Imagine having top companies invent, design and buy products, test the market, employ world class copywriters to describe their products, hire top-notch graphic designers and photographers – and give you the whole lot FREE OF CHARGE! Well, that’s exactly what you can do when you start using dropshipping as part of your eBay business.

This article reveals the inside strategies for getting this to work for you.

‘Dropshipping’ describes a process whereby a manufacturer or supplier delivers products directly to your customers without you ever needing to stock or pre-purchase goods.

Typically you list products on eBay, using your own or supplying companies’ graphics and descriptions; you take payment, give the supplying company your buyers’ names and addresses, and they send the product.

That’s your part done; now you can go back to selling.

That’s the theory, in practice it can be so different. Dropshipping is a wonderful way to make big money fast, and about the best way to lose money, too.

Sadly, it’s a fact that many business owners – including dropshipping companies – care more about money than customer care and this can reflect badly for you, in the form of buyer complaints, poor quality products, long delays between customers paying and receiving their goods.

The onus is on you to take care of your business, and your customers, so be as careful picking dropshipping partners as you are planning all other aspects of your business.

MORE ABOUT DROPSHIPPING

* Some so-called dropshipping offers border on scams, asking a high fee to access a site, where you’ll find more firms offering dropshipping information who in turn ask payment to access their sites, and so on, and so on. Where products are accessible with graphics and sales materials for your eBay listings, oftentimes the goods are rubbish, sometimes they’re grossly overpriced. They might be seconds, end of line, customer returns, damaged… you get the picture!

* That said, there are many excellent paid-for membership sites offering sound contact details for worldwide dropshipping companies. Some membership sites continuously scrutinise their recommended suppliers, and score entries 1 to 5, acceptable to excellent, based on member feedback. The best we found, Worldwide Brands, is eBay acknowledged and operated by Chris Malta, Product Sourcing Editor of eBay Radio. The company has a team of researchers on constant lookout for new dropshipping and wholesale suppliers to add to their directory.

* Find dropshipping companies yourself via their own advertisements in local newspapers (not national; too competitive), at trade shows, by word of mouth from sellers of non-competing products. Search for them online via search engines such as http://www.google.com (our preference); use appropriate keywords like ‘manufacturers dolls (or other product) New York (or other location)’.

* Look for firms selling lots of different products, on a related or unrelated theme. Within hours of deciding to sell dog featured jewelry, we searched http://www.google.com and found two firms willing to dropship their wide ranging products to our customers, with no minimum order, and a CD of graphics and sales materials arriving next day. Another firm, based a few miles from us, has more than twelve different products for over 100 breeds of dog, and no one currently selling their products on eBay! No graphics either, so we checked their products, bought one of each, and created our own unique listings.

* Typically you pay the supplier an agreed amount per shipment upfront, although some will invoice you later. For local firms you can pop down, offer their share, hand over delivery labels. When you have a good supplier, ask permission to pack goods yourself at their premises so you can insert special offer flyers, money-off vouchers. For distant suppliers keep close tabs on how well they serve your customers. See the next paragraph.

* Negative feedback is much more likely using dropshipping and other partner companies than where you handle all customer transactions direct. With the wrong partners you could generate bad feeling, requests for refund, negative feedback, dismissal from eBay. Check partner companies by reading feedback from your customers. Look for problem delivery times, product quality concerns, poor customer service. Mounting negatives with similar complaints signify problems you must correct or seek new suppliers.

* My experience of dropshipping has been exceptionally good. I have companies posting products to my customers minutes after they get my faxed order and they always put my company details into the package, never their own. They don’t poach my customers, they’ve never asked payment from me up front, they’re better than I’d hoped for. Getting them was remarkably easy and all down to good communications. I telephone every potential dropshipper before promoting their products. I get to know the other person, determine how serious they are about their business, how approachable they are. Those I have chosen for my business talked more about customers and products than money, they were considerate and caring, keen to please. That first impression has always served me well. Do the same, you won’t be disappointed.

