Common Sense eCommerce

If you sell on eBay, do you offer Priority Mail or Parcel Post? How about both? Priority Mail is great for speed - it’s generally faster than UPS Ground and can usually get to the other coast in 2 or 3 business days. But it costs more. Parcel Post is noticeably slower, but costs less.

You can offer both choices to your buyers and let them decide. eBay will allow up to three different domestic shipping rates for a single listing.

Many buyers love you when you send Priority Mail because it gets their item to them faster then they’re used to on eBay. But they may not necessarily want to pay the ‘premium’ for it. So just give them the choice and explain the difference in your listing; perhaps by way of an example like this one.

A 5 pound package sent from Seattle zip code 98133 to Miami zip code 33178 (two continental extremes) will be 2 business days for $12.80 with Priority Mail. It’s 7 business days for $9.94 with Parcel Post.

Buyers on eBay appreciate choices! You could even add a third choice for UPS Ground or Express Mail. Little adjustments like this can help get you more activity on your auction and BIN listings.

Tags: eBay Shipping, eBay Postal Shipping, eBay Priority Mail, eBay Parcel Post

UPS Ground Rates will be going up on January 1, 2007. This is not terribly surprising considering the cost of fuel and the fact that UPS simply must do this once in awhile to cover the inflation.

Did you know that UPS will discount your rates the more business you give to them? I had known this but was quite surprised when we got a letter from UPS outlining more favorable rates for us due to our volume. Now our UPS volume has not that been that great (we utilize the US Postal Service as much as possible), but it does add up over time. UPS apparently tracks this and rewards this for businesses who ship fairly often with UPS (and pay their bills on time).

So if you feel like rates can only go up up up, try giving some business to UPS and they may reward you with more favorable rates. I do not know if FedEX does this, but if you frequently switch between carriers, this might be a good reason to stay with one.

UPS has a page where you can preview the 2007 rates (Link here)

Tags: Small Business Shipping, UPS Shipping Rates, United Parcel Service

If you’re selling goods on eBay, are you finding the Post Office to be a bit crowded this time of year? Print your postage online to save trips and long line waits in that crowded place. You can set up an account at USPS.Com and establish a “Click and Ship” account. Then just fill in the blanks and print out a label with postage on your own laser or ink jet printer.

Aside from a printer, one thing you will need is a postal scale. A good 5 pound postal scale can be purchased online at the USPS website (link here). If you need a higher capacity scale, they also have a 10 pound scale for not much more (link here). You can find these types of scales at Office Depot and other office supply stores.

In practice, things that weigh more than 5 pounds are generally best sent via another shipping method such as UPS or FedEX. Somewhere around 5 pounds you reach a point of diminishing value for shipping US Postal Service (unless the item can fit in one of their ‘flat rate’ boxes).

So what do you do with the package when you have printed the label with postage and attached it? Hand it to any postal carrier or you can drop it in the package drop bin at the post office. Then wave to the folks in line as you stroll by!

Tags: Postal Shipping Tips, Holiday Shipping, Online Postage