Cut Shipping Costs, Bonanzle, and Get Your Mojo Back

December 4, 2008 | Filed Under Past Issues | 1 Comment 

Personally delivered to you by Steve Lindhorst, author of
"Selling on 'the River' and "The Niche Book"

I hope things are going well for you in this busy selling season. I'm working on an expanded, updated version of "Selling on 'the River" which should be available soon. And I've decided that if you purchased the first version, you will receive the update at no charge! The new version will have sections on Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), and updated info on dealing with UPCs and restricted categories.

Here are the topics for this issue of the newsletter:

In This Issue

1. GIFT eBook: 10 Things Small Sellers Can Do to Get Their Mojo Back
2. Grow Profits by Cutting Shipping Costs
   
3. Giving Bonanzle a Try - My Two Cents Worth
   
4. New Section: Product Reviews
   

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1. Gift eBook: 10 Things Small Sellers Can Do to Get Their Mojo Back

Grab a copy of my new 43 page ebook for small sellers. It's full of practical tips and suggestions to help you deal with the current selling landscape. It deals with four main areas:

1. Platform - Figure out where you should be selling, and don't let it get emotional.
2. Products - Product sourcing and building a product line with a combination of your products, drop shipping, and affiliate sales.
3. Visibility - How can you get eyeballs on your listings? Find out.
4. Deliverability - When everything else is equal, shipping and customer service is what will make you stand apart from your competition.

You can get your copy at: www.thenichebook.com/mojo_ebook.html.

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2. Grow Profits by Cutting Shipping Costs

While packing up a small poster the other day, I discovered that I'd run out of small poster tubes. My shipping label was already printed, with the weight for the small tube figured in. What would you do in that case? I did what I've done before. I got out my utility knife and hacked off the end of a larger tube and sent the package. I learned a long time ago that the weight of your packaging eats into your profits.

The lesson is this: pennies add up to dollars. Mind the cents and the dollars will follow. As I talk to other sellers about business, it's amazing how many still waste money in this area.

Here are a few simple ways to save money on your packaging and shipping. You will ultimately save time, as well as money. First take a look at your packaging. If your items are consistent in size, you will save money by buying your packaging in bulk. I buy shipping tubes by the case for my posters. But for book sales on Amazon and other sites I buy boxes. It's pretty easy to estimate how much you'll sell over a few months and be prepared. If you can buy locally and pick up your packaging materials, you'll save a ton in shipping charges. Ironically, shipping supplies cost a lot to ship. In the small town where I live that's not an option, so I have found ULINE (www.uline.com) to be a reliable supplier, with very good service.

You Can Print Your Own Shipping Labels

If you're not already printing your own shipping labels, you should start today. You will not need to use a paid service such as Stamps.com or Endicia. You can print labels on your own printer at home, using PayPal with no subscription or special software. You can create these labels for any package, regardless of whether it was sold on eBay. You will not need special label paper either.

When I started selling through Amazon, I missed the seamless integration between my eBay seller account and PayPal shipping labels. Really though, it's not that hard to work around. Amazon orders are required to have a packing slip inside, so I just print all of my packing slips out, and copy the addresses into PayPal's Ship Now page. I get the option to ship packages Media Mail rates, and I get a trackable, pre-paid label for my package. The payment for the label comes out of my PayPal account. Obviously, this will work with any package. So if you're selling on a site other than eBay, you can still use this feature from PayPal. The link to PayPal's Ship Now page is: https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_ship-now

PayPal MultiOrder Shipping

When you want to create more than one label, PayPal's MultiOrder Shipping is a good tool. To find MultiOrder Shipping:

• Login to your PayPal account
• In the left column near the top under the heading "Tools" you'll find the link to MultiOrder Shipping. (It can be used to import your eBay listings, or you can use it to create your own labels, one at a time.
• Click "File" > "Create New Orders" and fill out the info

You can create package presets so you don't have to enter the information for each package. This is especially helpful with Amazon orders, since most books ship via Media Mail and fall into the same price category. I created a preset called "Amazon Book" that covers most books I sell. I simply select the preset, and then type in the customer's name. Then I click "Create Another" and it's saved to the queue and I'm on to my next label. Once they are all created, I print them all out at once.

Save Gas, and Time

You may be able to save the most money by simply having your carrier pick up your outgoing packages at your home. Both UPS and the US Postal service will pick up packages if the postage is printed out in advance. You can make requests for pick up through their respective websites or sometimes a friendly note works for your postal carrier.

If you have to go to the Post Office to send your package, having prepaid postage printed and applied should make it possible for you to avoid the long lines and just drop your packages off and run. Time is money, and money is money - don't waste either!

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3. Giving Bonanzle a Try - So Far, So Good

If you are looking for an alternative platform to sell your stuff, you may want to give Bonanzle a try. I have set up a "booth" there and so far I've actually had a few sales. Outside of Amazon, this is probably the best eBay alternative I've found. And right now, the price is right - it's free to list!

Here are a few things I liked about Bonanzle right away:

• Import your eBay listings easily
• Import your eBay feedback - you won't have to start at zero
• Use Google Checkout to accept payment (for you PayPal haters out there)
• Add your Bonanzle items to Google Base for more exposure

There are other cool things that you'll find as you explore the site, but I found I was up and running in just a little while. They have a good, friendly community of users too. Here are a few of the most recent developments:

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