Anyway how to make shipping more efficient?

[Jonas]

I find it takes 15 minutes per item total for me to ship it from....

* getting the information and gathering it in a list with the other customers
* organizing and printing an invoice to them (I do this for many people at once so it's grouped together)
* getting the item from my inventory and sorting it so it's ready to be packed (I do this for many people at once so it's a row of them)
* then packing it (which isn't always what even takes the longest)
* then printing a stamps.com label
* then getting that label to stick right
* then the trip to the post office, getting it all into a mail slot, and then coming back.
* Then cleaning up my home afterwards

If I ship only 25 items, it takes up my entire day.


But I read on eBay how some people will sell some items and they make about $1 markup (and that profit is usually through charging priority mail rates and shipping first class) and that's their entire markup. So there must be a more efficent way to ship.

I'd like to be able to get everything in that big list (I gave you above) done in 1-2 minutes or less. I searched all the ebay guides and they had nothing on this.

[ifreewillie]

Wow... 15 minutes per item??? How do you survive on ebay??? I can pack under 4-5 minutes per item (priority box), max. If it is using manila envelopes, 2 minutes max.

It all depends on what you use and how you package. If you are shipping large items, then it will obviously take longer. But this is my usual procedure:

1) Take out all inventory I'm shipping today (by looking at "sold" on ebay)
2) Take out the right amount of boxes/envelopes
3) Tape all the boxes at the bottom
4) Put all items in their boxes/envelopes with cushions (I use bubble wrapes and peanut foams, really easy - either wrap or dump)
5) Tape up everything
6) Weigh everything and write them on the boxes/envelopes
7) Print labels from Paypal's click and ship
8) Tape labels
9) Drop them off at the post office

Assuming 4 boxes and 6 envelopes, it takes probably 40 minutes at most. I ususally watch TV while I'm doing this, which makes it more enjoyable. LOL.

[Jonas]

The actual putting the item in the package and packing I can do in under a minute if it's one item. It's the other stuff, for instance printing labels from stamps.com takes at least a minute per label, hmmm I might call them

You wrote, "1) Take out all inventory I'm shipping today (by looking at "sold" on ebay)"

For me, first I have to go through the sold items, print up a little invoice thing to put in the envelope, and then I get all the items and organize them with each invoice so they're together. Digging through my inventory seems to take a lot of time -- usually longer than actually packing the item. Printing a invoice slip for the customer also takes a while.

[ifreewillie]

Modee, why don't you use Paypal's label printing system?

[ifreewillie]

Oh I see, you're a Mac user. Last time I checked PP is still not down with Macs...

[ihatebay]

I ship about 50-70 items a week and usually 35 items at a time. It takes me about 30 minutes- 45 minutes to do it all. I charge about $3.50-$4.00 for domestic handling charges too. Basically I:

1) Copy and paste the addresses and what they bought on word
2) Print it out
3) Cut the addresses
4) Tape it to the priority evelope
5) Take out the items, package it in gift wrap paper
6) Seal the envelopes
7) Put return address labels on them

That's about it...

[Jonas]

ihatebay do you end up getting delivery confirmation? It sounds like you don't. I used to do that and it was faster but then I switched to delivery confirmation and ever since then not a single package was lost. The customer used to say "where is it?" and I didn't know. Now they claim it's not there and I say it is and they say "Oh it was at the post office." One person told me he thinks all the custumers are lying.

[ihatebay]

Hey Yea I get delivery confirmation for sure. I just slap it on with the return labels.

I've gotta have them because even if you don't use Paypal, sometimes your merchant account may ask where the item is when the customer complains.

[CPUGEEK]

Delivery confirmation is STANDARD when running a business!

[Jonas]

ihatebay how do you get delivery confirmation to work without stamps.com, paypal shipping, or taking it to the counter. The APC machines at the post office never get a delivery confirmation that works. It seems I have to enter it into the system. Does the tracking for you actually work and track?

Also you just deliver the items with a return address, their name, and then no docs inside saying what ebay item it was?