I’ve Changed How I Do Ebay and It Seems To Be Working

[@SusanKing-vn9yb]

I’ve been using your new shipping method for a few years now with excellent results. Having been on eBay for 26 years has given me a good sense of the shipping costs. I don’t need to weigh or measure (unless it’s an oddball item) and this has saved me a lot of time. I may loose or gain a dollar, but in the long run it all evens out.

[@charityfaulkner3]

#GiveAnEBAYGiftCardForChristmas

[@NomadicFlippers]

This pushed me to try flat rate on atleast a couple of my items to test it out. I live in Texas so we are kind of in the middle, so it’s not as huge of a gamble. I googled “the furthest US city from me, then based the shipping cost off of that location as worst case scenario then just deducted a bit off that price. I’ll test this out and keep you updated on the results. Appreciate the info Kevin

[@GlamGam1964]

Kevin, this flat rate shipping idea is very good. I tried it on a few heavy items about two years ago and didn’t see much difference, but that could be the small number of items and the type of item. I might go through and do it again; however, I don’t sell too many “difficult to ship” items. I do promote every item at 2%. It only costs me if the item sells, and that’s my goal-sales. Of course I want to eek out as much as possible on each sale, but I still think a smaller profit is better than no sale. I’m a small seller; it’s my side hustle. I had surgery three days ago and I need to lie down, so this would be a good time to tweak things. Love your videos. Keep them coming!

[@exhibitdesign901]

Thank you for all of the helpful information and insight. Like one of your viewers mentioned, it really helps us little sellers. My sourcing rule is "the initial listing price of whatever I sell needs to be a minimum of $15 plus shipping and my cost to buy it can be no larger than $5 and that rule applies up to $25 listings. For higher value items I try to stay within 50% of the listing price value or lower. Of course I will sometimes take the best offer which is below what I initially listed and sometimes too dangerously close to what I paid, but that is only after it has been listed for a long time. I try to buy multiple items to get a lower price as well as shop out of season. I will hit estate and garage sales in the summer and seek winter coats as no one wants to buy winter coats when it is over 90 degrees.

[@kyler3544]

This is one of the best eBay decisions I think you’ve made in awhile. Flat rate shipping all the way for me. Granted, it does take a little of the gamble out of it since I live in the middle of the country, but I still think you’ll do great with it. Yes, the buyer’s location does come into play when they are making an offer. No, I do not EVER promote anything, and I make a great living doing just what you do, minus the being famous part.

[@oliviatrue2907]

I've been selling for two years..... always used flat rate. My instincts have been overall spot on. I'm selling mostly clothes....God bless flat rate envelopes!

[@rosestegemann7226]

im looking for advise on cross listing any help would be appreciated

[@adammonahan687]

I make thousands on shipping alone every year from my flat rate shipping model. Yall act like ground advantage is something new.... parcel select had almost identical rate. People just never checked it

[@Dino-63]

That’s funny I was using parcel select for years I don’t think people understood what it was

[@heatherpoirier8717]

I did also but the time was never the best!

[@adammonahan687]

@Dino-63 exactly. As long as it wasn't a super long package it was usually a great option. I used it multiple times every single day

[@brianhenry2385]

We routinely checked the old Ground for comparison, but it did have some shortcomings: it was often slower & and didn’t come with insurance. Now having said that, the Post Office declined my 2 Ground Advantage claims after loosing packages long enough for my Buyers to get their refunds. They eventually delivered them weeks later, so they felt justified in denying the claims, citing that they delivered the packages, only taking about 4 weeks.

[@ohiograssman1564]

​​@@brianhenry2385we bought a vtech mobile handheld off Mercari and it took around 2 months to arrive. We ended up canceling the order (seller suggested it as well) and at the end of the 2 months they showed up saying we owed $2.30 for the excess in shipping since it wasn't paid after the refund. This doesn't make any sense since shipping was almost 8 bucks to begin with. We got the item for less than $3 and the seller didn't get anything, and now I have no way to pay them smh

[@bennystratton7734]

another rule i live by for 2 plus decades anywhere i source yard sales, flea markets antique malls, buying online (especially lots) at thrift shops always look for a home Run to pay for the entire Sourcing Trip/run meaning try to find that ONE item that will pay for the entire sourcing day so lets say your budget is $500 or $1000 ALWAYS try to get something that will BRING YOU $500 or $1000 so everything else you got for the day will be PURE profit I especially do this with lots you look for that one item that will pay for the entire lot again because everything else you sell will be PURE profit

