2 Queries

[JanetB]

I would use new from the drop down box, put upcycled in the title and certainly explain a bit more in the description.

What this young lady says ^
I always think that even if you use materials that have been used before, and transform them into something completely different, then, for me, it's a new item.

Oh, and I put all items etc, in a box or envelope and weigh the whole thing to figure out my shipping price.

[Gill]

If I repurpose material (eg my tweed bag which used to be a mans waistcoat, or vinyl Lp's into clocks) and make it into something else, do I list it as New or Used?

Secondly to sellers who sell abroad. How do you work out the postage costs for your items? Do you weigh and measure every item with packaging, or do you weigh the item and take a guess at the packaging? I would like to offer more of my items internationally but dread having to weigh and measure over 4000 items.

Anything you make from recycled materials is classed as new but ensure that you state in your description recycled/up-cycled/old materials have been used in making the item.

[squern]

I weigh every item when listing.

Or, more usually, I group all the items trhat are a similar weight and within the published weight bands, and use a Selling Default which is configured for that weight band.

Then check the weights as I list. I allow a little for packaging (abt 100 gms).
Simple

[Maelbrigda]

With 5000 items between my two accounts I don't have room to package them all. I will just have to only offer UK postage for most things i guess

[HerMajesty]

New.....and as meebo and others said. For example, when I do a painting or collage, once I put paint on the paper, the paper is used....however, the painting is new. If I make a collage with new and/or found materials plus paint (whether it's new, or I've had it for six million years). I call the end product new. I agree if you simply add some rickrack to a coat, then upcycled would be best, as you have not changed the use of the item. But in reality, all things are made from used materials, since we are all stardust to begin with...................

I totally give up on figuring postage for international.

[Maelbrigda]

I think thats what I will do too. I would use the "don't know" button and have buyers ask for details but at the moment using don't know lists it as £0.00 postage and I've had buyers in the past expect free postage

[jbsales222]

If I repurpose material (eg my tweed bag which used to be a mans waistcoat, or vinyl Lp's into clocks) and make it into something else, do I list it as New or Used?

Secondly to sellers who sell abroad. How do you work out the postage costs for your items? Do you weigh and measure every item with packaging, or do you weigh the item and take a guess at the packaging? I would like to offer more of my items internationally but dread having to weigh and measure over 4000 items.

Before you list anything for export sales too, review government export restrictions. It's best to know what is prohibited before you post because "I didn't know" doesn't fly if you export a restricted item.

I've exported a couple items (returns) but not yet any such sales. Of the items I did ship out of country, I used usps.com to purchase postage for them. Part of that process is filling out a Customs form (I don't recall what they called that form) which is basically provides a brief description of what you are shipping and your declared value for the content of the package. That form was created/printed by usps.com during the process of purchasing postage which was in part based on declared value. After it's complete, I took it and package to a USPS office. They placed it in a special envelope they provided and affixed it to the package. In doing so, purchasing postage for it via usps.com saved quite a few $$.

Given this experience shipping out of the country, I recently changed listing on several of my items to allow sales to other countries. However, in doing this, I added a handling fee for exports because of the added time and inconvenience needing to complete the customs form and take package to a post office person (possibly optional) rather than just dropping it in USPS office slot/box for prepaid packages.

As for weight, I weigh every item before I list it (or copy from a similar item). In doing this, I choose type of box/envelop I will use to ship it and add a sheet of paper (fake packing slip) with a damaged label stapled to it (I just need these for weight if close to an ounce/pound mark) then put all of that on scale. If tape/padding needed too, I estimate how many ounces that will add but usually use a box with bottom taped. All of this info is then noted in my inventory list of items for sale.

As for book keeping, I use an Excel spreadsheet (created/updated by OpenOffice because it's free to download but can create/read/write/update Excel compatible files) to keep track of items I have listed and what I have sold. And, I use a different Tab for each of my eBid stores. I then frequently make backup of that file to an external storage device. And, keep my purchase receipts sorted by date and where I purchased them to make it easier to find if I ever need to re-enter those added after last backup. When a new year rolls around, I archive this file (with year it is for in its name) then erase the what I've sold tab content to start over for the new year.

One advantage of using Excel for this is that I can search a tab on the spreadsheet for an item.

Another advantage is that I can enter details on purchase (date, price, any tax, discount, rebate) have it compute cost of single piece which can then be multiplied by how many pieces sold as a unit, shipping weight, what packaging to use to ship, current USPS price to ship it, whether it's a "Free Shipping" item, then other equations to compute eBay and PayPal fees to give me a minimum price I have to sell item for to not loose money on it. Some columns I have in it are intermediate computation results to make equations simpler.

It takes a while to enter the Excel equations for the computations but well worth doing because you end up knowing how low of a price you can go to on a MaO item or whether you're selling below cost before you list it.

And, once equations are confirmed to be working right, I just copy/paste them for other items.

Plus, when postal rates change (like end of last month), I enter new rates for weight/service in the postage column and compare the numbers in the minimum listing price column to those in the my actual list price column to see what items I may need to adjust asking price on with no manual calculations need which is especially critical for "Free Shipping" items.

For this process, I have to sarcastically say "Thanks PayPal", your charging fee for shipping really stinks when shipping rates change as I then have to check every item listed to ensure I'm not selling it too low.

[olivia8143]

Before you list anything for export sales too, review government export restrictions. It's best to know what is prohibited before you post because "I didn't know" doesn't fly if you export a restricted item.

I think Penni was talking about putting "I don't know" for the postage not the description.

[buttons-and-bows]

Penni, I make a box fro standard sized, like a LL box, small parcel box etc, When i am listing say dolls furniture i put it in the nearest size box weight it and add 50p for packing, I re use these same boxes over and over again for working out postage cost, when you sell it make a new box up for it.