One problem with eBay is that unless you are careful you can end
up spending far too much time on routine tasks such as packing
and shipping. Not only is there the time spent wrapping the
items, but also when you take them to your local post office to
have them weighed, stamped and posted. As someone who never
seems to have enough time I have adopted some time saving
measures which frees up my time to do other things.
1.Buy Stamps in advance. Many of the items that I sell are
similar, CDs , audio tapes and books. Therefore I know exactly
what the postage is for these items and I buy in advance a
quantity of stamps for the various denominations that I use. I
can then pack, stamp them and just drop them into the post box
without the need to wait at the post office counter.
2.Get a set of scales Of course one really helpful piece of
equipment is a set of postal scales. Not only does this save you
time by allowing you to pre stamp packages but it is also very
useful when you are listing an item. You can quickly and
accurately calculate the exact cost of postage for each item.
This can save you making those errors of under estimating the
true cost of posting an item or having to make a special journey
to the post office just to find out what it will cost to post.
3. Buy packaging materials online A thriving industry has grown
on eBay offering packaging materials. It really is a case of
selling spades to miners, but as a result the competition in
this field is very fierce. This means that you can make
considerable savings if you go to the Business, Office and
Industrial Category and look in Packing and Postal supplies.
Also many of the major stationers such as Staples and Viking
offer a good 24 hour service and often have some attractive
special offers or gifts to make an even better deal. Most offer
free postage for orders over a certain quite low amount.
4. Whenever possible use padded bags. If it is suitable for your
products one of the great time savers is the use of padded
envelopes. They come in a big range of sizes and thickness and
are suitable for a wide range of products. It is much easier and
quicker just to pop something into an envelope and seal it than
putting something in a box, put in padding and using tape to
seal it. Also these days padded envelopes can work out cheaper
than other forms of packaging.
5. Hold a stock of Post Office Forms These days forms control
our lives and it is no different with the postal authorities.
Normally if you are a regular postal user your local post office
will be happy to supply you with a stock of the forms that you
might need. The ones I keep handy are customs declarations,
recorded International and national forms and supplies of
airmail and fragile stickers. Completing these and applying them
to your packages before you go up to the post office can save
considerable time.
6. Use Rubber stamps I also have a selection of rubber stamps
with First Class Mail, Do Not Bend, Small Packet Rate, This
saves the time rather than writing these phrases over and over
again.
7. Pre print return labels I would never send out a packet
without a return address on it. Over the years that I have used
eBay I have had about 5 parcels come back to me because they
were undeliverable for one reason or another. If I had not had a
return address label on them they and the contents would have
been gone forever. You can of course order a pack of name and
address labels from the local printer but I have found the most
cost effective is to use the sheets of plain labels such as
Avery, the 65 labels to a sheet are ideal and print them off as
required a sheet at a time. I then just stick one of these on to
every packet I send out. And of course it also makes you look a
little more professional with your packaging.
8. Pick the time that you go to the post office There are always
some times in the day or days in the week when your local post
office is liable to be more busy than others. If you ask the
counter staff I am sure they would be happy to tell you when
these times are likely to be. Also they would also be able to
tell you the times they would expect to be less busy. If you use
this information you can cut down the time you spend waiting in
line at the post office.
9. Copy addresses from Paypal notification. Whenever you get
payment notification from Paypal it will contain the name and
address of the buyer. I always highlight and copy this and using
my labelling software I paste this into the label template this
saves having to write or type the information in. I always print
my labels on the AveryL7160, 21 labels to a sheet paper.
10. Compare prices There is plenty of competition to ship larger
items and it is worth comparing prices for the various shippers
and couriers to get the best deals. In my experience with
smaller items it is difficult to beat the Post Office but for
items that need to be shipped fast or weigh over 2 Kgs (4 1/2lb)
it is worth looking for the best deal.
About the author:
Dave Bromley is a Internet marketer and writer runs an
information site for users of eBay and publishes a monthly
newsletter UK auctionline for users of online auctions. To vist
the web site and register for the newsletter go to
http://www.ukauctionline.co.uk