[@lisadurre8258]

🪙Kevin, that costume was simply adorable. Your wife is amazing and your family is blessed to have her. What a talent. 🧀 Also, at the end of your video you asked about sorting places, sometimes we have sales for fundraisers for the cancer association as well as the senior centers have garage sales. Great place to find vintage t-shirts. 👕! Craft shows sometimes have vintage holiday decorations too. Thank you for helping the community. Your delivery and discernment is phenomenal.✴️

[@franktalbot1032]

Great content Kevin. I think you will do well with flat rate shipping. I tried calculated shipping but I'm on the east coast and seem to ship a lot to the west coast and the cost for calculated shipping always seemed to be much higher that the actual full cost of shipping the item to the west coast. I switched to flat rate and seemed to sell more. I think calculated shipping was scaring people away and I believe this means I got fewer sales. So I'm all flat rate or free shipping. I usually try to price the flat rate to cover the fees and on heavy items like you mention, if they go to the west coast I might loose a couple dollars on shipping.

[@bennystratton7734]

13:45 the box your shipping the phone in looks okay but the box from usps you want to ship the radio in looks like it wont protect it much if i were shipping that id be bubble wrapping it putting packing peanuts to cushion it probably would put that in at least in the same box your shipping the phone in (which looks to be an 8x8x6 box) rule of thumb i have lived with for 2 decades of full time reselling is always give each side of the item at least 4 inches so if the items is 2 inches high the box height needs to be at least 10 inches high at a minimum also if its 8 inches in length it needs to be at least 16 inches minimum and same with the width which the radio looks to be about 6-8 inches both length and width so the box i would use is 16x16x10 just to make sure it arrives safe and sound the tool box not sure how your shipping that to CA from VA for under $20 unless your not to securely package it yes people pay up for Snap On but if that gets dented or crushed your going to have a very upset buyer on the other end and UPS is not very nice with packages i have shipped a lot with UPS and USPS the reason my items survive in transit is because i use my rule of thumb 4 extra inches and all sides

[@petesnyder6281]

I have been doing that for awhile. It works good as the eastern states take care of any western higher priced shipments with the new ground advantage and UPS ground.

[@bennystratton7734]

26:07 that was my rule your talking about lol rules are meant to be broken lol there not set in stone but there kinda guidelines for me at least and yes it all depends on how quick a sale NOTHING is ever guaranteed so if you pay a third $20 to TRY to make $100 again its never guaranteed to be a fast sale then yes if you can sell it within a week or month okay but if it sits for 90 days or 6 months or a year or more yes it was a bad purchases but if you use the 10% rule you would only be into it for $10 and you might have been able to use the other $10 on something better Its all about STRETCHING that dollar. I think both our ways of thinking work Mine More on long tail or NOT wanting to gamble so i go in assuming it will sit there if it sells quick like within a week or month at full asking price great i made a 90% gross (before expenses) but if it sits then i have the Cushion room to put it on sale even for 50% off the asking price and still make 40% gross (before expenses) everybody's business is different is what it comes down to no right or wrong way to do it. by the way i think your getting hourly wage and Profit per item mixed up if i sold 12 media items and i had my process down where i can pick and pack them in about 5 minutes and i'm making $1 NET after all expenses including taxes that's $12 an hour some are fine with that because its more then the Federal Minimum wage of $7.75 others May not think its WORTH there time to make $12 an hour if your okay with that making $12 an hour and it sustainable and consistent because we all know those BIG sales are FEW and far between YOU NEED those SMALLS to balance everything out and if your not willing to do the "work" as Most will call it (i for one do not call it work because as a 25 year veteran of full time reselling I LOVE every accept of what i do from taking pictures to writing descriptions to answer customers questions to packing to dropping off packages I TRUELY love every accepted of reselling if you Truly LOVE what you do as a JOB you will never have worked a day in your life there is just some things that cant be measured via MONETARY Gain hence the Perks of reselling are WORTH there weight in gold at least to me! like being able to spend time with My family, Not having to ask for a leave if a child is born or want to go on Vacation NO approvals need from ANY higher ups Resellers need to be more humble and understand what they have and What they wouldn't have if it was 1994 or prior to that year appreciate what you have. so just like making one $1 net on 4 items the yesterday i netted after expense $30 took me 30 minutes to pick and pack i don't say i made $30 an hour because some days are good some are bad I just love what i do so it never feels like work i just have a Month GOAL as long as i make that IM GOOD after 25 years doing this full time IM VERY humble and appreciate what i have had for 25 years and hopefully another 25 my honest opinion more resellers Young and old need to try to have this mindset

