# Forum More Stuff Debate & Technical Discussion  Any eBay sellers here?

## Bros

I want to dispose of some of my surplus junk and I would like to advertise it in ebay.  
What I am unsure of is how do you calculate postage for prospective buyers. It would be silly to advertise the same postage for a buyer 100 klm away and one 1500klm away. 
When I have bought something on eBay it either has free postage or the postage is a fixed cost.

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## DavoSyd

you can choose for each item you want to list. many options available...  
you input the size & weight and eBay calculates the postage based on the relevant AusPost prices.

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## John2b

A lot of items can be sent in a PostPak which is a flat rate for Australia, which is the easy option for flat rate postage. When you are setting up the item for sale, eBay gives you the option of calculating postage by destination. You have to enter the dimensions, weight and what postal / freight service you are offering. You can have more than one option, say standard and express, and allow the customer to select on checkout. You can also choose to add international freight options in the same way. And I think there is an option to select eBay shipping as opposed to AusPost. Personally I think eBay's freight sucks as they take a huge margin cut. I prefer to buy or book the post through AusPost because then the agent's fee goes to my local post office, not eBay who are already taking a 15% cut of the sale (not the 1% it used to be when eBay started). Bugger me, if you arrange your own freight, eBay charges a levee on postage for not using their service!!!!! Talk about greed! eBay is great for its global reach on high value specialist items, but large items or low value items are often easier to sell through sites with a local focus, and don't cost anything. I tend to sell on GumTree or Facebook Marketplace instead of eBay when practical these days.

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## toooldforthis

not a seller, but do buy (rarer) stuff. 
Oz Post is very expensive and a courier can be half that price.
Oz Sellers I have used recently have used Sendle. Half oz post price. Seemed good from my end and seller's end.
Plenty of 'courier' services but lots have pretty ordinary reputations. 
the ebay shipping service is expensive - you send it to the local ebay and then they forward it. I have found they will repack to get volume and weight lower to reduce their cost (after charging buyer max $) and are very suss with fragile items - arrive broken due to them minimising packing. 
think gumtree is a better option and you can offer postage/courier at buyers cost.
I would only use ebay for global selling (edit) or rarer stuff

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## Bros

> I tend to sell on GumTree or Facebook Marketplace instead of eBay when practical these days.

   I look at Gumtree and marketplace to have a very narrow audience and is only geared to face to face selling whereas ebay would be Australia wide.

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## Marc

Ebay works out the postage cost for the buyer. 
I have sold hundreds of items on ebay and the first question will invariably be "How much to post to xyz ... " even when I had a bobcat for sale ...  :Smilie: 
You can use the post or currier and need to get in touch with them to be able to quote postage. 
Larger items is better to ship with trucking company and shop around because the prices and the service vary wildly. 
If using truck, make sure you fill in the label they send you via email. Last time i sent one and my printer was out of toner, they later tried to scam me of $15 because I used one of their forms the truck driver gave me instead of printing the label. They even sent the letter via a collection agency. Not that they had any luck. 
Don't discount gumtree or marketplace. Gumtree can be a bit taxing because of the constant attempts to con you from overseas with the story of the oil rig worker who has no phone so can not talk to you, anyway, look this scam up. Never bother emailing on gumtree. No phone, no voice, go away. 
Marketplace has a massive number of buyers that will buy anything from you. I sold from old second hand ice skate to cars on marketplace. I remember a Holden Commodore I had for sale on ebay and carsale and caradvice for 2 month sold on marketplace in 5 days and paid nothing for the ad.

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## Bros

Nothing like a bobcat just small items up to about 1kg max.

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## Marc

My suggestion? Use Facebook Marketplace. Ebay is turning very expensive unless you are a business and buy from China and mark up 1000% Same with Amazon.

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## Marc

https://auspost.com.au/content/dam/a...s-2OCT2017.pdf

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## joynz

Hi Bros - remember, the buyer pays the postage (though if the postage is part of the advertised cost, eBay charges you a percentage of that postage cost!) 
You can select the postage using the seller options.  Just double check the options you have selected - its easy to make a mistake.   
re. Cost of eBay commission: if you are a regular seller you get offered deals - every weekend I get sent an offer to pay no more than $1.10 in final value fees and sometimes its free if I advertise within the time frame. 
For postage, I usually use Transdirect which is a courier aggregator.  If you sign up you get a discount.  Often a lot cheaper than Aust Post - but you cant send to PO Boxes.  
The Transdirect website lets you calculate the cost easily.  You do need to get a bit more info from the buyer such as ph number and if its OK to leave Id out the back if no-ones home.  But often includes insurance at a really cheap price.

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## METRIX

> My suggestion? Use Facebook Marketplace. Ebay is turning very expensive unless you are a business and buy from China and mark up 1000% Same with Amazon.

  Yep, I have not found anything cheap on Amazon AU, in fact I have found everything horrendously expensive.  
Not sure the reasoning behind that perhaps just price gouging I woukd have thought they would have ensured cheap prices to get the business

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## METRIX

I buy a lot from ebay, have sold a fair amount on there as well. 
I don't anything to do with gumtree, have had issues with sellers not posting stuff, and you hear too many scams done via gumtree.  
I stick with ebay and PayPal any problems and your money is refunded.

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## Tools

I have all of my items as pick up only but mention in the blurb that I am happy to post at buyer's expense and to ask prior to bidding.  
Tools

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## Bros

Thanks all for the suggestions. Marketplace has limited use to me as I don't live in a big city. My grandaughter who lives in Brisbane is always sellin her junk on Gumtree and Marketplace as it has a wide audience.
I will try ebay as I will be guaranteed payment provided I am not dealing with a scam artist but that should be obvious with reputations.

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## Bros

> Oz Sellers I have used recently have used Sendle. Half oz post price. Seemed good from my end and seller's end.

   I'm classed as a remote area and the costs are a lot higher than Au post

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## toooldforthis

> I'm classed as a remote area and the costs are a lot higher than Au post

  ah, that's interesting. I was classed as a remote location by a USA posting service and I actually succeeded in getting it changed - much to my surprise; so avoided all those extra loadings.

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