Generally, buyers want to pay little or nothing for shipping and yet most people want their product as quickly as possible even if they have paid nothing for it.

On the other side of eBay you have the seller. The seller wants to be able to ship an item with the least amount of aggravation and effort and at the lowest cost possible so that a reasonable handling charge can make up for your packaging costs, supplies and transportation to the carrier for delivery to the customer.

Shipping is also important in its description on your eBay auction. It is best to spell out exactly how you ship, when you ship and if there is a handling charge involved. Expectations are based upon how you present an item.

For instance, imagine you state in your auction the following:

"We ship by Priority Mail within 24 hours after we receive payment for your auction item."

If the buyer wins the auction, pays for the item and doesn't have a tracking number for Priority Mail by the 20th hour then the buyer is likely to be waiting out that last 4 hours wondering if you are going to be good on your word or not. At 24 hours and 1 minute you are now LATE. In the eyes of some of the more unreasonable buyers on eBay you might be branded as not being good on your word. Still other eBay buyers might just consider you a fraud and a liar.

What you state in your auction will set your Buyer's level of expectation. It is ALWAYS better to under promise and over deliver. Therefore, if it is possible that you might take up to 72 hours to package and ship an item then you should state that the item will be shipped within three (3) days. Then, if the buyer/customer receives their eBay.com product within 24 or 48 hours then they are pleasantly surprised.

We hope you like this tip and hint into the minds of buyers and sellers.