[@williamjohnston7346]

Hey Kevin, Thanks for the advice and information you and your viewers provide to us “newbies” like myself. The shipping aspect has always scared me off of ever reselling on eBay. However, here I am trying to figure it out. I am new to eBay but I have sold in my local area for a while now as a part time “hobby”. Please keep on keeping on I really enjoy all your videos. Thanks Billy (BrushCountryBargainBarn)

[@williampeterson4416]

Good video… something to think about as I live in Southern California. I have resisted flat rate shipping for heavy stuff because afraid of the shipping cost to East coast. I think I may experiment with it a little. I also have started expanding on the types of things I am buying and trying to expand my knowledge on new products. This weekend the garage sales were horrible to go with my eBay sales. Only 7 items sold. 😢 worst weekend in a while. Well I better go list some stuff and get some sales. Have a great day Kevin. Bill

[@carlagraca6022]

I definitely agree that the higher the selling price of an item, the higher you can pay up for an item. The sell-through rate though has to be there, otherwise you could have lots of cash tied up for quite some time.

[@laurabosma3371]

I need a chart! With a good sell through rate as a given, is there a chart or some written guidance that gives an idea of what are reasonable rates to pay for higher dollar items. Our time has value. I’d rather sell one $10 item for $100 than ten $1 items for $10 each.

[@johnmyers5732]

One of the resellers I follow on here made a very good point on promoted items and I see also works for your flat rate shipping pricing. It rings true of my old retail store days: if we have to do these sorts of promotional things that are going to cost extra money, then a seller needs to make up that new expense from *the margin* rather than increasing the selling price. The answer over the long haul would be to lower the acquisition cost of goods vs. increasing the asking price. That doesn't work at all for inventory you already have, because you've already paid for it. Come tax time, remember that promoted item expenses should be included as a business expense (I'm thinking maybe as an advertising expense - worth asking the accountant.) And if one uses eBay Giving (one of my new secret weapons! I'm on a micro-donation kick right now!) which count as charitable donations, if allowable on your taxes. (I Am Not An Accountant. Check with your tax advisor) I really need to make some KZbin videos on "mastering retail math" to 'splain all this stuff. LOL

[@pawnjawatkins5925]

your daughter is growing into a beautiful young lady. she looks like her mama!

[@rachelfrangipani6931]

This is a great video thank you. I have been doing flat rate for the last few years. I have had a few misshaps with shipping cost, but mostly I ship smaller items and it has helped me a lot. I only do this part time, but flat rate has worked well for me.

[@ASMRKlotz]

I've always done flat rate shipping and I just put a shipping cost in between the high and low cost. Some things I will price at regular Priority Mail shipping costs and then if they go to the west coast I will ship them UPS Ground and it doesn't cost much more.

[@theflippintoothfairyjackie5702]

I ship exactly as you just spoke about… you win some, you lose some but in the end it all works out 😊

[@luvmuz40]

Regan is really looking like her mother. 🙂 I agree with your sourcing rules. That's kind of how I think when determining if it's a good pick up.

[@TriciaFloyd-mi3ds]

I've been doing this since you talked about it a while back, and I've seen an increase in sales as well! I've lost a small amount on Cali sales, but then make up the difference easily on closer sales. It works!

[@carastike]

Thanks, Kevin, for this shipping class. Unfortunately, I am still so confused about shipping. I need an in person classroom course 😢. I'm a newbie reseller. Started listing daily, and my sales are picking up. Now I'm nervous about shipping! Lol...looking to connect with resellers in NRV. Christinsburg

[@GlamGam1964]

I had this fear for a long time, too. Weigh your stuff. A scale is about $12 on Amazon. Measure what you think a box will be. Put these figures in and use calculated shipping. After a while, you will get a feel of things, then you will know where to offer free shipping and how much to mark up your item to accommodate free shipping. My rule of thumb: anything four ounce or less is raise price $4 and offer free shipping. I sell many items for 10.99 free S. I clear at least $5 on these items. Since Ground Advantage took away the arbitrary “one pound” price point, I have followed this plan on almost all lightweight, smallish or easy to ship items, so I’m offering free shipping about half the time or so. I’m kind of in the same boat as Kevin in that CA and other western states really cost me in shipping, but I think a sold item where it’s costly to ship is better than an item on my shelves. I try to keep my profit margin to accommodate these postage issues, but no doubt all of us are working on a scant profit margin. Puerto Rico is another problem, similar to the western states. I was offering free shipping on a load of curling irons, and two sold to PR. Unfortunately I lost $3 or so on each one, but then I sold at least 12 at my garage sale and broke the bank, so sometimes time and profit have to be averaged, not applied to each product. So keep going. Weigh and measure (the cost auto loads to prospective buyers). Get the feel of it. Stop fretting. Most of the time it all evens out.

