One of the best ways to save money here is when you are getting ready to print, load your printer with used paper - as in one side clean and one side marked up. My daughter loves to snatch paper out of my printer to color on, so when it is time to print, I put those discarded colorful creations clean side up in the printer - waste not want not! It's a little thing but hey - saves me money on buying packs of paper all the time.
Speaking of paper, did you know you can take your empty printer cartridges to Office Depot locations and they will trade you for a FREE new ream of Office Depot brand paper - they will take your empty and recycle it for you. A nice trade off! Nothing to purchase!
And on to printing, before you hit print, or on most computers, after you hit print but before you okay it (VISTA!) - select printer preferences and select "Draft" on print quality. The postage prints just as clear as normal but it saves you quite a bit on ink.
I write this guide for all the new Sellers (and some of you more established ones, too)... I have three little kids - one of which attends pre-k and I sell on Ebay as my ONLY source of income (aside from hubby's job).... I don't have much spare time when the kids are awake, and I certainly do not want to try to lug packages to the post office to ship with my wee-three in tow.
You can print USPS First Class, USPS Parcel Post, and USPS Priority Mail labels from your home - no special printer paper required! You can also ship USPS Express Mail and Global too! Print it the night before, or on the weekend anytime and it will be ready to sit out the next business day at your mailbox!
First things first, you need a scale. Not a big, fancy (pricey) postage scale either! You can get a food scale at Wal-Mart, dollar stores, even yard sales for so cheap! Make sure it is adjustable (so you can ensure you start on the zero mark everytime), most are, seems to be a standard feature and you will want it to not only display pounds but ounces as well. I find that my cheap little wal-mart scale that reaches 5lbs is more than enough for me, you make more money selling clothing by item or by outfit than you do in a huge lot anyways. You can even find scales on Ebay for pretty cheap. In a pinch, you can even use the bathroom scale! It won't be as accurate, so you will want to round up to the nearest pound or ounce.
Now once you have a scale, you don't have to go to the Post Office again!
However, If you don't want to mess with having a scale, before you list, divide the auctions up into wal-mart sacks and stuff the sacks into a box - take them to the post office and have each sack weighed seperately inside the box. You don't have to stand in line, most PO's have a scale off to the side. Just jot down the bag's weight in pounds and ounces. Before having a scale, I just used a sharpie to mark it right on the outside of the bag. Now if someone combines shipping, just add the auctions weight together and figure the total shipping weight. You can do this at USPS.com - click calculate postage. But if you send invoices through MyEbay you just enter the weight and the invoice will total it for you based on the listed mailing address location.
The ONLY item I buy is a roll of clear packing tape from the Dollar Store. Note: Don't use Wal-Mart or any other store - the Dollar Stores sell the same quality, same brands as Wal-Mart but instead of paying $2 and up for the same thing, you will only spend $1 on it. (Hey, I am cheap, every penny counts!) In a pinch, masking tape, duct tape or even painters tape will work as well as getting out your hot glue gun.
When I ship with USPS Priority I use the freebie labels you can get by roll from the USPS website- I use their Priority Envelopes or boxes and seal it shut and attach the label with their sticker labels in place of my tape.
That brings me to this first myth:
"You have to ship with nice new envelopes or to ship with USPS First Class or Parcel Post". WRONG. So many Sellers I run across actually stock up on oversized envelopes and bubble mailers from Sam's Club - same with packing material like bubble wrap - which isn't bad, but it is money out of your bottomline. So, if I have one of these pretty new mailers mailed to me, or if a package comes with bubble wrap, I am careful to open it and put it aside for future use! When I am ready to use one, I simply mark a simple X through the old postage and addresses, then I affix my new shipping label right on top - no worries if you don't cover up all the old postage and addresses, as long as an X has been marked through it, USPS knows which to use.
EVEN if you don't have packages come to you in the mail: You do NOT have to buy any special packaging to ship with USPS First Class. Other sources: What about cracker boxes, cereal and poptarts boxes? They come apart really easily - just run your finger underneath the seam and turn the box inside out. Just about any item you have that doesn't come in direct contact with food is acceptable for shipping with! I fold them backwards, turning the box inside out, and add tape over the next seams. Now you have a nice, new box that is already made as lightweight as possible to ship with! I have NEVER had a single buyer comment about my source of box. The majority of them actually email me to say how nicely packaged their items were - I neatly wrap the item in bubble-wrap or tissue paper I have lying around, tuck in a simple handwritten note that thanks them for their purchase and says "I would greatly appreciate your Ebay feedback" and put that inside either a previously used mailer or one of my inside-out boxes.
Another source, pick up free baggy mailers from UPS and if they have any outter UPS marking, turn them inside out!
One nice plus of shipping from home is you actually SAVE money off services than you would going to the post office in person. When you print postage from home, you will get FREE USPS Delivery Confirmation when you ship with Priority or Express, and when you ship First Class or Parcel Post, you get it discounted - around .15cents instead of .50 you would pay at the Post Office!
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