Ebay shipping or Post Office?

[MasterBlaster]

HI Folks,

I am back to selling my collection again as I have recovered from the burnout from Covid selling. 2 long years away and it seems EBAY has changed a bit.

What I have to ask is what is the best way to pay for postage now a days? Ebay has two different types, do I buy theirs or do I just do it the old fashioned way of Post Office.

I am not really understanding where using ebays shipping choices as any better then bulk with the post office.

Also, what is the best way to ship with tracking? All will be done in Australia only.

Cheers

Mikey

 

[Dangerskillz]

oops sorry wrong thread (edit)

 

[BrickzNCardz]

HI Folks,

I am back to selling my collection again as I have recovered from the burnout from Covid selling. 2 long years away and it seems EBAY has changed a bit.

What I have to ask is what is the best way to pay for postage now a days? Ebay has two different types, do I buy theirs or do I just do it the old fashioned way of Post Office.

I am not really understanding where using ebays shipping choices as any better then bulk with the post office.

Also, what is the best way to ship with tracking? All will be done in Australia only.

Cheers

Mikey

Great question - I'd like to hear from others on this one too.

I've found eBay postage gives you quotes from Aus Post and Sendle - with larger packages, sometimes Sendle is cheaper. To just send a single card or a few cards, Aus Post will probably be cheaper. But I am an eBay Plus member, and for $4.99 per month I often get offers such as 10 free postage labels. This has saved me $50-100 in the last 6 months, in posting larger boxes. Worth checking out if you do sell larger items. Good luck!

 

[MasterBlaster]

I have been using Australia Post for everything to be honest. I track all orders over $15.00. Doing so has given customer confidence and also its not expensive at all. I have a post office app which I track all deliveries with.

I just dont like using services that have different currior companies delivering, though Australia Post can be painful to deal with, I find it easier to track something that is all controlled in house under one roof, that roof being Australia Post. For one card, its a complete waist of time to send any other way but Australia Post.

I have a bit more to add, I will when I figure out whats in my head and what I will post as it never looks right when I do. ADHD is such a wonderful pain in my bum.

 

[BJD]

I use Australia Post for everything.
If you are shipping a fair bit, use Aus Post as you will get discounts as you ship more with their tiered system.
My postage costs have become significantly less over the last year with a business account, it's great.

 

[jimbo2193]

i became friends with the postmaster at the auspost store. He would give me advice and worked out what was the best and most economical way to send cards while still protecting the card. I never sent anything in a letter and got it down to 5.70ish with tracking in a cardboard mailer.

 

[1980bust]

I have been using Australia Post for everything to be honest. I track all orders over $15.00. Doing so has given customer confidence and also its not expensive at all. I have a post office app which I track all deliveries with.

I just dont like using services that have different currior companies delivering, though Australia Post can be painful to deal with, I find it easier to track something that is all controlled in house under one roof, that roof being Australia Post. For one card, its a complete waist of time to send any other way but Australia Post.

I have a bit more to add, I will when I figure out whats in my head and what I will post as it never looks right when I do. ADHD is such a wonderful pain in my bum.

This is my exact approach. Aus Post for everything - their process is WAY better than it was even a couple of years ago. Easily-managed customs forms. Easily tracked items in one place. Their app is decent, and their CS if something is missing is decent, although it can be a little slow.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I love the app they have, very easy to keep track and history on what you have sent and you get a decent discount after time on redbags if you use enough.

The one thing that is irritating to me is the customs forms... I lost 35% of my sales since I last sold on ebay 4 years ago because of the new postage rules on selling products. Even a .99 cent cards costs 19.95 with tracking. There is no way around it legally, yes, you can send by paper envelope, but to be legal it's only to be documents or correspondences. If you get caught sending a item sold the fines are not worth the risk. Now even a small padded envelope is seen as a parcel by both Australian and international countries. What is irritating to me is the fact that its all about $$$ for the postal services and not much more. They have already paid the tax on the item when bought via ebay, why then make a customs form bigger than the bloody padded envelope. Also when trying to create a customs form on Ebay, it then sends you to the post office site, however I have yet to have it work correctly, I have used Firefox, Chrome and Opera and none of them can get past pick a country your sending too so I have to do it at the post office which is time consuming at the counter. I loved the old green forms where I can list what was being sent and stick it on the parcel and it was gone. Now everything that is sold here is forced to have tracking.

Anyway, it is what it is and hopefully someone with half a brain in the postal service will see that its costing sellers of lower end cards business which in return cost them money. However I am feeling the bean counters have seen that its not as much loss as gain as the $19.95 they are now charging.

Mike

 

[1980bust]

I love the app they have, very easy to keep track and history on what you have sent and you get a decent discount after time on redbags if you use enough.

The one thing that is irritating to me is the customs forms... I lost 35% of my sales since I last sold on ebay 4 years ago because of the new postage rules on selling products. Even a .99 cent cards costs 19.95 with tracking. There is no way around it legally, yes, you can send by paper envelope, but to be legal it's only to be documents or correspondences. If you get caught sending a item sold the fines are not worth the risk. Now even a small padded envelope is seen as a parcel by both Australian and international countries. What is irritating to me is the fact that its all about $$$ for the postal services and not much more. They have already paid the tax on the item when bought via ebay, why then make a customs form bigger than the bloody padded envelope. Also when trying to create a customs form on Ebay, it then sends you to the post office site, however I have yet to have it work correctly, I have used Firefox, Chrome and Opera and none of them can get past pick a country your sending too so I have to do it at the post office which is time consuming at the counter. I loved the old green forms where I can list what was being sent and stick it on the parcel and it was gone. Now everything that is sold here is forced to have tracking.

Anyway, it is what it is and hopefully someone with half a brain in the postal service will see that its costing sellers of lower end cards business which in return cost them money. However I am feeling the bean counters have seen that its not as much loss as gain as the $19.95 they are now charging.

Mike

What are the postage rules? Is this for domestic or international?

I've sent hundreds of cards domestically in cardboard and team bags, in size 00 padded envelopes as a large letter with added Registered postage ($2.20 + $4.50 or so?). Never had any post office staff say anything at any post office I've sent from. They just check if it fits in the gauge, and that's it.

Internationally I just put the 00 envelope into another bubble mailer they sell that's like $1.35 now (?) - the one the printed customs form fits on perfectly. I find the online customs form works pretty much perfectly in Safari browser.

Always parcel for international, never Registered because it doesn't have anywhere near the amount of tracking updates.

I never send small value internationally - it's not worth it to the buyer. I just ship them all to COMC where buyers can ship them for a fraction of the shipping price from Oz.

I won't even list cards for .99 - I just throw them in free with others I send. I'll even throw in a couple of free $10 cards that won't sell individually (unless for a single combined Registered postage charge) with sales of a couple hundred $ or more.