[@karentingler4937]

Just weigh and measure then always do Calculated Shipping with Ground Advantage and Priority mail and you will be fine.

[@matthewwhitt9398]

I never went promoted but I do sell lots of larger, more expensive items. I only buy clothes unless they are absolutely a home run. Usually I can find one or two items that will pay for my haul every trip. It almost depends for me but the larger the package the better UPS is at beating USPS Ground Advantage.

[@breezeflippers]

I have been doing Flat Rate shipping since the beginning. I make a lot of sales to the west coast and I am in Florida. So, there are times I win and times I don’t. I adjust my prices to try and recoup some of the loss on west coast ships, but overall it has worked very well. I just started selling golf clubs. I was going to use calculated shipping, but realized that the prices exclude the areas that golf equipment would sell. So, I did some research to see what others are using and came in close to be competitive with them. I also use Promoted listings. I am not sure I completely agree with you on that subject, but as I have always said, you have to do what is best for your business. I get more sales from promoted listings than I did before I started using them. Again, be smart with your budget and build in the cost. As always, great video! Thanks!

[@random-acts-of-thrifting]

I watched this video twice. I’ve converted many items to flat rate and am having positive results! Especially on some bigger items going to the coasts where quoted shipping was prohibitive. (I’m in the Midwest). I’m still playing with how I set my flat rate for each item weight. Would love you to delve into your method of setting flat rates. So far I’ve been on the mark and have not been burned! On these I also do not promote. I agree it’s a better way to get more eyes on your items! Love not paying that fee.

[@gailmurphy1163]

Kevin there is a kink with the ground that I wasn’t aware of and that is the ground advantage cubic limit of 18” length limit- somehow something sold and the length limit wasn’t flagged as a problem until I got to the post office

[@nancysnotions072]

I use calculated shipping but I do pass on my shipping discount to the customer. I will also sometimes lower the weight of a heavy (but higher dollar) item by a few pounds to make the shipping cost look a little better. I'm in TN and sell quite a few items to the west coast. I have found lately that UPS has been considerably cheaper that GA on items over 2 pounds going to Texas and farther west. Yesterday I had one that UPS was almost $2 less! Thanks for the content!

[@commonwealthflipper]

I used that method often for a long time

[@joyofflipping2405]

I ship country-wide with flat rate shipping. Using Pirate ship and UPS, I don't often lose any money

[@flippinmylid]

Being a new flipper, I don't really have many rules yet. I'm still trying to figure it all out. I have learned so much from you and enjoy watching your channel. Thanks for the education!

[@lynny6754]

Totally agree with you on flat rate. You were cutting out a major consumer base before: California. That said, I always wished that Ebay would have an option to block out California and Pacific Northwest like they do for Hawaii and Alaska (also because of some of California's crazy laws on products). Once I sold a complete vtg mushroom cannister set -- breakable on top of that -- to California and ate a lot of shipping cost, and this was prior to major shipping increases. However, I purchased the set very low and sold very high and so I still made a nice profit. Whether or not something is fragile, though, should be considered when shipping across the country.

[@geoffreydarmstaedter5301]

Do you offer the eBay shipping discount to your customers? I turned on this feature last year and eBay gives your shipping discount to the customer. It works great.

[@onlyluvisreal6691]

Im definitely using UPS more. I was so surprised! I love ground advantage a lot too

[@lucyporzio3183]

I think you are right ! I’m gonna give it a try why not? Honestly the shipping bothers me so much lol

[@Beardkingpicker]

I’ve moved away from free shipping & now do calculated shipping but mostly doing media so doesn’t effect me that much.

[@Yazzie101]

I use a lower weight ground advantage to make it cheaper for the buyer! It varies now with region price but seems I’m getting local regions and tights makes me think I’m only seen in mostly local states!

[@ChuckVanPelt]

I have set my shipping at a flat amount for years - either a flat number or make shipping free and build the flat number into the cost of the item. Like you say in the video, sometimes you lose a few buck and sometimes you come out ahead. For me it's pretty much a wash, makes setting up my shipping simpler, and opens up east coast buyers to me (I am in the PNW).

