eBay is one of the largest ecommerce listing sites in the world. If you are a looking to set up a listing on eBay, you should consider the shipping costs of your products before finalizing your listing. Shipping is a significant cost to your business operations even if you are looking to list only a single item. While you can tag your item as ‘pick up/collection only’ in your listing, this may discourage many potential customers who are very much interested in your product. There are a few options available for you to leverage on your product to obtain shipping deals on eBay to better service your potential customers.
1. Offering combined shipping
By offering combined shipping, you are able to leverage on the other products in your catalogue to consolidate shipment of multiple items, thus reducing the cost of shipping per item in your product stack. Besides saving on shipping, you will also be able to increase the movement of your products in your catalogue as customers may want to get a better deal on their shipping costs. While this may not look like a shipping deal for your products, combined shipping when successful does indeed lower the cost of shipping per item in your ecommerce storefront.
2. Purchase bulk service from a specific carrier
Another option to lower your average shipping cost is by tying yourself to a specific carrier service. Carriers offer special deals for ecommerce businesses who purchase bulk labels from them. These labels may give you automated tracking information, expedited service, and dedicated drop off location. These deals are more cost effective when compared to shipping your item through their regular channel for a similar level of service. However, this depends entirely on your shipping service requirements. Some of the options offered are services that you may not need. Therefore, consider this option if the services they offer match your requirements in your present situation. By choosing this option, you may be able to pass on your shipping cost savings to your customers by setting up a flat discount on your specific carrier. This may give you a better pricing on your overall product compared to your competition.
3. Purchase shipping through aggregator
If you are putting up a single listing, the above options will not work for you. Therefore, the only way to move your eBay items is to post your shipping listing on an aggregator like Shiply. On aggregator sites, multiple shipping companies compete for jobs and their rates are publicly available for you to make your choice. You should choose for a suitable carrier or independent shipping service based on the services that you need and the quality of service they offer. By searching for the lowest shipping rate you can find here, you will be able to have a higher profit margin on your item or be cheaper than your competition. It is important that you ensure all the information of the product, pickup location and destination is available in your listing.