* If problems ensue, don’t blame the dropshipper without checking first. It could be you haven’t explained your requirements properly, they may have serious business or personal problems, it could be coincidence or a batch of particularly difficult customers to blame for those negatives. Be careful, check thoroughly, and have an emergency plan for major problems. Have plenty of eggs in your basket: use several dropshippers, not just one, and have quality replacements waiting in line.

* Sales materials and graphics are normally provided by larger suppliers or can be downloaded from their web sites. Some have printed catalogues from which you can scan product pictures, others have CDs containing digital pictures. Using their pictures and descriptions makes life a lot easier for you; you won’t spend time and money buying products, taking pictures, creating descriptions. But typically, the bigger the company, the more aggressive their marketing, and the more likely their products are known to other eBay sellers. The moral is to not rely solely on these bigger companies. Very often firms without sales materials and graphics are small companies, probably unknown to most other resellers, with fabulous products, and closer control over quality and communications. Of three companies providing my entire dog jewelry stock, two are one man set ups, the other a father and son business.

* Good organizational and communications skills are needed, especially where you sell hundreds of different products from numerous dropshipping and supplying companies. I’ve seen PowerSellers listing hundreds of thousands of products at one time, all totally different, and obviously from lots of individual suppliers. Imagine taking just one thousand orders a month (many eBayers take tens of thousands), where you must ensure each order reaches the correct fulfilment company, with accurate customer details, and proper payment. Complicated and very time-consuming! Far better sell a smaller range of high

profit items from a few select suppliers.

* Check competition on eBay for your dropshipping company and their products before planning to sell. I found a wonderful dropship firm for CDs, there were hundreds of different titles, their graphics were bright and colorful, a more professional organization was difficult to find. I joined their program, downloaded their graphics and sales materials, created and uploaded my listings, and waited, and waited, and nothing happened. Soon afterwards I checked for others selling similar products on eBay and found dozens of them. I should have checked first as in the next tip.

* Search competition for your product by keying the name, title or maker’s name into the search box top right on eBay’s home page. No entries for similar products might be good news for you, might because others might still be selling these products, just not right now. Bad news too because others might have tried selling similar products with little success. Lots of entries signals lots of competition, but view listings first to check similarity to your product. Where you find just a few people selling similar products, see how much they charge, check completed listings for how many sold and how many second chance offers were possible. More than five firms selling similar products worldwide, I’d say is one or two firms too many, except where they sell through auction and you choose shop only listings. If overseas firms sell similar products, but not internationally, consider selling in other countries.

NOT QUITE DROPSHIPPING BUT EVERY BIT AS GOOD

* Artists and craftworkers are keen on making, not so keen on marketing, and are my favorite source of quality products. I make a point of visiting local craft fairs at least once a month where I find exhibitors selling stunning creations at a tiny fraction of eBay prices for similar items, if any exist. Many items are unique or limited edition and never get seen beyond a few miles of their makers’ homes. My eldest daughter obtains designer jewelry this way, my youngest opts for hand-made dolls and teddies, and I take watercolor paintings on hand-made paper from a young Chinese artist whose work I sell exclusively on eBay. She dropships for me direct to my customers. Visit these fairs once and you’ll return time and again. You don’t have to buy items, most craftworkers and artists will work on commission, rather like a dropshipper who takes payment and delivers the product when you make a sale. Most will dropship to your customers. Find craftwork fairs advertised in local weekend papers, usually under ‘Items for sale’, ‘Fairs and auctions’, ‘Days out’, or similar.

Selling sunglasses is a great way to make money on eBay. They no longer only serve the purpose of protecting our eyes from sunlight, they are fast becoming trendy accessories to add appeal and create a fashionable personal style.

