not accurate is it ok to mark an item as Free p&p but put a note in the description to the effect of "Postage Tracking will be provided on this item and is reflected in the total cost of the item".
Is this ok to do?
I do intend to go to the post office and use the scales there for an accurate amount and then make changes to the postage, but in the mean time is this ok to do?

NOVA MCMXCIV

red dress wrote: »

Also I should have mentioned, I have the An Post booklet for selling online, prices and weight etc. I have weighted my items at home worked out the costings for using registered post. But just in case my scales is not accurate is it ok to mark an item as Free p&p but put a note in the description to the effect of "Postage Tracking will be provided on this item and is reflected in the total cost of the item".
Is this ok to do?
I do intend to go to the post office and use the scales there for an accurate amount and then make changes to the postage, but in the mean time is this ok to do?

Ah yeah, that should be grand – unless anybody here wishes to correct me? Please do if I'm wrong... I've learned recently, and I could be wrong – I don't think I am, that eBay are now cutting into your shipping fees as well – so if you have free postage, then you're only getting charged once – instead of twice. i.e. 10% of the sale price, if I'm not mistaken.

Also – you should consider having a best offer on your items too – everybody loves to think they're getting a bargain!! I know I do, and I'm sure you do – everyone does!! So instead of putting say – €50 buy it now on an item, you could consider putting €70 on it – sort of thing... And then expect people to offer you the fifty sort of thing – it's worked for me.

Maybe you could use:

This item will be shipped with RegisteredPost from An Post. A tracking number will be provided on dispatch. This service is reflected in the total cost of the item.

Or something to that effect – point is, the words 'Registered', 'tracking number' and 'service' are good ones – and will in theory help the buyer understand the final price a bit better, in my opinion... I know as I buyer, I appreciate this sort of thing...

Anyway, good luck!

red dress

Thank you so much for all your advice, your a lifesaver

ED E

Yeah people used to exploit ebay by making the item 10c but postage €50 so ebays cut was 3% of nothing, you're doing the opposite so Ebay won't complain.

NOVA MCMXCIV

NOVA MCMXCIV wrote: »

Ah yeah, that should be grand – unless anybody here wishes to correct me? Please do if I'm wrong... I've learned recently, and I could be wrong – I don't think I am, that eBay are now cutting into your shipping fees as well – so if you have free postage, then you're only getting charged once – instead of twice. i.e. 10% of the sale price, if I'm not mistaken.

Also – you should consider having a best offer on your items too – everybody loves to think they're getting a bargain!! I know I do, and I'm sure you do – everyone does!! So instead of putting say – €50 buy it now on an item, you could consider putting €70 on it – sort of thing... And then expect people to offer you the fifty sort of thing – it's worked for me.

Maybe you could use:

This item will be shipped with RegisteredPost from An Post. A tracking number will be provided on dispatch. This service is reflected in the total cost of the item.

Or something to that effect – point is, the words 'Registered', 'tracking number' and 'service' are good ones – and will in theory help the buyer understand the final price a bit better, in my opinion... I know as I buyer, I appreciate this sort of thing...

Anyway, good luck!

It turns out I was incorrect about some of this...

So eBay DO cut into your shipping – and what I said about only being charged once is correct to an extent, but none of matters – the bottom line is – I think! – now somebody PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong, but the bottom line is – I THINK!!!! – that eBay charge 10% of the total sale i.e. – 10% of the item AND shipping combined. So if you get €10 for an item with €10 shipping for a total of €20 – eBay will get €2. If you get €20 with free shipping – you're still giving eBay €2.

With that being said – I've personally decided against offering free shipping now, for two reasons. 1. It makes no real difference, there's no obvious benefits – again, I'm open to correction here. And 2. The more I think about it – the more I've realised I personally don't like actually buying items with free shipping, unless they're from China – in which case I DO! It's amazing what you can buy with €2 from China – I digress...

When I see 'free shipping', I usually question – "just what is the price of shipping here?" Or "what's the REAL price of this item here? Or – "there's no such thing as free shipping", things like that... Speaking as a buyer – it's paying the exact cost of postage is what I appreciate. You could still include the explanation/breakdown of postage costs – but me, I've decided to charge the exact cost of whatever it costs to actually post the item. This way I can keep the price of whatever I'm selling as low as is possible/fair – and more appealing to buyers. It's up to you obviously – I just thought I should come back and clarify my inaccurate advice. I hope you see this! Good luck!