[@whippet3784]

I sell mostly clothes and use flat rate shipping always. I plug a California zip code into the Pirate Ship website (along with package weight) when I list my items to get an estimated cost of USPS shipping. California is the furthest point from me where a package might go. I don't lose hardly any money when the item sells and is shipped. I have a Pirate Ship account so I occasionally use it. Ebay shipping is usually cheaper/comparable though.

[@KimsKloset2022]

Very thought provoking. Love how you always present ideas that make us reassess what we are doing.

[@SteveAthearn-qh2jx]

The next holiday is Veterans Day. My Go 2 Tape & $25 eBay gift card. Awesome job Kevin, I enjoy your info videos. I wish we could chat about my store but you are a busy man. Thank you. Steve

[@dustinsanders6225]

Usps ground advantage made the market more competitive! Ups lowered prices to compete! A box over the 22” usps up charge is kit a good example to compare to UPS The best change usps made ever is ground advantage! They took back a huge market share

[@Yesbettr]

Biggest thing I've notice with using UPS Ground, was they completely drop the tracking history "sometimes" and I've had a couple items just stay marked as shipped. I've heard it's possibly because they pass off package to USPS.

[@basebone2006]

I had some tablecloths listed, more than 10 available. when I put in flat rate shipping, I forgot to add in each additional item shipping cost. Someone purchased 5 of them from me shipping to Puerto Rico from Kansas. I used a usps flat rate box and got them there to the buyer, but I ended up losing 10 bucks or so on the shipping. Calculated shipping would have saved me there, but at that rate I don't know if I would have made the sale with such a high shipping cost to the buyer.

[@JustMe-qr9jj]

I've always done flat rate shipping. It's the easiest way and it works out in the end.

[@terriyoung2389]

I recently started doing prompted listings, taking note of my prices and I’m now setting up flat rate shipping for the foreseeable future. We had to offer free shipping on books/media due to competition in the marketplace. Our sales have improved so much we need to source more frequently. I will continue to use it as needed.

[@corpsefenn]

I normally do 20 sales a day. Since November I've been doing 30-50.Q4 is here for me already. Though I've been listing 100 items a day. Here a tip for you if a item isn't fragile, over 1lbs and fits in a flat rate envelope that is the cheapest way to ship.

[@johnnygamecock2396]

Multiple times I choose UPS, because the Ebay site would say $9.99 and then later I would get a adjustment and a new charge from eBay of say UPS adjusted to $29.99 from the south to Washington State, with no explanation and it was correctly measured and weighted, so I quit using UPS.

[@joanclark5723]

I always do flat rate. After a while, you usually know how much things cost and the size of boxes needed. Once in a while, I lose . Not often

[@J.SMITH.]

Only issue with selling across the country is the returns also go across the country and return postage can be a lot more expensive

[@niutak76]

I have always done a flat rate shipping price for all my items on eBay. The one thing that irritates me though is that almost every time I sell a larger or heavier item that I can't fit in a flat rate box it almost always goes cross country. I swear eBay only shows those listings to farther locations so they get more in fees.

[@NewBeforeNow]

😂

[@chardarlington2715]

I am not quite ready to start selling but I love watching your videos and think what you went over today made sense to me thank you for your info you give out and say it might not be right for you but it is for me

[@Jimmy_Flipping_Deals]

I do flat rate shipping 490% of my stuff. But I build in the max within the continental US that it's going to cost me. The only time I eat it is when it goes to Alaska, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, other than that, it's great!

[@johnmyers5732]

You said something in there (around 16:00) about taking a best offer and checking where the person is from before responding to the offer. Great idea! I'm wondering what you think about sending out best offers on these items. In that case, you don't see the buyer or their address, so you're sending the offer "blind." What are your thoughts on sending out those offers? I'm checking that on my seller dashboard and sending out offers multiple times per day, and it's working "ok" for my store. I'd say over 50% of customers buy, BUT - like you, I'm cleaning house this winter, so some items are getting aggressive offers, mostly to get those items re-homed and out of my inventory, as I work away at adding new stuff from the Death Pile.

[@clares58]

When I get a best offer and click on their username to where the person is from, I only see "United States." Where do you see the state?

[@TipoftheMittFlips]

My theory on the down trend of promoted resulting in sales, is that when times get tough the first thing companies cut is advertising $$$ So if youre promoting but less dollars are being spent to "promote" the over all usefulness of the program would decline. I'll know if this is most likely true or not after sitting or more like suffering through their earnings call tomorrow.

