by Justin Manucci

Created on: August 09, 2009

Running an eBay business can be both fun and exciting, but surprisingly it can also be very costly! To add to these costs, eBay and PayPal fees will just not stop going up, making the burden even greater for the sellers. It's actually going to hurt eBay and PayPal in the long run most likely, as fewer and fewer people will want to do business with them, especially since PayPal just raised their fees again without even notifying their customers (August 2009). But, if you're one of those people who want to continue to use eBay, or another online selling venue such as Amazon, or other websites(maybe even your own e-commerce website!), there are many ways that you can help cut these costs. I have compiled a list of some of the different options to help you save money when running an online or eBay business.

1.) Shop Around for Shipping Supplies- Many people just buy padded envelopes and other shipping supplies from their local stores such as Staples, Office Max, etc. These stores are actually way more expensive than other local retail stores, and even more expensive than the alternatives that can be found online. eBay and other online retailers are actually the best place to buy shipping and packing supplies, as they can help save you a ton of money. I recommend buying your envelopes, markers, bubble wrap (If needed for the products you sell), and more online to help save you money. You can also reuse envelopes that are sent to you when you purchase items, to help save you even more money. Another way to save money on shipping supplies is to buy a roll of the brown packing paper or your local store, and wrap books, etc in that to avoid having to purchase envelopes.

2.) Don't Overpay for Listing Fees- eBay now offers five free insertion fees for users every 30 days to help spark some more use of the site(which is probably down because they keep raising their fees). You must be weary of this though, because when you use the free listings the Final Value Fee actually increases, so this is really only worth it if you list an otherwise expensive item to list, or if you're listing something you figure probably won't sell, but don't want to waste the insertion fees. Another way to save on insertion and listing fees are to avoid starting the listing high for items that will receive a lot of traffic. If you're selling an Xbox, starting the bid at .99 will be much cheaper. Now you know the item will get a ton of bids and sell for a lot more than .99, so there's nothing to worry about. If you are worried, you can set a low reserve, and as long as that's met you get your money back. Setting the starting bid at what you want to get for the item only works for things that you only expect to receive one or two bids.

Overall there a ton of ways to help save money when having a store online, and for more tips a simple Google search could probably help you out!

Learn more about this author, Justin Manucci.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.