Wanting to sell a small library of fine books, but the idea of shipping through Ebay seems overwhelming and is holding me back...
Summary: kendoll99 is seeking advice on selling a book collection on eBay, focusing on setting fair shipping policies and avoiding issues with tariffs and extra costs. flipistics advises against using certain shipping services for international sales and suggests sticking to domestic sales initially or using eBay's international shipping program. reallynicestamps and other participants discuss the pros and cons of using UPS and placing handling fees into item prices. Additional advice includes using calculated shipping and eBay's label printing for cost efficiency. kendoll99 appreciates the guidance and plans to relaunch their eBay account as antiquarianbooksandmore.
Hello community,
i have a book collection including many items that i see completed sales for on EBay between $100 and $300 for. i want to make sure i get value for the collection, but don't lose my mind or my wallet to shipping, tariffs, or lost sales due to poor shipping policy set ups at my end. I sold a magazine collection in the early 2000s, but shipping of small flat items is a different beast...and moving goods across the border seems a lot less straight forward in the last few years.
the items will be of different sizes, weights and values from one item to the next. some advice on setting fair shipping settings and how to go about it would be very much appreciated.
for example:
handling fee vs no handling fee (materials and time cost)
do i have to have presets, or does each item get entered individually?
i have read some horror stories about DHL and Fed Ex where customers are hit with large bills at the receiving end and they cancel the sale. i want to make sure my customers aren't hit with sudden extra costs for shipping/taxes/tariffs at the time of reception. equally, i don't want to have to eat those costs. how do i protect the sale (buyer and seller)?
i don't need to make money off of shipping, but i don't want to be out of pocket. looking for a goldilocks approach for items which will be a bit different with every sale (e.g. some are individual and odd sizes/shapes, some are sets of 3-6 books).
once the policies are set, how does the labeling, tracking etc work? do i need to integrate with Ebay, or can i just go to Canada Post and then share the tracking number with the buyer? I have been out of the loop for a while.
in short, i have a discrete set of books and possibly other items that need new homes and i love the platform of EBay to find the right buyer. Intimidation over shipping (policies, pricing and implementation) is holding me back.
hoping for someone to guide me.
Ken
kendoll99
OP2 weeks agoappreciating all of the input here. i will update when i am able to get around to posting. i just found a few other items to list which may do well...some old 1950s sports magazines. i am excited to see what the marketplace will think of them!
reallynicestamps
·2 weeks agohandling fee vs no handling fee (materials and time cost)
Put the handling fee into your asking price.
Buyers hate paying shipping, and the higher the shipping (which may include the handling fee) the less likely the sale.
do i have to have presets, or does each item get entered individually?
I have a template with my shipping , basically using eIS for shipping internationally. The Buyer sees the cost to their doorstep including import fees.
i have read some horror stories about DHL and Fed Ex where customers are hit with large bills at the receiving end and they cancel ... how do i protect the sale (buyer and seller)?
I have a template with my shipping , basically using eIS for shipping internationally. The Buyer sees the cost to their doorstep including import fees.
... but i don't want to be out of pocket. looking for a goldilocks approach for items which will be a bit different with every sale ...
Use Calculated Shipping.
Use eIS.
The Buyer sees the cost to their doorstep including import fees.
once the policies are set, how does the labeling, tracking etc work? ...
You print the label at home, then drop it in the nearest mailbox.
You can take it to the PO and get a receipt for the labelled shipment if you like .
kendoll99
OP2 weeks agoyou make it sound very straight forward and when i post my first item in a few decades i am sure it will be fine. thank you for your support
marnotom!
·2 weeks agoThe only thing I'm going to add to @flipistics ' excellent post is on the subject of shipping to the states. I wouldn't worry about all the stuff about tariffs and duties to the US until after the dust settles after the renegotiated aspects of CUSMA are in place. The rules keep changing and we're looking at a significant change in the very near future. As of right now, how tariffs and duties are applied differ depending on whether you use the postal system or a commercial carrier, so I think you should just sit tight until we all have a better idea of what's happening.
kendoll99
OP2 weeks agothank you for your input...everything helps.
flipistics
·2 weeks agoI don't bother with a handling fee. People are pretty sensitive to shipping costs, and they're pretty high atm as it is (especially for heavy items like book sets). Just consider it included in the item price when you decide on what that will be.
You generally list each item (or group of items) individually. You can have presets for shipping and things like that. You can also set up templates if you choose.
Don't use DHL, Fedex, or UPS for foreign sales. UPS is fine to use domestically. I'd suggest just selling Canada only right now until you get accepted into eBay's international shipping program (which eliminates most of the international risk to you). When you become more comfortable in selling you can choose to handle it yourself if you wish.
You can use calculated shipping. As long as you enter the correct size and weight of what the package will be, the buyer should be charged approximately the correct amount (assuming you buy the labels through eBay). There are other options, but starting out you're probably better off just sticking with that.
