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Home > Sell > Seller Information Centre > Shipping Centre > Beyond Basics >

Best Practices

Beyond Basics

Shipping Best Practices

Boost your sales and shipping DSRs and lower your cost to ship with these best practices.
best practices
Pay postage and print labels on eBay.
Right from My eBay you can pay for discounted postage, print shipping labels, and upload tracking—with just a few clicks.

  • Print labels fast from almost any laser or inkjet printer; preview your labels before you print.
  • Pay for discounted postage.
  • Prepare multiple shipments easily and accurately.
  • Ship with your choice of select Canada post and UPS services.
  • Print International labels.
  • Print prefilled customs forms for international shipments.
  • Add a customized packing slip to your order with your return policy and a personalized "thank you" note.
  • Reprint a label at no extra charge.
  • Take up to 120 hours to void a label you don't use.
  • Easily manage all your shipping from the "Track and manage shipments" page in my eBay.
Offer free shipping.
Online buyers consider the total cost—item price and the cost of shipping—when deciding what and where to buy. Buyers especially love free shipping; some will only purchase items that ship for free. In fact, buyers are more likely to choose an item with free shipping over an item with a shipping charge, even if the total cost is the same. Free shipping can pay for itself in many ways.
When you offer free shipping, you get:
  • More buyers likely to choose your item.
  • Lower Final Value Fees when applied to the full amount of sale, including shipping.
  • A boost in search results for your Fixed Price listings.
  • Automatic 5-star rating for shipping cost when your buyer chooses free shipping.
Offer expedited or express shipping.
Buyers also like a choice. Now you can offer 4 domestic and 5 international shipping services in your listings. Garner the most sales and deliver really great customer service with FREE standard shipping as your first option and an expedited or express service for buyers in a hurry.

You won't pay a higher Final Value Fee if your buyer chooses expedited or express services (or international) because when you offer these services, your fees are calculated on the first shipping option you specify. So if you specified free shipping as your first option, you pay zero fees on shipping even if your buyer chooses expedited, express, or international.

For example:
  • You offer free standard shipping as your first domestic shipping option and express shipping for $20.00 as your second option in your item listing.
  • Your buyer chooses and pays for the express shipping option for $20.00.
  • Even though your buyer chose the more expensive express option, your final value fees are calculated on your first domestic shipping option. In this case, your fee will be calculated on free shipping—you do not pay a fee on the $20.00 express shipping option your buyer selected.
Express services offer 1 to 3 business days delivery:
  • Canada Post
    • Canada Post Priority Next A.M.
    • Canada Post Xpresspost
  • UPS
    • UPS Express Canada
    • UPS Express Saver Canada
    • UPS Expedited Canada
    Expedited services offer a maximum estimated delivery time of seven business days:
    • Canada Post
      • Canada Post Expedited Parcel
      • Canada Post Expedited Flat Rate Box
Ship the same day the buyer pays.
As a rule of thumb, ship the item the same day your buyer pays. You'll automatically receive a 5-star shipping time detailed seller rating (DSR) as long as:
  • You specified 1-day handling.
  • You upload Canada Post, or UPS supported tracking information by the end of the next business day Pacific Time after the buyer's payment clears.
  • Delivery Confirmation or tracking shows confirmed delivery 4 business days from when the payment clears—or within your estimated delivery time if it's less than 4 days (for example, overnight shipping).
Save money on shipping and pass the savings on to your buyer.
It's easy to deliver the shipping options your buyers want—and lower your overall costs at the same time.
  • Take advantage of online discounts:
    • Pay for shipping and print shipping labels right on eBay or PayPal. You get discounted rates, and it's free to print labels pre-filled with your buyer's shipping address. In the Sold section of My eBay, click "Print shipping label" to get started printing your shipping label on eBay. If you prefer to print your label using PayPal, click the link at the top of the Print a Shipping Label page to take you to PayPal.
    • Save with Canada Post discounts for all eBay sellers. All eBay Sellers can get special pricing - savings of 25% on Canada Post domestic shipments via Expedited Parcel™ and Canada Post US shipments via Expedited Parcel™-USA; savings of 8% on Canada Post domestic shipments and 9% on Canada Post U.S. and international shipments; savings of 9% on Canada Post U.S. shipments via Xpresspost™-U.S.A. and international shipments via Xpresspost™-International (note: discounts are not available on all USA and International Small Packet™ and Light Packet™ services, or the Canada Post-eBay Flat Rate Box with Expedited Parcel™ and Expedited Parcel™-USA services). No enrollment necessary—discounts are automatically applied when you pay for postage and print your shipping labels with eBay Labels.
    • Sign up for UPS discounts for eBay Canada PowerSellers. The UPS Canada Savings Program for eBay PowerSellers gives you discounts of up to 50% off UPS shipping rates.

