After having bought many, many items on eBay over the past nine years, I thought I'd relay some information to accomplish a couple of goals for sellers: keeping your buyer happy and thus assuring that you will receive positive feedback.

First, be reasonable on your shipping charges.  State them clearly in your listing so there will be no surprises when it's time to send the winning bidder his invoice.  Many buyers, such as myself, like to determine in advance how much their total cost will be on an item prior to even making a bid.  If I think something is worth $50 maximum (delivered cost) and the seller shows $15 for shipping, then my maximum bid is limited to $35 (that's my $50 maximum cost).  In fact, I don't bid on some items if the shipping charges are not disclosed clearly up front or if they appear to be overly inflated.  Nothing irks a buyer more than to pay $15 shipping for a $10 item or to see the actual postage on a package when it arrives and discover that the seller charged $15 for Priority Mail shipping and it was shipped Parcel Post for $4.00.  Be ready to get negative feedback.  That's deceptive as well as dishonest. Ebay is clamping down on excessive shipping charges and you're sure to be reported for price gouging.

Be realistic with your shipping charges - yes, you have a right to recover the cost of your shipping supplies (foam peanuts, bubblewrap, etc.) but if you go dumpster diving behind the grocery store and find a discarded cardboard box swarming with flies that contained bloody meat or some other such foul-smelling container to use, then your buyer is sure to be unhappy with your shipping methods. 

Go to the post office or go online to USPS.com and order FREE shipping supplies such as Priority Mail boxes (they come in many different sizes and shapes including triangular boxes for shipping posters, etc. like a mailing tube).  Not only are they free, they're CLEAN and the post office will actually come pick up your package for free.

Your convenience is compounded because you don't have to go to the post office and stand in line.  Just buy a good quality postal scale (they're available online from USPS.com) and then print out your own postage paid label at home; this works whether you use Priority Mail or First Class Mail.  Just click on the PayPal account and click the button "print label."  Even the buyer's name and address are preprinted on your label and you don't have to worry about a typo on their address; it's filled in for you. What could be easier than that?

Don't require insurance - buyers know the risk they assume when they choose not to insure their item.  And most importantly, don't charge for insurance and then ship the package uninsured - that's a sure way to alienate a buyer and risk getting negative feedback (another form of price gouging).  If you think it's important to offer insurance, then offer it as an option but don't require insurance.  Most buyers don't want to pay $5 shipping plus $1.35 to insure a $5 item.  Just keep in mind, most buyers don't want to pay more for the shipping than the item itself costs.

Please, DO NOT USE TINY SPECKS OF SHREDDED PAPER from your paper shredder as packing material!  Nothing will alienate a buyer more and curb his enthusiasm about his newly acquired prize, than to be opening the box and suddenly have to stop unpacking the item and go get the vacuum cleaner.  Your old shredded newspaper and MasterCard receipts belong in YOUR landfill, not the buyers!  Whether you use foam peanuts, bubblewrap or wadded up newspapers for packing, anything beats tiny shredded bits of paper that go everywhere when the buyer is opening his package.

Ship your sold item to the buyer as soon as possible.  If you have a PayPal account, try to ship the item the same day that PayPal notifies you that the buyer has paid for the item.  If you accept personal checks, it's reasonable to deposit the check and wait five business days to give time for the check to clear before shipping.  Don't wait a week or 10 days after someone pays you on PayPal to get around to shipping the item.  Remember, we are an immediate gratification society and when someone pays for the item, they want it now.

Communicate with your buyer; this is another real advantage to using your PayPal account for printing and shipping labels other than just paying for postage.  PayPal immediately emails the buyer notifying them that a printing label has been printed and telling them their item is being shipped.  PayPal printed labels include a delivery confirmation in the price of the postage for only 18 cents more which helps you as a seller track and confirm that the buyer did in fact receive the item and what day and time it was delivered.  I have had instances where buyers claimed to have not received an item and once I clicked on my delivery confirmation link in PayPal, I was able to confirm what day and time it was delivered to his address.    

Just remember the Golden Rule - do unto others as you would have them do unto you . . . put yourself in the buyer's shoes and you will know that they want it packed well and shipped quickly at a fair and honest price.  Lastly, be considerate of the potential mess it will make when the buyer opens it.  Do these simple things and you should keep that 100% positive feedback rating intact.

I would appreciate your clicking the "YES" button below if you found this guide helpful; your vote could help us move higher in the "Top 1,000 Guides" category; hopefully one of these days we'll break into the "Top 100 Category".   You are permitted to vote once for each guide or review I have written. Thanks.

Happy eBaying!

Fred Carlton ~ TonkaToyMan ~ Tonka Town