Have you thought about how you can save money on your eBay shipping?
You should.
Millions of people shop on eBay every week, and ecommerce businesses are thriving from selling on the platform.
One of the key benefits of selling on eBay is being able to sell online without having to set up your own website – the ease of use and flexibility is a huge plus for businesses of all sizes.
We’ve run through four easy ways you can set eBay postage costs for your Australian customers.
Just read on and become an eBay shipping expert.
We’ll run through each with the pros and cons so you can make the best decision for your ecommerce business.
#1. Using calculated shipping
This is our number one preferred option for three reasons:
It’s easy for you as the business owner to implement
Calculated shipping is time efficient – saving you hours of researching and number crunching.
It gives the customer the flexibility to pick their shipping conditions – if they want postage, it’s coming out of their back pocket, not yours.
Using calculated shipping allows your customers to automatically see the shipping costs when they shop in your store – they can pick the shipping costs themselves.
Transdirect have a super easy eBay Postage Calculator which you can add to your listings so your customers can receive accurate and instant shipping costs.
Having a calculator available on your eBay store gives your customers the freedom and flexibility to select the shipping which suits them best.
The big win?
You significantly reduce the risk of losing money from attempting to figure it all out yourself.
#2. Flat rate shipping
Offering flat rate shipping means you will be charging your customers the exact same shipping rate no matter where they are in Australia.
We’ve said it before in our article 6 steps for setting a successful ecommerce postage strategy – flat rate shipping can work well for your business if you are regularly shipping items of the same size to regular shipping destinations. This will keep your average cost of shipping lower, but is only a good option if your products are of a similar size and weight.
Our advice: only pick flat rate shipping if you are selling the same type of product to the same type of locations, otherwise you risk losing serious dollars.
#3. Table rate shipping
Table rate shipping is a super simple way to ship your products across Australia while minimising your risk of losing money.
The customisability of table rate shipping is perfect for you if you ship a wide range of products in different shapes and sizes.
There are three easy ways to specify eBay postage costs while creating your table:
By location
This is dependent on where you’re posting the product, and which service you’re using. For example, you could ship mobile phone cases (with a $15 rrp.) to Queensland for $7.95, to Perth for $9.85 and Canberra for 8.50.
In this situation, the cost is dependent on location, not the weight of the product.
By weight
If your ecommerce store ships a range of products with a huge weight difference, choosing weight based eBay postage is the easiest way to make sure you aren’t losing money in shipping.
In a situation like this, you would charge x amount as a base rate, and then increase the price per kilogram. Researching courier costs prior to setting this shipping option can help you minimise your losses in this situation, as the cost can vary greatly.
By surcharge
Specifying costs by surcharge is another variable option for postage rates. Using this option would mean setting a base rate, and then adding additional surcharges dependent on location or weight. This is an incredibly customisable option for ecommerce store owners.
There is a huge amount of flexibility offered with table rate shipping, but be mindful – creating table rate shipping can be incredibly time-consuming depending on the products you offer your customers.
#4. Free shipping
Never underestimate the power of free shipping.
It’s an option which has many business owners cringing.
Customers are demanding cheap or free shipping. It’s simply the way ecommerce is heading.
Don’t fret – free shipping doesn’t mean throwing money down the drain.
You just need to think smart when it comes to offering free shipping.
There’s a super simple way you can offer free shipping for eBay postage without losing money: absorb the cost into the price of your product.
You will have to invest time and money in research to come to a solution of price absorption to ensure you’re not continually losing money.
It’s always an option though, and it’s definitely something your business will need to consider if you’re going to offer free shipping. Another option is shopping around for couriers offering competitive pricing and bear the brunt of the cost.
Either way, you will need to do some research on courier services and pick the best for your business.
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