[@SerenitySharesStuff]

Most of my eBay sales go from Florida to out west even California. Shocks me every time. I use calculated and GA only. Sales are up a bit. It must be different for everyone AND depends on what you are selling. You are very smart and I never miss your videos.

[@joesmith4642]

Three times is my minimum... unless I know it sells fast. We have a store front as well. I buy different stuff for the store. For the store front I buy stuff that's eye catching and will pay half or more just to get people in the store.

[@grrrr6999]

You need to get on pirate ship box in a bag would have been 6.59 GAd 6.95 priority to VA from my house in SC.

[@sharonduran1619]

Happy sales day. Great idea for shipping. I will need to try it.

[@ivangies6314]

I am not ready to do flat rate or free shipping, mostly because my items sell for less than 20 dollars. Someday I hope to sell better items and do some different shipping!! Cool costume Reagan!! BRM should make those for Kraft!! Thanks Kevin!!

[@justnos]

I'm a newer reseller (roughly a month or 2 in) and have been burned on my shipping calculations. It's a part-time hobby I can do with my wife who loves to thrift and my kids love the "shopping time" for sourcing. Thank you for the insight of your shipping/sales.

[@carlapresetti6445]

Your story is the same as almost every online seller. At first, we all made huge mistakes. After a while it rarely happens.

[@justnos]

@@carlapresetti6445 yes I am figuring out, which is relieving to know I’m not alone but doesn’t keep the anxiety of being profitable at bay haha. Thank you for the assurance :)

[@joytoyouandme4593]

As a 2 yr seller, I recommend weighing every item when listing, also don’t forget the packing material. Know how much your boxes weigh. Not sure I’m ready to go to 100% flat rate or free shipping. My items are a mix.

[@justnos]

Thank you for the insight@@joytoyouandme4593 ! I've begun to weigh all items and then adding a margin to weight and dimensions for shipping after selling a Guitar Hero bundle that cost me almost $45 to ship and not correcting addressing the dimensions when initially listing. I'm still working through my Rookie Mistakes but am quickly learning the do's and don'ts.

[@MichaelJosephLamb]

I have to do something to figure out the shipping logistics, because the price to mail cheap, light weight items is ridiculous.

[@cherieamourofficial]

Love Regan's costume. We have similar taste. Mac n Cheese is the best. I usually source jewelry at my local thrift shop on Tuesdays. Everything in the store is 30 percent off for seniors. I get great deals on Tuesday.

[@denisespicks122]

Been using flat rate shipping for years- Calculated shipping scares off buyers - if I lose 2-3 bucks on the sale for shipping- I am okay with that.

[@JT_Angry_Baby]

I have several flat rate amounts I use. 8.99 - 10.00 - 7.00 - 12.00 (depends on the item weight when I list it and the amount I need to sell it for)

[@ladysuburbia]

Love flat shipping! Always use it. Gives you options when shipping.

[@russell9133]

what I do is flat rate or free shipping for everything but I use the rate table to charge a $10 surcharge for large items going to CA WA AK.....

[@boneyardbee1425]

I’ve started tracking my shipping cost per zone. I’m in Maine and normally ship between Texas and California. (Go figure!). I’m in the process of switching to flat rate shipping based on zone 8. Haven’t tried UPS shipping as I could only get there twice a week.

[@cooper6190]

When shipping something on the bigger size will go to pirateship and check rates to the one of the furtherest zip code and use that as starting point.

[@commonwealthflipper]

yup. That's a good strategy for sure.

[@stefanfoulke2096]

I live in KC. Being right in the middle, I've always done flat rate. Calculated just charges the buyer wayyyyyy to much.

[@ASMRKlotz]

I will pay up on things if I am confident they will sell. I spent $20 on a pair of Ariat boots but sold them for $60 making about $30 profit which is good to me for the work of selling one pair of shoes.

[@surceepicker8547]

I have been selling since June of 2022 and have used flat rate shipping as my standard practice since August 2022. I do check location before accepting an offer since I am in SC. I have had only 15-20 times that I have lost money and continue to be pleased with my decision.

[@whodidit99]

I like to overcharge a little for shipping since I have free return shipping. It takes the sting out of the returns.

