| |
| |
|
Auctions Main Page |
|
|
|
Shipping Supplies For Your eBay Auction Business
Auction supplies are clearly an expense and major consideration for an eBay auction business. Of course, the most critical supply is the item you are selling, but mailing supplies are necessary for every auction and their cost and supply must be figured into your overhead. If they are not, you might get a nasty surprise when you sit down to figure out your eBay profits at the end of the week. The most basic supply is, of course, a box. Obviously packing begins with a box - but not just any old box. A shipping-type box is necessary because if you use a shoe box or some other flimsy box, you can be certain your package will be a disaster! Your customer will be quite peeved when her item arrives in pieces! You will become a box-fanatic, like the rest of us. When you swoop into a store or home, with joy in your voice, the proprietor will foolishly assume that it is the merchandise you are exclaiming over! We're just like the kids on Christmas day - dump the toy on the floor and play with the box! In other words, drooling over boxes is an occupational hazard. Be aware that lots of merchants have boxes that you can have for free. You might become a scavenger at stores like WalMart, Linens & Things or Bed, Bath and Beyond. They have hundreds of boxes every week, and will often give them away to anyone who wants them. If you are shipping really fragile items, two boxes are safest. The outer box should be a couple of inches larger than the inner one, to allow extra padding. Padding for your packages: do you always need padding? Well ... yes and no. I have sent a few tough books without padding. But sending grandma's dishes unprotected is a recipe for disaster! What kind of padding do you use? * Newspaper is my padding of choice, because it is cheap and readily available. However, be careful because the ink can rub off on some objects and detract from their beauty. Wrap these kinds of items in plastic. Some auction users buy shredders and use the strips of paper as packaging. * I hate those plastic peanuts, personally, but lots of people swear by them. They are an environmental disaster and the static electricity is terrible. Electronics manufacturers say to never pack computer and other kinds of equipment with peanuts, just because of the electric problem. Electrocuting your customers isn't good business :-) * The post office recommends popcorn (without butter and salt, of course - is that to keep us from eating it?) I like popcorn for packing, but you might not want to use it to go on safari because little critters might like it, too. * Cut up cardboard can be very effective as packing material, but it is mighty tough to chop up. * Padded envelopes are a popular choice, because they are so simple - just insert the whatever and mail. But, of course, they aren't cheap. Whenever you receive anything in one of these envelopes, save them! (Are you thinking about all the envelopes you've thrown away?) * Bubble wrap is the preferred favorite. It cushions objects so well (and it's such fun to pop the bubbles!) Of course, it costs more than the the other materials, so always look for bargains on this valuable product and save every scrap you get. And (big surprise) the best place to get bubble wrap, as well as other supplies, is on eBay. Today, for instance, I find 700 feet of 12" wrap for $34.50. By contrast, only 25 feet of 12 bubble wrap at Staples is $4.98 That means that 700 feet at Staples would cost $139.44. Whew ... quite a saving. Other necessary auction supplies include mailing tape, regular tape, scissors, labels and an easily legible marker. I wrap everything in plastic bags, just for safety's sake, so you might want some of those handy, too. One of my packages arrived damp and with the corner shredded (wonder where that box had been?) But, since I had wrapped the books and tapes in plastic, they were unharmed and the buyer was so appreciative. Another precaution you might consider is to include an extra label inside the package, just in case. You don't want your inventory sitting around one of those dead mail offices. Auction supplies are like everything else in our eBay business that raises overhead: we must use wisdom and judgment so we can keep those expenses at bare minimum. Sydney Johnston, the AUCTION QUEEN, was one of the original sellers on eBay and has been selling on eBay since the winter of 1996. She is the originator and teacher of the famous Auction Genius Course, a powerful 16 hour multi media seminar on the Internet that teaches her students how to sell on ebay.