There is a huge demand for sunglasses for various niches and it can be a lucrative way to make money on eBay with some proper research to avoid competition. For example, at the time of writing, there are 60500 monthly searches for replica sunglasses, 165000 searches for Dior sunglasses, 246000 searches for designer sunglasses and the list goes on.

In order to start a business selling sunglasses on eBay, you first need to find wholesale sunglasses suppliers. A good wholesale supplier should have stocks that cater to various groups of customers.

Designer: There is always a demand for designer and high end branded sunglasses. Even though you do not see these moving very fast in your inventory, the high profit margin makes up for it. When checking with your wholesale sunglasses supplier, be sure that they provide certifications of authenticity for these designer sunglasses. This helps to increase customer confidence and sales and could be a major selling point for you selling sunglasses on eBay.

Replica: These cater to customers who are not particular about branding and prefer economical sunglasses but are still particular about style and fashion. Many wholesale sunglasses suppliers offer replica sunglasses for lower then 1 dollar per pair and the volume of sales and margin of replica sunglasses make them selling them a great way to make money on eBay.

Wholesale Lot: Buying sunglasses in bulk and then reselling the whole lot at a higher price can also be a profitable business. Wholesale sunglasses can be sold to chain stores, corporate events, flea market store owners, kiosks and sporting events just to name a few. By selling wholesale sunglasses lots, you can get a significant amount of profits for lesser amount of work.

Sunglasses Accessories: Apart from sunglasses, accessories can also be sold to boost your income. Boxes, clip-ons, repair kits and changeable lens can add on to your income when customers buy them together with their sunglasses purchase.

I have listed only four possibilities and areas where you can specialize in your wholesale sunglasses business. With some creativity and research, you could generate more ideas on how to sell sunglasses on eBay to cater to a hungry market that demands trendy and fashionable sunglasses, be it high end designer ones or replicas.

You’ve worked for many years, and it’s time for your retirement. You can finally enjoy it… the work has paid off. The problem is, you’re looking for something to do. Maybe you’ve got a collection of antiques that you’ve been building over the years. Or, maybe you have a hobby that you enjoy. Maybe you’ve heard about people who take their antiques and put them up on eBay. Have you wondered if you can run an eBay business too?

The answer is yes. The eBay website is a great platform for you to take your antiques, your hobby, or whatever you want and put it online. You can sell virtually anything on eBay… and you’ve probably heard the news stores about the crazy items that look like famous figures. Yet regardless of the ‘quirkiness’ of eBay, it remains a trading platform that allows anyone to sell to millions of customers worldwide.

eBay can be a good business for you as you’re retired, because you can do it at your own pace and from your own home. You set the terms, you choose what to sell. You can decide how much money you want to make and decide how much time you want to spend. You don’t have to be tied down to a computer all day if you don’t want to be.

Another good idea can be to work on your eBay business with your family members. Perhaps you have grandchildren who are looking to make some extra money. Maybe they’re young and looking for a summer job. Why not help them get started by letting them sell your stuff on eBay?

Are you worried that you won’t have the technical skills to be successful on eBay? Well you can be reassured that as long as you have a computer, a digital camera, a bit of time, and a desire to learn, you’ll have no problem. Yes, you’ll probably need to know how to upload pictures from your digital camera. You’ll need to learn how to use the eBay website.

It is very likely that you can make a lot of money selling products on eBay. People are making ups of $ 1000 a month by simply selling products on a regular basis. Even before you start to wonder what to sell on eBay, kindly take a look at the following suggestions.

1. Make A List Of Non-Usable Items

Even before you start to ponder, 'what to sell on eBay', you need to try and make a wish list. The first and foremost method of selling goods on eBay is to set up a garage sale. In order to succeed in a garage sale, you need to make a list of those items that are of no use to you. Thereafter, simply put an estimated price against each product.

2. Understand The Procedure

The question, "what to sell on eBay", has always played on the minds of potential sellers. In order to succeed as an internet marketer, you need to know the eBay selling policies. There are certain items that are prohibited from selling on eBay. Exclude items such as firearms, used cosmetics and illegal items.

