Jul
26
Big Benefits from a Little Postal Scale
Filed Under Auction Tools
What? You don’t own a postage scale? I bought a 10 lb digital postal scale ($40.00) at the post office a couple of years back and can truly attest to the value of owning your own postage scale for your internet auction or Half.com business. Whether your operation is small-scale or you are an eBay powerseller, you can save both time and money with this one small investment.
Save Money
I first noticed the value of my postal scale when I stopped underestimating an object’s shipping weight before listing an auction on eBay. Before I bought my postal scale, I would take my best guess at the article’s weight, consult my handy postage chart for shipping fees, and include a flat rate for postage with the auction listing. The alternative would be to box up the item and take it to the post office for weighing and a price quote; or not determine the shipping price until after the auction closed. The former adds too much time to an already time-intensive auction listing process while the latter just screams, “Click the back button!” to potential bidders. So… I took my best guess — and more often than not, I underestimated the weight and undercharged for shipping and handling. While this was a boon for my bidders, paying part of the transaction’s shipping fee out of my pocket was taking a serious chunk from my slim profit margin. Now that I have a digital postage scale, I no longer lose money on shipping and handling.
Save Time
The next benefit I noticed about owning my own postal scale was the amount of time I saved by not standing in line at the post office. I don’t know about you, but the only chance I get to mail my packages is during my lunch break or Saturday mornings. Unfortunately, this is also the same time as everybody else’s only opportunity to visit the post office. (Is it just me that always seems to get stuck behind two or three morons that have obviously never mailed anything in their life larger than a birthday card and require special attention and time from the postal clerk in order to mail a box of bricks to Timbuktu?)
Now I simply purchase postage and print my shipping labels through PayPal, bypass the line at the post office, and hand the package to the bemused postal worker who is patiently watching some rookie patron tape his box shut at the counter. Better yet, my local post office just installed a parcel drop box in the lobby, where I simply deposit my outbound packages each morning on the way to work — before the post office even opens. All this extra time gives me more opportunities to write great articles like this!
Happier Customers
Another great feature about printing my own shipping labels at home is the fact that I have the option of not displaying the postage price on the label. After you’ve been selling on eBay for a while, you soon realize that the expense of shipping an item includes more than just the price of postage. There are shipping supplies — which can be surprisingly expensive — and the time required to properly package an item and mail it (see above).
There’s no reason that you should not include a modest, reasonable handling charge when you calculate an auction listing’s shipping and handling fee. Unfortunately, some auction bidders do not recognize the additional expense involved with shipping their goodies and might question the difference between the postage displayed on the parcel and the shipping and handling fee they agreed to pay when they bid on the auction. By printing postage labels that do not disclose the postage fee, this is rarely an issue. This is another benefit made possible by my purchase of a postal scale.
Free Delivery Confirmation
Another place I save money by having my own postage scale is with the free or reduced rate delivery confirmation service included with purchasing postage online. The over-the-counter fee of $.65 - $.75 per package adds up quickly. In fact, my practice was to only purchase delivery confirmation for items I sold that were over $10.00. My rationale being that unless more than one item out of fifteen were lost in shipping or the bidder claimed the package “never arrived,” I could issue a refund knowing that it cost me less to do so than the combined purchase price of fifteen delivery confirmation services.
Now that I purchase and and print shipping labels online, delivery confirmation is free (priority mail) or only $.18 (1st class or package services). Now I get the security of delivery confirmation without the expense (or the time and effort required to fill out each delivery confirmation form).
I was surprised at how useful and beneficial I found my postal scale. I’m confident you will find a scale more than worth your purchase price, regardless of the size of your eBay or Half.com business. My only regret is that I waited so long to get one.
Related Posts:
Comments
RSS feed for comments on this post. | TrackBack URI
3 Responses to “Big Benefits from a Little Postal Scale”
Leave a Reply
[...] the stuff I sell on eBay used to be easy. I would simply package the item, weigh it on my handy digital postal scale, and consult my postage charts for the price. But the new shape-based postal rates that became [...]
I was just wondering where you all buy your stickers from?As a while back I had a great deal from a British labels company who were selling off all their plain labels at really low costs. I don’t know what their prices are like now but could be worth taking a look.
delivery confirmation is not worth much. I have had packages not arrive and then it does no good whatsoever.