[@shawnmariemann]

I mostly sell ephemera and thin booklet type items. I prefer to get large lots where I'm in less than 10 cents for each item. A penny is better. Most items go for less than $10 and people don't want to pay lots for shipping so I have to get my items really cheap. If I find a single piece I won't pay more than 5-10% of what I can get for it if it has a low sell-through rate. For a good sell-through rate I will pay up to 40% of selling price. I love doing paper items. The good things about these items are 1. Easy to ship. 2. Usually in one big lot 80% is worth average price but 20% is something special. 3. Easy to sell low value items in lots to add to the money earned. 4. Easy to store. But like coins or stamps you have to have knowledge and do research.

[@steadfastselectionsrenee5869]

Kevin when estimating the shipping, I am in a north FL, so. I Calculate shipping to Seattle and then I know the highest shipping amount, except Alaska/Hawaii. I have also started to put in flat rates. The calculated can show a super high amount so the fixed price I hope will help on our listings. A coincidence that I started to do that also. Thank you for your great videos!

[@commonwealthflipper]

Yup

[@debbied3116]

Sure do enjoy your videos! Thank you for sharing your stories with us.

[@peddlinpatricks]

I do not promote my listings. If everyone promoted you would still have equal viewing if they do the same amount. I don't feel like giving away even more money. I do calculated shipping and don't really have any problems. I am East Coast. I do offer the discount that eBay affords me. It seems to work. The costume was great!

[@SusanSwarens]

I liked your take on promoted listings. I did an experiment reducing promoted rates from 8 to 4% to see if there were fewer views and there were not. I think you are right about the more you promote there is an increase in how many others are promoting and it cancels each other out. I intend to cancel promoted listings for a while and see how that goes. Thanks for your insights. #eBay gift card.

[@brianlund3125]

I had that exact radio that you bought for yourself. It was a nice radio that had everything I wanted cause I had many cassettes and cd's and listened to a lot of radio.

[@traytee]

This reminds me of what I call 'old ebay'. Like 20 years ago I was selling on ebay, mostly Beanie Babies 😂..and I remember just putting whatever amount for shipping that I wanted. Always made a little money on shipping as I recall. Definitely gonna give your Flat Rate idea a try!

[@randomtrailstv719]

I’ve been selling very part time on eBay since 2005, past year has been strangest yet. Overall views were down all year. I mainly sell sporting goods, hunting & fishing items. Tried promoted listing once or twice in last year, decided quickly it was definitely not worth it. Been doing flat rate shipping for past few years and seems to be working well with sales all over the US. I try to keep my shipping prices very reasonable. I make a little on most and loose a little on a few. Good experimenting and exploring your options, I really enjoy your videos.

[@commonwealthflipper]

Thank you

[@geoffreyg71]

I'm just a part-time reseller, and 75%+ of what I sell are books, which are easy to price shipping on when using media mail. However, on non-media items, I always use flat rate shipping. I have no scale, so I don't weigh the items- I just kind of guess. Most of the non-media items I sell are also small, so no big boxes to worry about. All that to say, I'm not a great example of flat rate shipping use. That said, I have bit it on a few items... I'm in Alabama and it seems that a lot of people of on the West Coast seem to like what I sell, so I've lost a few bucks mailing there! But literally, no more than $1-2 lost in shipping, but the items sold were bought at such a low price, and sold for such a relatively high price, and were easy to ship, so I didn't mind- my overall gain was well worth the $1-2 postal loss. Sometimes I "guess" (it's an educated guess) the shipping amount pretty well, so it all works out. I just like using flat rate shipping because the buyer knows what their out-the-door price will be right off the bat, and it may help make their purchase decisions. As for promoted listings... I admittedly know very little about them. I used it twice on a couple of basketball jerseys- had to pay a fee, even though they did not sell. And I will likely never use it again.

[@joelmiller2]

I do free shipping on ALL of my items. I feel that offering free shipping on items gives a similar affect to a promoted listing in the algorithm. We are in a time where Amazon has spoiled us with free shipping, and I feel people expect it now. And eBay knows it. “Free 3-4 day shipping” I bake the shipping cost into the price of the item and roll the dice. Even if I do spend more than I want to on shipping, it’s a deduction for taxes. I have never lost money on an item with shipping, I always consider the cost of shipping when I am out picking.

[@samchapjoe2001]

Great video, most of my items are going ground advantage and priority mail has decreased quite a bit in the last few months I use calculated shipping on everything and live in the Midwest most items are going to Texas and California . Flat rate shipping seems like a good idea even if you miscalculate occasionally when you consider you are not paying a promotion fee of 10%+ I wonder if this means that folks are looking at cost more than where the item is in the results list if this is true then maybe promoted becomes less valuable over time

[@irmasanchez-klassen8531]

Great video! I'm looking for the video where you downsize a box to save on shipping. Can you post that link for me please? Thank you!

