I don't ship the items I sell on FB marketplace. But I have sold on Ebay. I've been slimming down my McCoy collection. I take pictures, then wrap and box the item and weigh it. Ebay calculates postage based upon weight, shipper(USPS, UPS, etc) and zip code of the buyer. If you get flat rate USPS boxes from USPS, it simplifies it a bit. I would calculate shipping based upon the farthest distance(ie. Calif.) and then include a flat rate shipping charge in the ad.

thanks, Czar, that is super helpful information.

I sell some handmade items. I found the best shipping rates are via PirateShip. I weigh and calculate the shipping price. Depending on the weight of the item, flat rate boxes can be a lot more expensive.

I don't know a thing about shipping, but what is that cool piece with the bird on it?

If you want to sell locally, also consider Sales By Helen. They do online sales. of course they keep a percentage but saves you the hassle of packing and shippping.

Sales By Helen

Bookwoman, they call it a lantern, really a candle holder. An admin on one of the pages has one ( havent found any others) and she says she wont take less than $350 for it. crazy prices

Jojo, I don't sell from home, but I buy alot from home (LOL!!). I've had several sellers who quote a shipping price before hand, then if it's much higher when they actually ship (I would guess this is mainly due to WHERE it ships), they refund excess shipping cost. I bet your things will sell quickly!

This is not helpful to your question, but holy crap that's some good resale value! I was thinking "oh that's such a cute pattern, I'd totally love to buy it from you even though I don't need it" untl you mentioned the price. ;) lol

I think we have a huge disconnect with regard to shipping, probably fueled by all those places that offer free shipping. It costs money to ship things. I would consider some strategies, like mentioning shipping savings for multiple orders or making sure that the selling price is high enough to cover unexpected costs if you offered a flat shipping rate. I would never have enough faith in the customer that they could adequately figure out the shipping costs on their own. It seems to be asking for confusion. I would also absolutely add insurance to the configurations, to cover yourself in case somebody tries to pull a fast one.

Good advice, tish and others. I have reached out to the estate sales person ded mentioned, but most likely I will sell it for local pickup only. I'm outside of Philly and there are 33K people on the most popular buy/sell board. Certainly a fair number must live fairly close to me.

If the pieces fit in the USPS flat rate boxes, you can use those rates--some sellers of stuff do that.

I ship by USPS all my items. I have to say that I have shipped over 1,500 items successfully, (knock on wood), by Priority Mail, with no problems. A few items have been delayed beyond the Priority Mail ship dates, but that's all.

I sold my old wardrobe on ebay. ebay makes the shipping super simple. You can either choose a flat rate box or measure/weigh your items to determine postage, then once the item sells, purchase the postage through ebay and print your shipping label. As I sold mostly soft clothing, I found it more economical to use plastic mailer bags vs. the flat rate boxes. You can set it up so that USPS picks up the packages at your house, but I don't trust the safety of that in my area (porch pirates). I just made a habit of popping by the post office and dropping off the items. They're already labeled, so you don't need to stand in line.

I only sell locally on FB Marketplace and I'm not sure they're set up for shipping ease like an ebay or etsy is.

Don't forget to factor in your shipping-associated cosets like tape and bubble wrap. Those things can get pricy

I only sell locally on FB. With eBay, there are more seller protections and they've helped me in a couple cases. As for shipping with eBay - make sure you weigh and measure the items before listing. eBay has an "estimated weight" that threw my shipping prices waaay off.

Was it here that we had the fascinating conversation about Victoria Mackenzie-Childs, Patience Brewster and Pleasant Rowland of American Girl? IIRC, we covered the Wells College and Auburn NY connections and their interesting (and sometimes odd) ideas about education and decorating.

Pirate Ship is new to me. How are they able to discount UPS and USPS? Their website doesn't seem to explain it. Answering my own question:

Why is pirate Ship so cheap?

In essence, Pirate Ship earns money from the difference between official commercial shipping rates and the unofficial, lower rate it negotiates with its partners. The difference may be as little as a few cents, so the Pirate Ship platform relies on substantial order volume to drive appreciable revenue.Jan 10, 2022

I learned about Pirate Ship from someone on the forum, I don't remember exactly who it was. Maybe Lars?

Was it here that we had the fascinating conversation about Victoria Mackenzie-Childs, Patience Brewster and Pleasant Rowland of American Girl? IIRC, we covered the Wells College and Auburn NY connections and their interesting (and sometimes odd) ideas about education and decorating.

I would love to read that if there's a link : ) .

Nothing to add except that I can't stop ogling that cabinet in the background. :-)

Found it!

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/6133235/i-want-one-of-these-decorative-colorguide-boxes#n=38

Jo, i noticed that SBH is featuring a MacKenzie Child octagon plate . Might be interesting to follow and see if it sells. Not you pattern.

Ded, I did hear back from SBH. They were interested and wanted to know what my price was for the collection, or if I wanted them to list it and give me 50%. I gave them the list of prices and told them I was going to trry to sell on my own for local pickup. Haven't heard back.

Fifty percent! Had no idea they charged that much. Im sure the right buyer is out there. I wonder how much Vevet Shoestring charges?