I recently had someone referred to me by my own eBay mentor, Suzanne Wells, in the USA.  They were wanting to find out the best way to post items in Australia.  Here is the question they had for me:-

Hello Andrea,
I was referred to your blog by Suzanne Wells from Allexperts after she was unable to answer this question.  I am in Australia and planning to sell some unwanted items on eBay, and I am unsure about which shipping options to select (package type, costs).  Also, do I need to attach a shipping label?  I am planning to sell things such as an iPod Shuffle, flash drive, computer carry case and small stationery items.
Thanks,
D

Here is my response to their questions:-

Hi D,

I sure can help you with that.

You don’t need to do anything like attaching a shipping label, a lot of that stuff is what they do in the USA.  Their postal service is a lot different to ours.  I believe they have several different postal services that they can use whereas we really only have Australia Post.  The only time we need to attach anything extra is if the parcel is going overseas, you would then need to attach a customs declaration.  This is a small form that the Australia Post outlet will let you know about when you post the item.

The easiest way to post anything is using our postpaks.  You would have seen these in an Australia Post outlet or maybe even received something this way.  There are heaps of different sized satchels, padded satchels and boxes available.

When you list something on eBay simply use ‘calculated postage’ and place the weight and dimensions of the parcel in the listing form.  Also just place the cost of the postpak and any other packaging materials in as a handling cost (only put in the costs of what it cost you, it’s not a place to try and get extra money).  That way the postage cost will be shown on the buyers screen as eBay and Australia Post work together to calculate the postage cost based on where the buyers computer is located.

Australia Post also has an online postage calculator.  Go to http://auspost.com.au, then click on ‘Calculate Postage’.  Have a play there with different sizes and weights so you can get a feel for prices.  Keep in mind that if something costs too much to post it may not get any bidders, especially if the postage costs are higher than the purchase price.

We have also got an online postage service through Australia Post at www.clickandsend.com.au, but in the end you still need to take it in to the post office to lodge it so it really doesn’t have much benefit yet.

Keep it simple to start with and sell a few smaller cheaper items first to get your feet wet with the postage stuff.  Once you sell a few things you’ll really get to know what postpak you want to use.

With the items you have mentioned in your email I would suggest:-

- a postpak box and bubble wrap for the ipod shuffle, with registered post (extra $3.05 paid by the buyer, so it is added in as a handling fee)

- a small padded postpak for the flash drive (I actually used to import them and sell them on eBay)

- a large toughbag postpak for the computer carry bag (I hope you mean laptop bag??)

- for the small stationary items just make a judgement on that if they could break a box is best, if not the padded satchels are fine.

The decision is really based on what would get the items to the buyer in perfect condition.  They can get bashed around in the post so protection is important.  At the end of the day if something arrives broken the seller gets blamed not Australia Post.

Feel free to let me know if you need any extra help as I’m more than happy to you learn about selling.  I’ve got a blog that I post stuff to specifically for selling on eBay Australia at www.onlineauctionresources.com.  There might be some stuff there to help you as well.

When you get some listings up let me know, I’m more than happy to take a look and give you some tips on good ways to list or wording for listings!!

Kind regards,

Andrea