[@hobson2207]

What are the 3 glass dishes with lids called? (The set that was in front of the Bible books on the shelf) I can’t find them on your site. Bottom shelf behind your chair…. 😂

[@kittyloca5gacha112]

When I'm sourcing I try to buy items that are heavy or expensive to ship. It's sometimes time consuming and having to pay fees on high shipping rate isn't fun

[@vinyl1Earthlink]

The big question would be whether you could source enough new bulky items to sell, as these items fly out of the shed. You'll probably be less hesitant to buy larger items if this strategy is highly successful.

[@georgemattei9665]

Hi Kevin, Great videos. I am also on the east coast and do calculated on all my listings. I am always concerned about the buyer on the east coast that thinks why is my shipping so high? We are both on the east coast. Your example of a Virginia buyer who you are charging $16.00 to ship his item. If I was him, I might have thought we are both in Virginia, why am I paying so much? Guess we would both be better off if we were in Kansas. Thanks.

[@carlapresetti6445]

Since the prices at USPS has stabilized, its easier for me to do standard flat rate. I'd like to do calculated shipping on larger items, but ebay sometimes charges the customer outrageous amounts. I had an item that was big and heavy, they were going to charge the customer $100 in shipping. The customer reached out and I checked the shipping myself and it was $45. So I adjusted the price on the shipping and she bought my item. If I don't do calculated I have a risk when I ship an item to NY or Hawaii, but its a numbers game. Percentage of stuff I sell to Hawaii? less than 1%,. HIgher sales with reasonable shipping costs - much better.

[@FoundThingsandFamilyLegacies]

25 minutes in.. talking about what price point is purchased to what is expected sold. Perhaps, as a seasoned reseller such as yourself, there is a freedom of EXPERIENCE, where a new reseller should have a set anticipated return on investment tighter. When we first began, we had a $3 cap on a purchase we were unfamiliar with or uncertain and an anticipation of 8 time return (knowing the sell-through rate). It permitted us boundaries and discipline to LEARN without costing us a loss we could not easily absorb. Now, we much further along (we've had an eBay account since 1998), we can look at spending more money with perhaps 4-5 times return because the RETURN is SO MUCH HIGHER. Our experience and discipline have afforded us the ability to understand the rationale. We still have a general goal of no less than 8 times return - with most being much higher than that - but, we also have the freedom of experience to purchase higher dollar return through "paying up" on an item.

[@jamesfinley2463]

Loved the Mac cheese outfit was really cool Blue ridge mama has lots of talents!! Kevin you got a good catch!! Have great week you and family! JIMBO

[@wolfmansgoodies]

Calculated shipping only plus free shipping on 4oz stuff

[@onlyluvisreal6691]

Promoted listings are working for me. And offers. I sell random things and I have to promote. My buying rules are, I have to KNOW that I can get my money back easily, THINK that I can double my money, then everything else is gravy 😅😅❤

[@cruzin4treasure]

If I find an item that I know will sell quickly, I can pay a little more because I know it will bring traffic to my store, and will bring a good profit with it. But generally speaking, I try to keep costs as low as possible, without having any hard and fast rules for myself.

[@jerryw2460]

Your cabin is nice, we have been looking at getting one.

[@waltersnitko7837]

I use flat rate shipping on all my listings and identify economy shipping as the method although I don't always ship that way because it offers the greatest flexibility. I live in NH and price as if I am shipping to CA and accept offers based on location. I use Promoted Listings ONLY if there is a lot of competition in selling that item generally these items cost me less than $1 and I'll male $10 or more when it sells

[@BrentKaiser-p7b]

Late on this one and didn’t read all comments but in regards to your comment in regards to buyers will ing to spend 25 for 100 as opposed to 1 for 15 - bottom line there is buyers knowledge and willingness to make expensive mistakes rather than a dollar mistake

[@EricSmith-wt2qu]

How do you exclude an area regarding shipping? I've been burned with a sale to Craig, Alaska!

[@leejashinsky6366]

Do you ever use Fed Ex Home Delivery? I have used it on a few heavier/large items shipped east. I live in California. My only takeaway was it was longer than expected to be delivered.

[@tinman7130]

Been doing flat rate for 21 years. I never promote, and on occasion I send offers on slow movers.