| One of my earlier pieces of advice was that you should include all the details about shipping and handling (how much and who pays) up front in your item listing. While this is a good idea, how do you figure shipping costs before you know where the item is going? Working with Flat Fees The solution is easy if you're shipping something that weighs (packaging included) less than a pound. For these lightweight items, you can use USPS Priority Mail, which ships one-pound packages anywhere in the U.S. for a single price ($3.85 at the time I write this). Because you can also use free boxes (provided by the postal service), you know your cost to package and ship a one- pound item will be $3.85. Easy. If you're shipping books, CDs, or videos , you also have it easyif you choose to ship via USPS Media Mail. These rates are so cheap that you can do some creative rounding of numbers and say that any item weighing two pounds or less can ship anywhere in the for $2.00. The actual Media Mail rate might be $1.42 or $1.84 or whatever, but $2.00 makes a convenient number to state up front; the gap between actual and projected shipping can go toward the purchase of an appropriate box or envelope. Working with Variable Fees When you're shipping items that weigh more than a pound, the calculation gets much more complex. The fact is that if you're selling an item that weighs, let's say, four pounds, the actual shipping costs (via Priority Mail) can range from $5.30 to $10.35, depending on where you are and where the buyer is. That's because Priority Mail ratesmost shipping rates, actuallyvary by distance. So there's no way to quote an exact shipping cost until the auction is over and you get the buyer's ZIP code. That said, there are three ways you can deal with this situation in your auction listings. First, you can calculate an average shipping cost for your item, figuring a cost halfway between the minimum and the maximum possible costs. Using our four-pound example, the minimum cost for Priority Mail shipping is $5.30 and the maximum is $10.35, so you would charge the buyer the average of these two numbers, or $7.83. (Maybe you round up to $8.00.) The theory here is that you lose money on some shipments and make it back on others, so over the long term it's a wash. Of course, nearby buyers might complain that they're paying too much (which they are, because they're in fact subsidizing sellers who live further away). You'll have to decide if you can live with the occasional complaintor refund the difference if it's too large. Next, you can simply state that buyers will pay actual shipping cost based on location, which will be calculated at the conclusion of the auction, and not include a flat shipping/handling charge in your listing. If you take this approach, you have to request the buyer's ZIP code at the end of the auction, refer to various rate charts to figure the shipping cost, and then relay that cost to your buyer. It's a bit of work, but it gets the job done. (It's also made easier by the fact that eBay now includes the buyer's ZIP codewhen availablein its end-of-auction notification emails.) Using eBay's Shipping Calculator Finally, and this is my new preferred method, you can choose to include eBay's Shipping Calculator in your item listings. The Shipping Calculator, shown in Figure 14.2, is a great tool; it lets buyers enter their ZIP code on the auction listing page, and then calculates the actual shipping cost, based on the shipping service you selected. (You can also choose to have the Shipping Calculator add a predetermined handling charge for each shipment, which we'll discuss in a minute.) When a buyer uses eBay Checkout at the end of the auction, or chooses to pay via PayPal, they can also use the Shipping Calculator to automatically add shipping/handling fees to their total. Figure 14.2. Add eBay's Shipping Calculator to your item listings so buyers can automatically determine shipping and handling fees.  You can activate the Shipping Calculator when you're creating a new item listing on the Sell Your Item page. Just follow these steps: -
Click Calculated Shipping Rates to open the Shipping Calculator section, shown in Figure 14.3. Figure 14.3. Activating eBay's Shipping Calculator from the Sell Your Item page.  -
Enter the package weight, in pounds and ounces. -
Select a package size from the pull-down list. -
Select which shipping service you plan to use, from the pull-down list. -
Enter your ZIP code. -
Enter any handling fee you want to charge (over and above the actual shipping rate) into the Packaging & Handling Fee box. -
Select whether you want to offer shipping insurance. -
Select whether you charge sales tax, and the sales tax rate. Since the Shipping Calculator can be added to your item listings free of charge, there's no reason not to use it especially as it greatly simplifies the task of calculating exact shipping charges to your customers. Determining the Handling Charge Aside from the pure shipping costs, you should consider adding a handling charge to your shipping fees your customers pay. After all, you need to be sure that you're compensated for any special materials you have to purchase to package the item. That doesn't mean you charge one buyer for an entire roll of tape, but maybe you add a few pennies to your shipping charge for these sorts of packaging consumables . And if you have to purchase a special box or envelope to ship an item, you should definitely include that cost in your shipping charge. (This argues for planning your shipping before placing your item listingwhich is always a good idea.) "Mike Sez"  | When I'm supplying quality packaging for a shipment, I find that a handling charge of $1.00 meets with little or no objection from my customers. If I'm using free Priority Mail packaging, I charge less. |
 | Some end-of-auction checkout tools will automatically combine multiple auctions for a single shipping fee. Others don't, which means you might have to manually manipulate these fees to your customers. |
So you should have no compunction against "padding" your shipping fees with an additional handling charge. In fact, eBay's Shipping Calculator lets you add a separate handling charge to its calculations. It's an accepted part of doing business online. Combining Items for Shipping If you have multiple items for sale, there is every possibility that a single buyer will purchase more than one item. If that happens, you don't need to pack two or more separate boxes for that buyer; you can easily pack all the item purchased in a single box, which will reduce shipping costs. You should pass on that savings to your customer, in the form of a combined shipping/handling fee for all items purchased. If you're inflexible in adjusting your shipping/handling for multiple purchases, you're ripping people offand will lose customers for it. |