3. Identify The Demand

The next step is to identify the demand. While pondering on what to sell on eBay, you simply need to search the eBay site and analyze the products that are in great demand. Simply go to Ebay's Pulse section to identify those items that are in demand. Thereafter, you can identify the top ten selling items and start the marketing process. Also, you need to make a list of ten items that can generate a speedy sale.

No other on-line auction site beats eBay, when it comes to the number of members. What marketplace would be higher than 1 hundred million customers? That is precisely the setting point where you expose your item to auction it on eBay. It all reflects that the items you put up for sale have the capacity to be viewed or maybe bought by big number of individuals.

One other advantage of selling on eBay is that you are able to virtually sell anything and every thing, from the things that you rather like to dispose off as they do not matter much to you now or even probably the most useful issues that you might have. All these can be sold at eBay. To be even more specific, eBay has localized websites in forty-two countries. Number of on-line auction companies has utilized the services of eBay. Furthermore, it? Sa household name as anyone, who thinks of purchasing anything will initial think of eBay, because of the reputation that eBay has established over the years.

eBay provides a wide variety of auctions, whether you would like to sell or more products for a couple of days or in the event. It's a feat, which has not been accomplished by any other on-line auction home. That apart, eBay offers a wider selection of payment options than the rest, and you are able to communicate with your buyers and even assist them in deciding on how you can purchase, get their goods and every thing else.

But maybe the greatest advantage that should make 1 opt for eBay is the security of the on-line transactions. Since its launch in September 1995, there has by no means been a failure in their secure online systems. Yes, fraud has exhausted, simply because most of those sellers became greedy and they refused to send what they've been paid for. It's not at all a flaw on eBay security. That? Sa reason why eBay stands out. Another great advantage is the easy process, in which you can sell your items on the website. Registering, pasting your photos and all that process is so simple and all directions are well chalked out on the website. Anyone who can read can easily follow the directions and sell on eBay, as the website navigation is not complicated at all.

eBay is also cheap as compared to other online auction websites. eBay has that advantage over the other people, as it's very transparent and fair. eBay will not charge you for posting or advertising on their web site, but rather charge for the sale you have produced on their website.

These are the greatest advantages of selling on eBay.

A lot of men and women quit making use of the eBay tools merely mainly because they encounter some troubles that they were not able to resolve on their own. In case you are one of those men and women who have quit utilizing eBay after encountering some technical troubles while applying the method, you must not stop using eBay altogether.

When you encounter problems even though utilizing the eBay systems, simply go towards the eBay consumer support panel and get aid. The eBay buyer provider is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week so you ask for support even during unholy hours of the night. No, you need not worry about disturbing men and women in their sleep. eBay buyer provider officers do not sleep and they are continually ready to assist you anytime you would like their assistance.

The fastest way to contact eBay customer program is by means of their Stay Enable program. Just click about the Dwell Support button on the eBay web site and start chatting with an eBay purchaser provider officer. When contacting eBay consumer support via Are living Help, offer as a lot data as you can about your concerns.

For instance, should you had been not in a position to upload pictures of your items, you should provide the eBay purchaser program officer information regarding the kind of pictures that you simply want to upload, how huge will be the picture and also the likes. You ought to also give some details as to when the dilemma occurred and what steps you took to resolve the issue so far.

Note that the eBay client support officer does not really know what happened to you so you have to tell him or her exactly what will be the difficulty. Following giving all the essential facts to the eBay buyer service officer, wait for instructions. The consumer program officer will give you directions as to what it is advisable to do to solve the situation.

When you don’t have time to interact using the eBay client program officer as a result of the Reside Support system, you are able to just send an email to consumer program describing the complications that you just have encountered whilst making use of the eBay system. Be specific about the troubles that you simply have encountered and give as a great deal details as you may. In most cases, you get some answers to your questions within 24 to 48 hours. When you are satisfied with the answers which you got by way of email, go the Reside Assist section and chat with a buyer assistance officer.

