Shipping Your Items

You should always use quality packing materials to ensure the item reaches your customer undamaged, and you should also ship the item promptly to ensure the customer is satisfied and will purchase from you again.

Always charge for insurance on items you think will sell for more than $50. Don't give the bidder the choice of whether they want to insure. Just charge for it in the shipping and make it a requirement. If you are shipping via UPS, your item is automatically insured for $100 at no additional cost.

Become intimately familiar with different methods of shipping, the associated costs, and the speed at which the shipping method will get the item to your customer. Becoming an expert in shipping methods will save you a lot of money, time and grief. It will also result in happy customers.

Include some kind of promotional material with every shipment. This can be a flyer for your eBay business with your User ID displayed prominently, it can be a brochure and order form for items related to what you shipped, or it can be promotional material for another related business you may own. You can even include promotional material for someone else's business, and charge them to include it the packages you ship.

There is no need to ship daily. Set a schedule of two or three shipping days a week, and stick to that. Shipping every day will wasted valuable time that can be used for other tasks.


Following up With Your Customers

At a minimum, you should send three emails to every customer. The first is to congratulate them on winning the auction, and instructing them on how to make payment. The second communication is to let them know their item has been shipped, how it was shipped (USPS, UPS, Fed-Ex), and to remind them to look at your other auctions. The third email should be sent several days after you expect they should have received their item. Thank them for purchasing from you, tell them you want to ensure they received their item, tell them you have left them positive feedback, request that they leave feedback for you, and remind them again to look at your other auctions.

You should also capture the contact information of every customer and use it for further follow-ups. Capture every piece of information you have access to: name, email, physical address, and phone number. Send all of your customers an occasional email reminding them that they purchased from you before, and that you have more items up for auction. You can even include links to your current auctions in the email. Once or twice a year, send them a postcard. This will put you well ahead of your competition.


You are now armed with the information you need to get started on eBay. You will learn much more by actually doing this than by simply reading about it, so go ahead and get started. You have all the information you need to successfully sell on eBay.