I just charge a flat rate of international postage for all of my items. $12.50 for small letter, $19.50 for large letter $39.50 up to 1 kg parcel and higher rates for heavier items. I dont have any restrictions on countries I sell too, so basically just cross my fingers and hope with a lot of stuff. Sometimes I win a couple of dollars on postage, sometimes I lose, but this seems to cover things pretty well.
I do have another little trick I use to reduce INR claims, but I cant mention it here as a few other sellers use the same idea and dont want to give the scammers the heads up.
With the general decline in postal standards worldwide, I am having a bit more trouble than 12 months ago, but then I am sending a lot more stuff to international clients lately. America's postal system has slowed since they introduced the electronic handling systems and I had an item sit in Australia Post for three weeks before maikng it onto a plane OS recently.
Basically like you, a lot of my stuff paid for itself years ago and doesnt owe me anything, although with the improvement in sales recently I have been buying quite a bit of fresh, new stock in lately. I said I wasnt going to do that as I have a shipping container full of stuff now, but with the slow Australian economy, there is a lot of high quality stock going very cheap at the moment.
I am mainly buying from dispersal, clearing sales when companies close their doors, but have purchased a couple of bulk lots from deceased estates etc., where the original owner stashed stuff decades ago and it has just sat in storage for years. The most interesting lot was the residual books and spare parts stock from a large city auto dealership that closed in the 1950,s. The owner put everything into storage when the business closed and when he passed away his son kept the stash. The son is now ready to downsize and move into a retirement village, so contacted me to have a look at the hoard. It was a fascinating time capsule with many of the items now very rare and sought after.
I purchased the collection and have listed most of it on ebay. It is selling very well with some rare individual items making hundreds of dollars. Most of the really expensive gems are going to international buyers and it is this sort of stuff which OS buyers are looking for.
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