Used outboard engines listed on eBay are as good as the photographs and description that the seller chooses to share with you. The first step in choosing used boat motors on an auction is due diligence. In other words, research your engine, ask questions and make the effort to go and see the motor.

When you research your engine, compare like for like on eBay in other words, same model, year, horse power and compare prices. It is only through this type of comparison that you will see whether the model being advertised is being auctioned at the right price. This will guide you during the end of the auction when people are bidding last minute.

Try to take the description of used outboard engines, at face value. Ask for the number of the seller and speak to them about the outboard. It’s much harder to give a verbal lie than a written one. Ask if there is anything wrong with the outboard. Listen carefully to the answer as some might try to distract you by babbling on about something and nothing so just ask the question again until you feel satisfied with the answer. Other questions to ask could include:

• When was the water filter last changed?
• How has the used outboard been used (ie. on seawater/freshwater)?
• What maintenance program have you followed e.g was it flushed each time after being used in seawater?
• How old is the outboard?
• What is the serial number (always find this out before bidding – if they can’t tell you, it could be either stolen or older than they’re claiming)?

Once you have the serial number check the age of the outboard by writing in a search engine “Mercury 500 50hp serial number xxxxxxx”. Do note that if the used outboard is ex-military, it won’t have a serial number. If this is the case, it most definitely will have the recess on the powerhead that the plate for the serial number would have normally been pressed onto. This recess should have the original paint in and must match the powerhead exactly with no scratches or evidence of being tampered with. If there is evidence of tampering, it probably has been stolen. Needless to say, this is something you would notice by looking first hand.

Actually seeing the motor in person will tell you a lot if you know what to look out for. You will need to see the outboard running to make sure that the cooling system is working as it should. To see if this is working correctly, you should be able to see a pee-like stream of water coming from the engine. If you don’t see this, there will be a problem unless the motor is air cooled.

Ask to see a bottle of the 2-stroke oil that has been used in the outboard. It must be TCW3 approved oil so if it has been used with a anything different, then avoid it.

Lift up the cowl and check the quality of the oil from the dip stick. If it is murky then the chances are water has got in there which indicates other problems.

If the propellor is significantly damaged, this can also be a sign that internal damage has been caused especially if there has been a big enough impact to cause the damage in the first place.

Buying used outboard engines off eBay is a decision that should not be taken lightly. There is far too much that can be wrong with the motor and unless you get someone who is 100% honest with you, it is up to you to spot the faults. It’s worth remembering that your life can depend on the outboard. There is no service station or hard shoulder when the engine breaks down as a large vessel is bearing down on you.

Buy wisely, ask questions and better still, take someone with you who has good knowledge of outboards.

Although joint venture deals take place on and off the Internet involving products and services of all different kinds, you’ll find very few people operating or knowing how to operate joint venture deals on eBay. That’s good for you and for me for two main reasons:

i) Few newcomers know how easy it is to arrange joint venture deals on eBay, mainly because of eBay’s strict rules on outside site trading. So only a handful of eBay sellers try joint venturing which leaves the road to riches wide open for more entrepreneurial types like you and me.

ii) eBay is huge and growing bigger every day and that means you’ll never run out of contacts for profitable joint venture deals.

There are other benefits too for seasoned and inexperienced eBay sellers:

* eBay sellers are always seeking new products, sometimes risking huge sums of money to buying and testing items that don’t eventually sell. Offer them a joint venture deal for products that are proven to sell and the risk is all but gone. That’s not to say your product will actually sell well to another person’s past customers, but this way it will cost you nothing to find out! All joint venture partners contribute is a few hours of their time.

