Should I go to the post office first

[dh-champy]

I've run into some financial troubles recently, and have decided to try and sell some life-sized busts I bought years ago.

The only problem is, I have never mailed ANYTHING ever, I don't think I've ever even set foot in a post office.

Do I need to go to my local post office, and have it properly weighed, measured, and packaged first (I have their original display boxes) before I list it, and get a rough estimite on shipping fees, or do I do that once the item has (hopefully) sold, and I have an address to send it too.

I ask because 1) Again I have no experience mailing or sending anything through the mail, and 2) As you can imagine life sized busts are rather large (76x45x45cm) and a proper shipping box may not be immediatly available at the post office

[reallynicestamps]

I mean I don't really understand how I can get an estimate before I know where it's headed, so if I don't use calculated shipping and instead set a flat shipping rate to something $100 and it's only $50 do I have to pay the buyer back or am I just screwing them over?

You have it backwards.

YOU don't pay for shipping.

You use the money the buyer sends you to buy shipping.

For you it is an even trade.

Use Calculated Shipping.

If you are curious about the BUYER's cost you can play with various zip and postal codes to get an idea of what your future buyers will see.

I use 90210 for California, 20500 for Eastern USA, 32830 for Florida.

K1A 0A6 for Ontario, A1V 1G7 for NL, V8R 1G2 for Vancouver Island.

But your cost will only be the fees eBay charges on shipping-- usually 12.5%.

You can add a Handling charge to cover your packaging expenses etc. The buyer sees the fee , not how it breaks down.

When you print a label, there should not be a price on it. (The postage cost is only part of the shipping fee. There are fuel surcharges and sales taxes as well so the postage cost is misleading.)

Shipping is the hardest part of online selling.