MORE RESOURCES:
Auctions - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Search... Search... Search Your Way To eBay Cash! One of the most valuable things in life is the ability to learn a skill. One of my dad's favorite sayings was "You can give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, or you can teach a man to fish and he will never go hungry. Online Auctions: How To Generate Fast Traffic From Online Auctions Have you ever participated in any online auctions?Yes, people are making piles of cash from online auctions.And you can take advantage of this new gold rush to generate a lot of traffic to your own website. eBay - The Basics I began selling on eBay in 1999 and have found it to be an enjoyable and profitable experience. I had owned a retail computer store for a few years and decided to close it. The Top Ten Tips For Auction Success! If you were to look through eBay, or any other online auction site for that matter, you would find that many people make some very basic mistakes. And, they repeat these mistakes over and over again. City Police Auctions of Personal Property and Autos About City Police Departments AuctionsThe City Police Departments handle and store all evidence and property that is seized or found until it is needed for court, returned to its owner, or can be destroyed. Destruction, disposal, or return of property is determined by the property and evidence officer in accordance with federal, state, and local law. Top 10 Free Online Wholesale Resources By the time that a product has made it to your local retail store, it's probably changed at least three people's hands, possibly even more than that. And each one of those people had to mark up the cost of the item to cover their investment and make a profit. Taking Paypal on eBay Accepting Paypal as a payment method might increase your selling prices and your profits. This depends on what you are selling. Selling Effectively on Ebay Motors Remember back when selling online was a new experience? Dealers tried everything to sell their vehicles online. Today's market has expanded to include several hot online marketplaces but there is the largest online marketplace, Ebay. Your eBay Business - 8 Ways To Insure Its Success I don't know if you've ever noticed, but it seems like every week or two we read about another Powerseller going out of business.If you want your auction business to be a long-term success, then it's important that you plan now for it's continued growth. Make Money Online: Learn To Sell On Ebay The online auction site eBay is an excellent tool for making money online. Think of eBay as an online yard sale and shopping mall. eBays Hot Selling Books, Find Out Which Books Sell & How To Find Them Selling books on eBay can be a very lucrative business! There are eBayers who sell only books and make a nice little income doing it. Where do they get these books to sell? At thrift stores, estate sales, flea markets, book fairs, yard sales, library sales, grandmas attic, etc. When It Comes To eBay, Don't Follow The Herd Q: I want to start an online business. Since I don't know anything about ecommerce and building websites and such, I'm thinking about starting out selling products on eBay, then pay someone to build a website for me once the money starts coming in. Easy Money on Ebay? Ebay was only two years old when I discovered it.A friend I worked with was also starting to sell on Ebay at about the same time, and we exchanged ideas and experiences constantly. 5 Secrets To Make A Killing on EBay Secret #1: Find a 'real' wholesale and drop ship companyDo you know what one of the biggest problem is to be successful on eBay? 'What should I sell"? I can tell you, I get many emails per day from eBay sellers, asking me what they can sell. Let me explain this more in detail. Taxing Your eBay Profits As a small business person-slash-advice columnist I dread the first quarter of the new year. Not because in my mind my own business fortunes start at zero again every January or because I have already dismissed every New Year's resolution I made when the clock rang out the New Year. What YOU Must Know About The Advantages And Pitfalls Of Dropshipping The following may be the most important information about dropshipping you will find.Dropshipping can be a great way to get started with your online venture. Make BIG MONEY on eBay - Your Unlimited Cash Cow Let me be brutally honest; until recently, I had never bought anything on eBay, I'd never sold anything on eBay, and, dang-nab-it, I disdained auctions. (Bidding wars just weren't my bag. Ten Sure Fire Ways To Lose Bidders The way some auction sellers approach their auctions, it's clear there are as many ways to lose bidders as there are to skin a cat. If you spend enough time in the auctions you'll see a lot of basic mistakes, but the question remains: why do so many people consistently make the same mistakes over and over again. Professional eBay Auctions Reap the Profits for Sellers eBay offer an unbelievable amount of traffic for ANYONE wanting to sell on their auction site, so much so that millions of items are listed on it everyday. So with all this competition how do you make sure that your listing doesn't get lost amongst the rest and that customers keep coming back to you. The Secret To Real eBay Success Q. I hear so much about people who started selling on eBay and eventually turned it into their full time business.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
