which shipping company do i use

[muna.sh]

HI there

I am really new to this. I would like to open a fashion store (clothes, shoes, bags and accessories).

Is Aus post the best option for this?
How can i minimize the shipping costs?
Do shipping companies charge businesses less?

Also, i was told in other forums that if an item is 500g or less i can send it as a big letter (cheaer to ship), would that work for clothes?

Any advice is highly apprecited. i love the amazing help i am getting here from this community.

So thanks in advance 🙂

[*tippy*toes*]

A lot depends on where you live. If you live in the city and most of your customers are in the city, couriers could be an option. Most people are happy enough with AP though.

You are only partially correct with the 500g thing. To send large letter it has to be under 500g and under 20mm thick. If it doesn't go through the 20mm slot at the PO, it has to go at parcel rate.

In regards to a business, DO NOT register as a business seller as you lose a few perks and once you're a business seller, you can't unbusiness yourself. If you've not sold before, there will be listing restrictions on your account of 10 items. You can't list/sell more than 10 a month until your prove yourself, or you have another account that is an established selling account. It's 10 in total. If you list 10 items and sell one, you can only have 9 listed until next month. If 9 carry over into the new month, you can only list one new item.

Just be aware that when selling clothes, you often encounter carpy buyers. Most are good, but clothing is one of the categories that gets abused by buyers trying to get freebies. If they are to be used clothes, make sure you describe absolutely everything. That includes a pulled thread, a spot that shouldn't be there, EVERYTHING. Something as simple as a pulled thread in the hem could see you being forced to refund and the buyer getting to keep the item.

Edit: Don't open a store until you have higher selling limits. No point paying a monthly fee for a store if you can only list 10 items. You'd end up losing money and would be wasting your time. A basic store offers 200 free buy it now listings, but you can only use 10 of them. Unless your items are high priced, it wouldn't be worth paying the $20 a month.

[lyndal1838]

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@muna.sh wrote:

How can i minimize the shipping costs?
Do shipping companies charge businesses less?

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Most courier companies set the rate for your account based on the amount of items you are shipping.  It has nothing to do with whether you are a business or not but clients usually are businesses in order to be sending enough parcels to qualify for an account.

As a new seller on ebay you will not have a high enough selling limit to enable you to take advantage of bulk shipping discounts at the moment.  In fact your turnover will be too low to even qualify for a courier account with the larger companies.

You would be better using Australia Post or if you really need to use a courier you will have to use someone like Courier Please or Fastways who will take one off parcels.

There are mixed opinions on these couriers....personally I would not recommend the use either of them, either as a seller or a buyer.

[brabrad-ccge5oa]

Found this company recently, havent used them yet, but they seem to be targetting ebay sellers.

I did a quick check on a parcel measuring 40cm x 40cms x 28 cms to Perth from Sydney & it came out at $13.75 vs. over $50 with Australia Post.

Might be worth a go.

http://www.e-go.com.au/home.do;jsessionid=9E4B17E36A88A97E8E0A35993707AC8C

[lyndal1838]

Apparently they can be very hard to contact as everything is done online with no phone contact.

Despite what they say about Australia Wide deliveries you need to ask them for confirmation if you are sending things to country/remote areas.

And they don't offer air freight services.....just express road freight.

[davidc4430]

i rekon as a beginner in the selling business you would be best to stick to australia post for a while till you get your sales sorted and have a reasonably steady ship. there are so many hiccups during the early days adding a possible unreliable shipping company to the mix might spell doom to you. as i live in the boondocks i have no choice but all in all i find australia post do a good job.

[phorum_junkie*]

Unless you have another account I presume you have not sold much, if anything. Forget about a business for now. As others have said you will have listing limits so use that time to find your way. Start by listing second hand clothes so you are not losing money on buying new items. Sell as auctions and BIN and list reasonably low  prices, you won't make much if any profit but you will learn the basics. You can also try different listing styles and try out auctions verses BIN etc until you find what works best for you.

With clothing it is important to give accurate measurements and be very clear about how they are measured, if you are measuring side to side rather then circumference then say so.

As far as postage goes you are correct that anything under 500g can be posted large letter as long as it is under 20mm thick, ask your PO for a guage so you can check properly. The disadvantage is that unless you pay for registered you have no proof of posting if the buyer says it has not arrived so be prepared to refund and lose the money if that happens. Savvy sellers buikd a small amount into the sale price to cover a certain percentage of refunds.  For anything more than you are prepared to lose then you need to use parcel post. The cheapest for most things is the ebay branded satchels with the ebay labels, as long as you lodge them over the counter at the PO you have your proof of posting.

[oddsandendsoz]

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@brabrad-ccge5oa wrote:

Found this company recently, havent used them yet, but they seem to be targetting ebay sellers.

I did a quick check on a parcel measuring 40cm x 40cms x 28 cms to Perth from Sydney & it came out at $13.75 vs. over $50 with Australia Post.

Might be worth a go.

http://www.e-go.com.au/home.do;jsessionid=9E4B17E36A88A97E8E0A35993707AC8C

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I have used e-go and find them to be easy to use, but a little unrelieable in terms of picking items up. Here are my own personal pro's and cons of using them;

The Good;

1) Easy to book pick up from either your home or a depot (depot being slightly cheaper)

2) Pretty good prices, certainly better than AusPost to most areas if largeish or weighty items

3) Never had a parcel go missing or damaged.

The bad;

1) As mentioned contact is only by email, although have to say that they have always been fairly prompt to reply when I have had to contact them

2) Find it hard to link the tracking numbers through eBay? Possibly my error, but with the balance stacked against the sellers now, not ideal

3) Insurance is ridiculously expensive, especially on the items I send if needed

4) Are not the most reliable in picking up when stated. My first ever order they picked up promply on time, but I ordered another pick up a few hours later and that confused the hell out of them and they obviously assumed they had already picked up until I chased it up. In their defence they picked up within hours opnce they realised.

5) Their tracking can be a little unreliable and have had to clarify that they have delivered due to tracking not updating, again not ideal for selling on eBay nowadays?

[muna.sh]

wow thats a bit too much.

Then how come companies like Boohoo charge only $5 for delivery, they are in SA and i am in sydney (i ordered clothes from them). They use Australia post and i get the item only within 3 days.

From Boohoo.com

[muna.sh]

Thank you!!