* Sales take place outside of eBay and possibly PayPal also, so there’s no risk of inadvertently breaching either company’s myriad of rules. And you won’t be forfeiting a huge chunk of your profits to those companies either!

* Successful eBay sellers – usually PowerSellers and Top-Rated sellers – offload tens of thousands of products each month – meaning lots of potential buyers for your products also. And that’s why it makes sense to research potential partners through eBay’s Pulse Pages and Feedback system and contact those with highest sales figures first.

So as product owners we’re really looking for people selling in huge volumes to buyers who may also be interested in whatever products you and I have for sale. Those products can be similar to what people have recently purchased, or complementary, such as similar eBooks about Forex Trading, or complementary accessories for the likes of computers and iPhones.

* eBay is transparent which makes it easy to see who sells what type of product, at what price, and in what quantity. So as a product owner looking for eBay sellers to promote your goods, you can study hundreds or even thousands of potential joint venture partners and pick the very best without having to show your hand to anyone and risk your product being copied before an agreement is formed. Compare that to listing your product yourself on eBay, or ClickBank, for example, for digital goods, and PayDotCom for digital and physical products, where your every move is seen by tens of thousands of people and products and ideas are quickly copied and your profits plundered.

* The real beauty of the idea we’re discussing today is that your products won’t be visible at all to other sellers on eBay, or ClickBank, or PayDotCom or any other high-profile marketing site. That’s because these JV deals will take place outside of eBay or other major site and sales will be to past customers of your chosen eBay sellers.

* Now imagine you are the person with a long list of buyers for eBooks about Forex Trading or iPhone accessories, you’re selling both items successfully on or outside of eBay, and you’ve heard about ‘back-end selling’ which as you discover means marketing to people who’ve bought from you already and who trust you and your product recommendations.

You keep all your customers’ names and email addresses on database with your chosen email processing company. Then every week or so you send out an email recommending a product and banking hundreds or thousands of dollars within a few days.

Subsequently once or twice a month you go looking for new products to sell to your growing mailing list. Where do you find them? On eBay, of course! You do it by going to eBay’s Pulse Pages where you check out sellers of eBooks and iPhones and accessories, you study their sales history and performance and make a note of any with good feedback (suggesting quality products and good customer care) and products few others are selling on eBay meaning less competition for you.

You contact product owners and you negotiate a deal to sell their products to your list for a discount on normal prices.

The discount is important because you don’t want to promote items your list members can buy cheaper on eBay or the local high street. What you want are goods with high prices and good profit margins from a seller offering quality stock with high Detailed Seller Ratings and overwhelmingly positive feedback. Compare that to choosing sellers with low profit margins meaning pathetic profits for you, offering poor products and inadequate customer care and generating heavy returns and lots of refunds!

Hello Everybody,

Today I just want to talk about listing on eBay using the ‘Good Till Cancelled’ format.

Basically, I’ve tried them all! Yes, them all. From one day to Good Till Cancelled. You do have to have an eBay shop though to run 30 day listings and also use Good Till Cancelled, though if you’re a serious eBay seller I can’t think of any reason why you wouldn’t have a shop.

Anyway, the length or duration of you’re listing depends a lot on which products you sell I think. If you have a large inventory in which you make recurring sales from your inventory then I believe it is always better to use Good Till Cancelled. This listing basically runs forever until you stop selling that item. So as an example, within my shop last year I was selling pencil cases of a particular brand. When I first purchased them I was unsure exactly how they would sell, well I knew they’d sell but it was just a matter of how quickly. I purchased a dozen, after a few days I’d sold a couple as expected really but then I think it was the third day when things really started to pick up. The reason? Because when you put an item on Good Till Cancelled, the more you sell the higher you go up the search pages. What this means is, slow start – lets say for example at the bottom of seven pages of search results, with the one, three and seven day listings higher than you BUT when these listings have run out, the seller needs to repay eBay to list the item again then of course they go lower down in the search results.

