Selling Items on eBay - How To Receive Payment and Ship Items Sold

Lesson 3 explained how to list your item/items for sale. Now comes the fun part--watching your listing, finding out how many people have viewed, if you have any “watchers,” and realizing it sold! When your listing time is up and your item has not sold, you can relist it if you want.

Once your item has sold, the next step is to send out an invoice. Once you have signed in to your account with your username and password, click on “selling” and down to “sold” where your sold item will be listed. On the right hand side of the listing, there will be a link for sending out an invoice. Sometimes the buyer will pay without even receiving an invoice. In that case it is not necessary to send that invoice. But we’ll assume for this lesson, that the buyer has not yet paid. When you click on the send invoice link, eBay will have written up your invoice, which also includes shipping costs because you indicated what those costs would be. You can review the invoice and if it looks correct, send it. There is an option to have a copy sent to your email, and I always do that.

After sending the invoice, the buyer will eventually pay, usually within a week. If you are not paid within a reasonable time, you can send a follow-up invoice. You will receive an email from eBay telling you that the buyer has paid through PayPal. At this point I always check my PayPal account to confirm that I did receive the payment.

Packaging up your item is the next step. Always try to find a box, or envelope, that fits the size of your item. Wrap carefully so your article will arrive in good condition. This is very important. If your item does not arrive in good shape, the buyer can file a complaint and you might have to refund their payment. I did have this happen one time and one time only. When I mail books, I use special boxes that are intended for books. I buy them in bulk over the internet and they are perfect. It adds to my expense, but they are well worth it. Of course you can always use any box you have on hand that works.

Once payment has been made and confirmed, it is time to ship your sold item. Once again you go to your sold summary, and click “print a shipping label.” A link for that is also on the right hand side of the sold listing. You need to fill in some information, such as the weight of the package, and the date you are shipping your package, etc. Your address, and the address of the buyer, usually are pre-filled on the form by eBay. After filling in your information, click on calculate to show the price of shipping. Whatever the type of mailing you indicated on your listing will show on your shipping label. If everything looks correct, click “continue.” A sample shipping label will show on the next screen. You can print a sample label first if you want to. If that label prints properly, click “print label.” After printing the label, it will ask what you want to do next. I print out a “packing slip” to include in my package. This just makes everything look really professional to me. For shipping I use self-stick labels which can also be purchased on line, usually on eBay. One 8 ½” x 11” sheet will make two shipping labels, or one label and a receipt. You can usually find them for about .06/label with free shipping. “Label Lady” almost always has some listed. When you print your shipping label on eBay, you receive a tracking number to use for tracking your shipment and for your buyer to track it. That is really handy to check if, and when, the package was delivered.

Printing your label through your computer is so handy, and cheaper. If you go to the post office to pay for your package, it costs more and you have to pay for the tracking number. This is just one of the tricks I have learned over the years.

©joaniebaby - 3-6-12