For you Mamas who sell items on Ebay.. I need some help!?

How do you calculate the cost for shipping? -figure the total weight of the item including packaging, zip code destination, use usps to calculate. you may want to add in cost of packaging and time, but a lot of times buyers dont understand this and only want to be charged actual postage costs. sometimes irate buyers will give you low ratings if they think you overcharge on shipping. -since you are starting out you may want to just charge a flat rate no matter where it is headed. choose a state that would be a good average distance away from you so that what you charge will be covered in most cases. for instance, if you live in the midwest to east coast, you can use the famous zip of 90210 to calculate postage. sometimes it will cost less, sometimes more, but on average it will be close to shipping to 90210. -to determine weight you will need a scale. baby items are very lightweight so you may want to invest in a digital scale that can read ounces. reason being weight will determine shipping method. if it is light enough (13 oz and under), you can ship first class mail very cheaply. that means you can charge your buyers less for shipping and that will entice them to buy, as a lot are turned off by high shipping. before i broke down and actually bought a scale, i used to take my items to the post office and use their APC machine as if i was going to purchase postage only to weigh them. -under 13 oz you will want to send first class mail, over that you can send parcel post or priority -once you get going you may want to purchase poly bags for shipping of clothing (lots of retailers and other ebay sellers use them). again it has to do with keeping overall weight and shipping low. but for now you can ship in boxes. for boxes you will want to recycle them from other purchases or dumpster dive or whatever. -postage calculator: http://postcalc.usps.gov/ -more help on ebay forums: http://forums.ebay.com/category/Ebay-Discussion-Boards/2001 How do you choose your methods of payments you accept? -i think ebay only allows paypal now. it will include credit cards so all you need to worry about is paypal. i think you may accept check/money order but you are not allowed to state it in your listing. buyer has to specifically ask you about it for you to reveal that you will accept an alternative to paypal. because paypal charges a small fee and ebay owns paypal so they want to squeeze more money out of you. most buyers want to use paypal anyway, as it is a lot quicker than having to have their check/money order received and cleared How exactly does paypal work? -buyer funds their transaction through credit card or bank account or paypal balance through paypal. seller gets charged 2.9% + $0.30 fee for each domestic transaction. so you want to figure that into the cost of your items. i forgot but you may be able to get around this fee by using a personal account. but it is limited in how much you can receive each month (like $500 or something), and you cannot accept credit card payments. problem is a lot of buyers will use credit card so you will be forced to upgrade to "business account" and be charged the fee. its been a while so im not sure about all this info. How do I put this on my Ebay item? -when you list your items there will be a payment section. since ebay owns paypal now it is pretty much forced that you accept it so its automatically chosen

Ok - first up, I live in Australia and at the post office there are pre-paid post satchels (500g = $6) so go to your local post office and get a list of how much it is to send different weights - with clothes, its best to sell them in groups of 2-3 items so they fit in a small satchel/parcel and it doesnt cost much postage, if the postage is too much, no-one will buy the item as it'll end up costing them more to buy it second hand than at the shop itself With paypal, go onto the site and register your account if you havent already done so - you need a credit/debit card. It will have a link to join it to your ebay account. Everytime i sell something on ebay, or buy something - i use paypal, and they email me everytime a payment goes in or out - you can also use paypal on almost any online store... it is the safest way to handle your money online When you go and set up a 'selling item' on ebay, there is a section that asks 'payment methods' and you just click the box that says paypal, you can also click other boxes like personal cheque, money order, cash on delivery etc You can also write it in your item information - at the bottom explain what payment methods you prefer and what sort of postage you offer (eg, say if you are willing to sell overseas or not, i dont post overseas so i say so in my information part) The payment methods i accept is paypal, money order/personal cheque - I dont like bank deposit as you have to give the customer your bank details Never post anything until the payment has cleared I dont know if this link will work, but here is an example of some clothes i tried to sell http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120685296221&ssPageName=STRK:MEUSX:IT