You on the other hand with your Good Till Cancelled eBay listing, whilst you start slowly will gradually gather momentum (by this I mean by gathering more sales) until you hit the first page, possibly first result on eBay (as I did) but this depends on competition on what you’re selling though. Oh and the complete listing only cost me 18 pence to practically run a whole year.

The more sales you make – the higher you go up the search pages for that item. Who do you think buyers will buy from if they see, lets call him Mr competitor – with this three day listing selling a couple of items or me with my year long listing selling over three hundred? Well I can tell you that generally they will buy from the eBay seller that has had most sales.

Oh and you might think, well so what it’s only a few extra pencil cases. True, it is but just on this one item I made £600+ net profit for the year. Not bad for a ‘few measly pencil cases’.

Try it. Go search on eBay and look at the results that come up first. Sure to be sellers that have had repeat sales of items using ‘Good Till Cancelled’.

Also you will probably notice that there is a few oddly priced items in the results. It raises a few eyebrows to the untrained eye but what a seller will do (and I’ve done this myself many times) is, when they’re running out of stock, they will raise the price really, really high to stop people buying it. Strange you might think but there’s method in the madness. This is to preserve the longevity of the listing and give the seller time to restock the product. Then when it’s been restocked, the seller will drop the price back to normal again.

Another little tip to preserve sales history on eBay (if you don’t want to use the method above ). If you re-ordered stock in the same scenario as above, you could change the ‘handling & dispatch time’ on eBay, from for example one day to three or four. This would still allow buyers to buy as per normal, buy yourself time while you’re waiting for stock to arrive and most importantly of all – preserve sales history of this listing and keep your place at the top of the search results, meaning continued sales.

So, if you intend or expect to keep restocking an item and receive regular sales. Use Good Till Cancelled, you won’t regret it.

Hope that helped you in your endeavours as an eBay entrepreneur!

Thanks for reading,

Mark Davies

Shipping packages is a daily task for eBay sellers. It may not be the most exciting part of the business, but shipping is the final step in the selling process. Many sellers use various on-line postage printing services to print labels and save time and eliminate the hassle of going to the post office. If you can navigate eBay and PayPal, you can easily prepare your packages at home and have your mail carrier pick them up on a daily basis.

Try using PayPal postage. On your eBay selling manager, you will see a drop down box next to each item in your “Awaiting Shipment” view. One of the choices is “Print Shipping Label.” If you choose this option, eBay will connect you with PayPal and you can complete the information for shipping that item. Choose First Class, Priority, or Parcel Post. The funds will be deducted from your PayPal account and the label will print. Many sellers use this procedure to print postage online. PayPal shipping also includes options for insurance and delivery confirmation. There is no cost to use PayPal shipping.

If you don’t like the PayPal option, try shipping directly from USPS.com using their Click-N-Ship service to print postage online. Log on to the site, choose “Print a Shipping Label” and follow the prompts. You will need to enter a payment method such as a debit or credit card. Your postage label will print and you can affix it to your package.

Another convenient and time-saving service provided by USPS is in-home pickup. This service is free.Go to the USPS website and choose “Schedule a Pick Up.” This feature allows users to schedule carrier pis-up for up to three months in advance. If you aren’t sure how many packages you will have each day, just provide an average so your mail carrier will have some idea of what to expect. Your carrier will pick up domestic as well as international packages.

If you plan to start shipping your items from home, stock up on supplies. The USPS website has a section where you can order Priority Mail supplies, Delivery Confirmation slips, international forms, and Express Mail supplies. All of these supplies are free and will be delivered to your door. The post office has come a long way in the last few years to accommodate small home businesses.

For more information on eBay shipping and how to print postage online through other services, download my free eBook, The Ultimate eBay Shipping Guide. This guide has a flow chart to help you determine the most cost effective way to ship packages, answers to common shipping questions, and everything an eBay seller needs to know about domestic and international shipping.