As a Powerseller, one of my biggest costs is shipping. However to maintain my 100 % feedback score, I need it to be reliable and fast.

On the high street you will find a host of Stores, they differ in price and what they offer. See below.

# 1      Sunshine Pack & Ship (Postal Annex)

The lowest cost and fastest service anywhere. They have access to UPS, Fedex, DHL, United States postal services (USPS) and packing, tracking, overseas, mail boxes and supplies. you name it they have it. I would ONLY use these people. If a parcel goes missing they will trace it and contact you, If it cant be found they will complete insurance details and keep you updated. This is Royal Premier service at the lowest rates. Very Impressive.

# 2 UPS Store.

UPS, and Postal services. Packing, tracking. Good rates. No access to Fedex, DHL

# 3 Fedex Store,

Fedex, and Postal services. mail boxes. and supplies.No access to UPS and DHL.Fedex ground service is the slowest on claims and are often turned down for unnown reasons.

# 4 Pak Mail

UPS, Fedex, DHL and postal services and packing, tracking. Expensive they have a high mark up on all shipping costs. Supplies such as greeting cards and packing is expensive.

#5 Staples, PostNet and independent pack and ship centers.

Very expensive, UPS, Fedex, DHL (at some) and Postal services. They cant compete with the big boys above and cant get the lower rates. They are handy if thats all you have buyt tracking is very poor and pick ups from these stores irregular and can often lead to delays, That means bad feedback for you.

The best service is without any doubt is UPS. It has the best tracking system in the world, It has more vans and drivers than any other service and more routes. It goes places where the post office will NOT go. They will not deliver to a box number.

The United States post office has a great service with the Priority mail service. Its fast and very low cost. Shipping to HI or AK on a falt rate pack will cost you $4.60, or $8.95 for a flat rate box, the weight up to 70 pounds. That is impressive. However no tracking and insurance claims are the worst in the industry, If you want insurance stick to UPS, DHL or if you have to Fedex ground. All insurance up ti $100 is free and after this if you use a Sunshine Pack & Ship (Postal Annex) or a UPS store a few cents per $100 after this.

TIPs

Always try to use UPS, they will even e-mail your customer and you so you can both track the item as it moves across the states. Take a look at my feedback, I use UPS 70% of the time. Priority mail flat rate boxes are low cost for low cost items and very fast. Your good feedback will reflect this. If you have a heavy item it will be the same cost. Great for car parts, a 21pound starter motor will travel in 2-3 days any state - state for $8.10. Always offer insurance, items do get lost, again if you use UPS $100 insurance is included. Keep well away from Fedex ground. They are OK if all goes well but when something goes missing, expect a 30-40 day inquiry. Your buyer will not wait that long and will leave you some nasty feedback. It is not your fault the item got lost, I agree, But use a service like UPS that is made for E-bay and you wont go wrong.

Fedex Express: Is the fastest carrier and most reliabe service. This is for 1-3 deliveries and so expenses.

Fedex ground: Is the worst of all Ground services. The drivers are contracted, usually not in unifrom and not company people.

DHL: Is a grwoing company and now can also deliver to PO boxes. They are excellant in setterling claims, they are the lowest cost.

You can open an account with all three and simply drop the items off at a store. You can use a drop box, but you cant get a signed recipt.

I hope this helps.