How to lower shipping costs

[miniaturesun]

How do I get the very lowest shipping charges?

[inhawaii]

Buy your shipping labels online through ebay.

You will pay less than you would at the post office.

[ckimodog]

@miniaturesun 

The lowest shipping charge that I can think of is Free shipping. It always works for me when I shop. 

[toysaver]

Have the buyer pay for the costs.  

[mike_jayroe]

When shipping the item, regardless if it is foe example $10.00 plus shipping or if you ship $15.00 w/free shipping (for example) before printing the e0-bay shipping label check out Pirate ship. 

I just got a package ready and pirate ship gave me better rates. 

[luckythewinner]

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@miniaturesun wrote:

How do I get the very lowest shipping charges?

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Generally speaking, you get the lowest shipping charges by shipping very light items using the most economical service for that item.

If this answer sounds vague, that is because the question was vague. If you want a better answer, you must tell us what you are shipping, what its dimensions and weight are, and where you are shipping it from and where you are shipping it to. 

[kensgiftshop]

You're already shipping First Class, that's about as low as you can go.

[gloryglorygifts]

The most obvious answer is have your customer pay for it and make sure the price you have listed includes the fees ebay will charge. It looks like many of your items are on the smaller size, so don't use big boxes to ship them and don't use packing paper. That just adds weight. Use things like bubble wrap or tissue paper, which is lighter, to protect them. Lots of people use Stamps. com, which you need a subscription for, or Pirate Ship, which claims to be free and cheapest, but both seem to save money in the long run for people. 

Good luck to you. 

[dbfolks166mt · Accepted solution]

     It all depends on what you are shipping. Most of your sold items look like they would/could have been shipped first class so simply use that shipping method when you post the listing and purchase the label through eBay. As others mentioned you can either use calculated shipping based on the buyers location and incorporate a handling charge to cover the eBay FVF's or you can use free shipping and incorporate the shipping cost into your pricing. 

     If you are shipping something other than first class depending on the size, weight and destination there are a number of options but I use a lot of priority mail and simply buy the labels through eBay. If I am shipping UPS or FedEx I purchase the labels through Pirate Ship and upload the tracking information into the order. EBay is infamous for unilateral add on charges to UPS and FedEx shipping since the shipping estimate is just that an estimate. I also use Pirate Ship to ship USPS when I am shipping small heavy items and Priority Mail Cubic is the cheapest option but does not degrade the shipping class. Currently eBay does not offer USPS Priority Mail Cubic as a shipping option. 

[so-489342]

I thought parcel advantage was the cheapest way to ship.

[buyselljack2016]

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@so-489342 wrote:

I thought parcel advantage was the cheapest way to ship.

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what is "parcel advantage"?

[so-489342]

Also how you calculate shipping into your price if you don't know how far it goes. What if you include shipping and then it goes three times as far?

[so-489342]

Maybe it is parcel select by USPS.

[gator08041971]

I think its now USPS Ground Advantage.  Parcel Select was its previous iteration.

The best thing you can do to avoid high costs:

Accurately weigh and size your packaging for your items when you go to list them.  Do not guess.

If you are charging for shipping, make sure you are charging for the in-store rate for your buyer.  You get a discounted rate when you buy your label from ebay.   If you are doing free shipping, then use the ebay shipping calculator:

https://www.ebay.com/shp/Calculator

That will let you pick destinations and figure out what something will cost to ship. You can also view prices as in-store rates or ebay rates.

I have recently taken to listing a lot of hard drives, as I'm attempting to clear out my inventory.  Its a bit difficult to compete with some other listings, as they are putting them up in some cases a bit less than mine, even with free shipping.  And I can't see how they make any money at those prices.  May as well throw them away.  As it is, I might pocket 4-8 bucks a drive, if I'm lucky, and I'm listing 100% healthy drives, no defects.  And that's with me using USPS Ground Advantage, and making sure they are packed well enough to survive.

[dryophelia]

@so-489342 

Figure shipping to the furthest zone. Use that as your shipping amount.