Shipping of Goods

The movement of product to your buyer is a demanding process. Your entire
auction business will fall on its face if your merchandise delivery isn’t prompt
and intact.

If you're like me, you probably hate packing and shipping the things you sell on eBay.

The following 7 steps will help make your job easier when it comes to shipping, as well as get rid of the stress of waiting for the item to be delivered to the buyer.

1. Professional Wrapping

When you wrap your item(s), wrap it professionally in nice, clean tissue paper. If breakable, be sure the item is wrapped with bubble wrap as well. Include a business card with your website information, name, address, or a printed statement showing the item(s) name, item(s) number, price paid, and a small hand-written note thanking the buyer for their purchase.

2. Insurance

Insurance is usually a good idea but in general, it should be an optional feature, with the decision left to the buyer. Remember two important things about insurance. First, insurance is VERY inexpensive. Therefore, in your description, you should state how much insurance would cost and recommend it. Second, you should also state in the description that if insurance is not purchased, you are not responsible for lost or damaged items.

3. Weighing

In order to provide accurate details and help in determining shipping costs, you need to know exact weights. The best option, which will save you many unnecessary trips to the post office, is to purchase a inexpensive quality scale for weighing your packages.

4. Postage

Instead of always running out of stamps or having to run to the post office to ship a smaller item, fill out the information located at stamps.com where you can print stamps directly from your home computer.

5. Post Office Freebies

If you use the Priority Mail option through your post office, they will provide all your supplies for free. This includes boxes, labels, and tape. Best of all, they deliver all these supplies directly to your door. Get them at your local post office or go to USPS.com request mailing supplies.

6. Ship-To Locations

Be sure to consider where you will ship to carefully. You will have buyers from around the world but you can limit where you will ship. Some people prefer to ship to the US, Canada, and European countries while others ship anywhere. The option is completely yours but keep in mind that there are some differences in how you wrap the package, the currency exchanges, and communication barriers between you and the buyer.

7. Delivery Confirmation

Unfortunately, some buyers will try to say they paid for an item but never received the auction item(s). When shipping, you should consider using delivery confirmation. This service is generally inexpensive and can end up saving you a ton, especially if the item(s) is higher priced.

Do yourself a favor and put these tips into action - you'll save yourself both time and hassles. Use the time you save to get more listings up, and watch your eBay income grow.

Most auction items in India are shipped through mostly Speed Post, Blue Dart, DHL, United Parcel Service and Federal Express.

India Post (www.indiapost.gov.in)
One indispensable item for successful auction selling is a postal scale. Mine
is measured in ounces because I usually deal in small items. Buy a scale that
is flexible enough to meet your needs.
Do make use of the postal calculator available at "http://www.indiapost.gov.in/Netscape/PostageCalculator.html”
Know your shipping charges in advance, have postage affixed to the package
and just drop it off at the Post Office.
Do make use of the pincode finder facility at http://www.indiapost.gov.in/Pin/Pinsearch.aspx. It might be a hassle initially but a sure shot way to get the exact pin code. It will help if you know the exact post-official name of the place.
Do include tracking for cheaper items, even though it may cost a little more. Always charge the buyer a bit of the extra that you spend for the tracking facility on every package, don’t request permission. It’s just included as part of the transaction.

Among the private providers I liked UPS with their advanced tracking system in which you can track the status of your parcel at their website at “http://www.ups.com/tracking/tracking.html”.

The other options are:-

Blue Dart - www.bluedart.com
DHL - http://www.dhl.co.in/

Since I have used only the Indian Post and UPS I wont be able to comment on the others.