How to reduce costs when selling on eBay

Whether you're a regular seller or not, we all know that eBay fees are EXPENSIVE.
Before you sell on eBay, consider the following avenues:

- craigslist.org - This is totally FREE. Buyers usually come to your home and pay cash.
- Etsy.com - They charge much lower fees but you are only allowed to sell handcrafted items/ supplies.
- Foodzie.com - Again, fees are lower but this site is dedicated to cooks and bakers.
- LocalHarvest.com - You can place a free ad if you have produce to sell.

I've been successful selling my eggs from just listing on craigslist and LocalHarvest.com

When all else fails, try eBay. So how do you lower  your costs selling on eBay?

- List only up to 50 auctions/month. eBay gives you 50 free listings per month. This reduces your risk because you don't have to pay insertion fees.

- Be a top-rated seller and receive 20% off final value fees

-From Thanksgiving - Dec 25 2011, offer free expedited shipping service with 1-day handling and get an additional 20% off final values fees. This can be on top of your top-rated seller discount.

- Get discounted USPS rates by printing your shipping label directly from MY EBAY. You can now even print USPS international first class labels from there.

• Under MY EBAY, go to SELLING on the left menu
• Click on SOLD
• That will take you to a page where you can see items you need to ship

• Finally you'll  get to the page where you can print the appropriate shipping label.

- Sign up for the AD SUPPORTED SHIPPING - Under the Applications tab in "My EBAY" find ADSHIP and sign up. Basically they'll pay you $0.19+  for adding a printed ad with your shipment.

 - Save in shipping insurance - Under the Applications tab in "MY EBAY" find SHIPSAVER INSURANCE. Rates start at $0.79 and you can insure USPS first class international mail shipments.