Initial advice for a first time private seller - in particular shipping.

elsmandino

Hi there.

I have been advised to pop over here for some initial advice as I have some items in my loft that I might like to get rid of via Ebay.

I have bought from Ebay a number of times but never sold anything.

There is a lot of advice out there but I find that it is either tailored to the US market.  Any English stuff tends to be directed towards those that sell on Ebay for business purposes.

I only want to do some occasional selling to help clear my loft and make a few pounds along the way.

The one thing that I find completely confusing is shipping.

Any pointers and general advice would be very much appreciated.

soolin

This is a good site to use for RM, sign in and you get to keep details of your labels- but you can also print labels and POPs from here at Royal Mail prices rather than Post office prices. The cheaper standard proces are on the drop down menu, not the initial page
Royal Mail Click & Drop | Send an item - Buy, Print, Drop

You can also print direct from ebay using RM or packlink for couriers, you get the RM proces from ebay as well.

Remember size and weight is calculated for RM, so don't guess, get a set of scales and buy a sizer ruler from ebay if you think you are likely to be sending things large letter.

Standard parcels from RM have £20 compensation for eligible items , just get a POP when sending and keep that for a minimum of 6 months.

Postage is really incredibly simple once you work out the difference between a large letter and parcel.

I use standard 2nd class as 1st doesn't seem to be any quicker, and buyers do buy on price so if you charge more than anyone else you will lose out.

Spoonie_Turtle

Also RM parcels have delivery confirmation even if they don't have tracking, which is useful if a buyer tries to claim they've not received an item, you can see whether it actually was delivered or not.

soolin

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Also RM parcels have delivery confirmation even if they don't have tracking, which is useful if a buyer tries to claim they've not received an item, you can see whether it actually was delivered or not.

To add to that, always upload your delivery confirmation number when you print the label (it is done automatically if you buy from ebay) .

elsmandino

Thanks for this.  Really helpful.

Would you recommend just using Royal Mail for everything?

I was reading this guide Parcel Delivery: Find cheap parcel delivery - MSE (moneysavingexpert.com)

and I have overwhelmed myself with information.

soolin

elsmandino said:

Thanks for this.  Really helpful.

Would you recommend just using Royal Mail for everything?

I was reading this guide Parcel Delivery: Find cheap parcel delivery - MSE (moneysavingexpert.com)

and I have overwhelmed myself with information.

It depends on your own preferences and experiences. Virtually all my items are cheaper by RM, it is rare that a courier can beat the online RM prices. However, for large or outsize items I look at packlink and see what comes up ( from the ebay site) as they often have some good deals. I always factor in size weight and compensation needed when choosing what to use.

I see that the MSE guide suggests a third party site to check for prices, I would express caution with using those as you build in another level of Bureaucracy if something gets lost or broken and you need to claim, I prefer to keep it simple. 

Look at some of the threads on here as a pointer, at the moment it seems Evri is near impossible to pin down if you have a problem, but things change all the time . At one point last year I was having issues with RM so switched my parcels to couriers, but I switched back as soon as things improved. I like RM as it's easy to make a claim and it can all be done easily online.

If using couriers always check out what is excluded, some couriers seem to have exclusions on compensation for all sorts of things.

When preparing your listing choose your postal service and remember you must stick to that once item sells, you can't change your mind. 

As I said though virtually all of my items are under 2kg and can go easily with RM at less than a courier cost, but if you are looking at heavy or over sized parcels then mention that on this thread as others that regularly use couriers can add their comments. 

Jerry_Cornelius

elsmandino said:

Thanks for this.  Really helpful.

Would you recommend just using Royal Mail for everything?

I was reading this guide Parcel Delivery: Find cheap parcel delivery - MSE (moneysavingexpert.com)

and I have overwhelmed myself with information.

I tend to use Royal Mail 2nd class for all my smaller stuff. Originally for parcels over 2 kg, I used to use Collect+ as they had a better price and service that RM, but in recent times, I found myself using Royal Mail Medium Parcel service as its comparable now (And I think Collect+ is now part of another network anyway). And RM online prices as stated can be cheaper than buying in a Post Office.

Probably the thing you will need to get used to is how much extra weight to add for packaging and thus to determine the P&P cost. Of course, that depends on what kind of packaging you use, but if you plan to open some of your stuff up to outside the UK, and this a bigger market, the weight bands are much tighter on Royal Mail (typically 250g) so its easy to not allow enough. Then again, with the prices so high nowadays for shipping outside UK, there seems to be less action in recent times from international bidders, so not sure its worth it. Still, I am an occasional seller of my unwanted stuff, for instance i've recently sold a batch of CD's over the last few months, some of which have gone to Denmark, Italy and the US. Smaller stuff (and thus smaller P&P costs - usually) are still attractive to international buyers it seems. But bigger stuff (mostly close to 2kg incl. packaging or over) I sell UK only.

Langerhan

I use Royal Mail because I can go to my local Post Office, send something and get proof of postage. I've seen some people say they do it all online, but I don't have a printer so can't get the online prices.

martindow

Langerhan said:

I use Royal Mail because I can go to my local Post Office, send something and get proof of postage. I've seen some people say they do it all online, but I don't have a printer so can't get the online prices.

RM will collect and are not charging for this at the moment.  On some services they will also print the label so you can take advantage of lower prices, get parcels collected from your home even without a printer.

Spoonie_Turtle

martindow said:

Langerhan said:

I use Royal Mail because I can go to my local Post Office, send something and get proof of postage. I've seen some people say they do it all online, but I don't have a printer so can't get the online prices.

RM will collect and are not charging for this at the moment.  On some services they will also print the label so you can take advantage of lower prices, get parcels collected from your home even without a printer.

I highly recommend this, if it's available for your chosen service and your area.  We do have a printer but it's a bit of a rigmarole and it's infinitely more convenient just to have the postman bring the label (which is much stickier than any tape we own).

elsmandino

Thanks for this - I think I am starting to get how it all works, now.

I am sure that it will all make sense once I have sold my first item.  Am a bit worried if it goes wrong and they give me bad feedback.

Great tip about remembering to weight the packaging as well - I probably would have forgotten that.

So, just to summarise:

I should take my item, that I plan to sell, and measure the intended box.  I should then weigh the item, plus the box and all intended packaging.

I should then head over to the Royal Mail website and check which of the methods should be used and factor that into my price.

Only when the item sells should I then (from within Ebay itself) select the Royal Mail method above and print off the label (I do have a printer).

I then sellotape the label onto my package and simply take it to the post office who shall do the rest.

Is that a fair summary?