  • Get free shipping supplies and zero-out your handling fees:
    • Self-adhesive labels, air shipping packaging and more are available free of charge from UPS. Order supplies at ups.com

  • Offer combined shipping discounts: The combined shipping discounts feature gives you a variety of ways to offer your buyers a discount on shipping when they purchase more than one item from you:
    • Charge for shipping the item with the highest shipping cost, and then add an additional lower cost for each additional item.
    • Subtract shipping costs for each additional item purchased.
    • Offer free shipping on additional items. Combine items into one shipment.
Track every package.
  • Make sure to upload tracking information to My eBay for every item you ship. You can do it for virtually any carrier. Your buyers receive tracking information via an automated email, and they can access it from My eBay.

  • When buyers are able to track the progress of their shipment, they tend to be more satisfied and leave higher DSRs. Plus, you spend less time answering one of the most common buyer questions: "Where's my stuff?"

  • Tracking information and Delivery Confirmation also protects you in the event of an eBay dispute and is one of the qualifications for getting an automatic 5-star rating for ship time.

    If you pay for shipping and print shipping labels on eBay or PayPal, this information is uploaded automatically to my eBay. You can also upload it manually.

  • If you use third party services or bulk tools to list your items, uploading tracking information to eBay is easy. Most major third party label printing tools can be integrated with eBay to automate the process.
Ship worldwide.
Take full advantage of eBay's online global marketplace by specifying that you'll sell and ship to buyers in other countries. Later this year, items offered internationally that specify international shipping will get displayed in the main search results for eBay sites in the United States, Australia, and the UK.
    • You can specify different services for different countries—starting in June, specify up to 5 international services.

    • Use eBay label printing and you can also print pre-filled customs forms.

    • For your international shipments, your Final Value Fees work the same way as for express services (see #2 above). When you offer international shipping, you pay Final Value Fees on the first shipping option you specify, even when your buyer chooses international.

      For example:
      • You offer free standard shipping as your first domestic shipping option and Expedited Parcel™ – USA to the United States for $12.85 as your first international option in your item listing.
      • Your buyer chooses and pays for the international option for $12.85.
      • Even though your buyer chose the more expensive international option, your Final Value Fees are calculated on your first domestic shipping option. In this case, your fee will be calculated on free shipping—you do not pay a fee on the $12.85 international shipping option your buyer selected.

    • If you sell internationally, you can get insight in your Seller Dashboard into the service you provide to buyers from other countries to help improve your service and boost your international sales.

    • Remember, your global seller performance rating is based on your transactions with global buyers.
FREE EXPOSURE

Expose your listings to US buyers for free! When listing from eBay.ca, specify at least one international shipping service to the US to make sure your listings appear in the search results on eBay.com.

Add at least one flat rate shipping service for all US buyers, or add a calculated shipping service that will charge shipping based on your US buyer's location.

You can also use the Research Rates function in eBay.ca's Sell Your Item form if you aren't certain of shipping costs for US destinations, or to see what rates will apply across different parts of the US if you select a calculated service.

Benefits of specifying an international shipping service:

  • FREE exposure on eBay.com - Reach more buyers: At no extra cost, a few extra steps could potentially result in more sales.
  • Quicker purchases: Buyers won't have to wait for Sellers to answer questions about shipping costs and services offered.
  • Improve Detailed Seller Ratings (DSRs): You'll see your DSRs improve for providing excellent customer service to your buyers.

Start bulk editing your listings and visit the Shipping Centre for additional tips.

Note: Conversely, when listing from eBay.com, remember to specify at least one international shipping service to Canada, or your item will not surface in the main search results on eBay.ca. Learn how to bulk edit your eBay.com listings.