You have different options for tracking. You can buy the labels through eBay, which offers great rates. You can buy the labels through some 3rd party companies which may have slightly better rates in some cases, but can sometimes involve more work. You can purchase directly from the post office, but I wouldn't recommend it. The rates you get through eBay or elsewhere will be much, MUCH cheaper. eBay's calculated rates are based on eBay's deal they have with Canada Post, so shipping directly from the post office will likely mean you're eating quite a bit of shipping cost out of pocket.
One thing to keep in mind is that books tend to be long-tail items. Unless you have something really, really special you shouldn't expect them to fly off the shelves.
Take good photos. I like to show the front, back, any inscriptions or writing, publishing info, table of contents, and a selection of pages. Make sure you note any damage or other condition issues.
To pack them, I put them in a poly bag, then use packing paper to cushion around it (or bubble wrap if the book is higher value). I almost always use a box. I'm not generally a big fan of sending books, especially bigger ones, in bubble mailers (although lots of people do).
reallynicestamps
·2 weeks agoI disagree with not using UPS for US sales.
But my reasons are political , not economic.
Zonos, a Trump contributor, charges Canadians 10% of the US tariff upfront.
I refuse to pay foreign taxes, particularly since most of Trump's Tariffs have been ruled illegal.
I am old and cranky.
reallynicestamps
·2 weeks agoEverything you say about selling and shipping books is spot on.
I sold cheap vintage SF/F paperbacks shipping them in eBay branded poly envelopes, but more valuable books should be boxed.
kendoll99
OP2 weeks agothis is great...thank you
kendoll99
OP1 week agoTo you and all the contributors I thank you. I have relaunched as of yesterday as antiquarianbooksandmore and hope to get many more postings completed soon. it is a bit of an irksome issue to see that my profile shows a 0% positive feedback but more than 30 reviews. this is a recency bias issue that i hope to overcome in the near future. i am pleased to have never had a negative feedback and all positive save for one neutral from an individual who didn't completely read the listing or look at the images. i am erring on the side of over-truth to limit any accusations of false representation and hoping that in spite of highlighting tiny warts in otherwise beautiful products I can still find good homes for my lovely books.
thank you again to all...I am sure that I will be back for more advice soon enough!
clemowbooks
·1 week agoAddall dot com is a useful resource for identifying the number and value of titles on the market. Keep in mind that what you see are the unsolds not the solds.
kendoll99
OP1 week agohonestly...if things sit for a little while i can live with it, but until i can acquire eIS status, brokerage and tariff fees which i can't collect with the sale make international sales very intimidating. i am going to play with some local apps to try and guess those fees, but until i have some predictability it is frustrating to have to shrink my target audience. in terms of the addall site, would you find no listings...or few listings...a positive or a negative? low numbers can of course indicate lack of active stock (thus rarity) but also indicate that there is no market value so no one bothers. lol
hockey-kong
·1 week agoNot sure about some of the advice you are getting on this site. Lets be crystal clear !
Yes, using ebay global shipping does make it easier for you, but it also increases cost for your customers and makes your books less attractive to buy. UPS and fedex are the same, exhorbitant admin fees and charges for your customers at the delivery door.
I sell hardcovers mostly printed in USA or UK, only ship CP with clearing by Zonos, have never paid a penny in tariff or admin charges, nor have any of my customers. Haven't sold books in the 2 weeks since the new tariff BS came into effect so you would have to look into that. Also "printed in Canada" could likely be a different more expensive outcome.
Check it out before you list, count on losing 15 % of sale price on your books and the shipping charge also, ship everything boxed, bubble wrapped and insured and you will have no issues.
Again, yes EIS is easier to use, but like UPS & Fedex, it's also more expensive for your customer, so it's up to you.
No, I don't work for Canada Post, it's just cheaper than the alternatives.
Packaging time takes the same amount of time no matter who you ship with, Zonos clearance takes me less than 5 minutes per sale, I can spare the time, maybe others can't ?
clemowbooks
·1 week agoThe other benefit of eIS , apart from the ease of use, is that once accepted at the Mississauga plant, the seller's responsibility for delivery ends.
No worries about INR claims or late delivery. Not the seller's problem.
flipistics
·1 week ago@hockey-kong Just a few notes here. You CAN send items DDP with no extra surprises for the buyer via UPS, but you can't buy the labels through eBay for that.
I would never recommend that a new seller (or one that hasn't sold in the past few years) deals with clearing items. IMO it's much better to get a feel for using the marketplace, etc first and then they can deal with it themselves when, or if, they're comfortable in doing so. It's also a massive, time consuming pain trying to keep up with tariff and border changes that, in some cases, are modified almost daily right now. The more time you have to spend on things like that, the less time you have to list.
kendoll99
OP1 week agothank you all for the ongoing conversation. for now i am going to stick to CP and i have uploaded ZONOS. so far none of my items look like there will be any import fees attached based on the classification and regions of publication (mostly US and UK). fingers crossed is goes smoothly.