Really embarrasing question to ask...

[Starcade]

I figured this is the best place to ask this... and I feel stupid asking this, but I must find out sometime.

Ok, how do i sell games, i know i put them up, ect, wait for the cash to get here, ect, but when I have the cash..how does shiipping the game work, how do i go about it? I have no clue, I plan on selling some games in the near future online, and dont wanna fuck up and not know how when I do decide to sell, I only plan to ship to the US though.

Thanks for listening to my question.

[zektor]

I figured this is the best place to ask this... and I feel stupid asking this, but I must find out sometime.

Ok, how do i sell games, i know i put them up, ect, wait for the cash to get here, ect, but when I have the cash..how does shiipping the game work, how do i go about it? I have no clue, I plan on selling some games in the near future online, and dont wanna fuck up and not know how when I do decide to sell, I only plan to ship to the US though.

Thanks for listening to my question.

Just state in your auction that the shipping will be determined at the end of the auction. When the person wins, they'll email you their address. Just take the weight of the package and get a shipping quote at either www.usps.com (Postal Service) or www.ups.com (UPS) , add that to the auction total, and have the buyer pay you for everything. If you are selling little items like single cart games, you can basically guess what shipping would be. Usually to ship say something like a Genesis boxed cart would be $4 priorty shipping.

[Starcade]

It wont be an auction, I plan on selling the crap here, also, what do i weigh my package on, a typical scale? And also, what kind of boxes can be used to ship stuff, are there any limitations?

[nesman85]

a typical scale would work, you don't need to have the exact weight to find out an approximate price, just the pounds should be good enough. the boxes are supposed to have all markings completely blacked out, i think that's the only rule about boxes.

[Starcade]

Ok, thanks alot for all your guys help. now to just get these damn common games outta my hair.

[Funk Buddy]

It wont be an auction, I plan on selling the crap here, also, what do i weigh my package on, a typical scale? And also, what kind of boxes can be used to ship stuff, are there any limitations?

Ok... first off, I would not call it crap and then try to sell it here. O_O

I sell games and such on eBay sometimes and used to ship everything priority mail only with no choices (in the US). The benifit to this is free labels & boxes from the post office, the down side is price to the buyer. This will depend on the buyer, some will wait on media mail to save a couple of $$ and others will spend the $$ on express mail. If it was me I'd ask the buyer which shipping method they would like, that is if you can use all the available methods! I have quit shipping that way and use first class now, unless the buyer would like another method. I ship most of my items in bubble wrap envelopes with plenty of wrap around the item too. I'd like to think I do an overkill on the wrap to save any possible damage from not being in a box. If the item is too large then it'll probably have to go priority anyway, so keep that in mind.

As far as what type of box... pretty much anything goes. It can't be a box from anything flammable, like chemicals or aerosol cans (yes even if it's cookies inside!). The post office does not care what's really inside, they just see the outside and say no way. I think they will let you wrap them in brown paper now... unlike right after the anthrax scare (YMMV). All in all, if you ship priority it'll cut down on your cost, but please don't screw the buyer with $9 costs to ship one cart! >:(

[Starcade]

I dont plan on trying to screw people here, besides, most of the people here would pick up pretty quick, they have been buying online for quite awile, I will have assumed. I am only going to ship priority right now untill i learn about the post offices procedures, ect, but again, thanks for the help.

[Funk Buddy]

I dont plan on trying to screw people here, besides, most of the people here would pick up pretty quick, they have been buying online for quite awile, I will have assumed. I am only going to ship priority right now untill i learn about the post offices procedures, ect, but again, thanks for the help.


Sorry... it was a joke, please take no offense. :embarrassed: Go to the local post office and pick up the shipping cost pamplet they have, it'll help alot. Here is a link for you.

http://www.usps.com/consumers/domestic.htm#priority

Good luck with the selling!

[ClubNinja]

The most effective way to weigh packages (for entering them into the usps' online postage calculator) at home without having anything fancy is to use a typical bathroom scale. Just hold the package in your arms and stand on the scale. Take that value down. Now, weigh yourself without the package. Subtract that from the first weight. There you've got yourself a fairly spot-on measurement to calculate weight for shipping, which is independent of the possible poor calibration of the scale.

[omnedon]

Why no shipping to Canada? It does mean that you would have to fill out a few spaces on a little lable: value, contents, gift or merchandise (mark "gift" unless u want the buyer to get nailed by customs with duty).

Ebayers who won't ship to Canada get summarily ignored by me and many others. On Ebay, that matters, as every bid drives up the sell price. Why alienate an entire country of bidders?

I realize you aren't going to Ebay. I just wanted to speak up. I've done many great trades with some great Americans on this board. I love being able to work with my friends across the border. :-D It's not hard, or risky. Really!

[Funk Buddy]

Why no shipping to Canada? It does mean that you would have to fill out a few spaces on a little lable: value, contents, gift or merchandise (mark "gift" unless u want the buyer to get nailed by customs with duty).

Ebayers who won't ship to Canada get summarily ignored by me and many others. On Ebay, that matters, as every bid drives up the sell price. Why alienate an entire country of bidders?

I realize you aren't going to Ebay. I just wanted to speak up. I've done many great trades with some great Americans on this board. I love being able to work with my friends across the border. :-D It's not hard, or risky. Really!

I don't understand it either, most just can't be bothered I guess. I always sell to who wants to buy, no matter where they are at. It can be tricky with some shipping methods but nothing major! I have sold to people in:

Australia
Canada
Belgium
Germany
England
Mexico
The Netherlands
and a few more. Piece of cake!

[Achika]

It sucks that he won't ship to Canada guys, but I think I can understand why. Not saying any one here would do it, but unless you send the package Express, there's really no way to track it once it leaves his hands at the post office.

[Starcade]

The main reason for now is, i wanna learn to ship to US first, then I will surely be shipping stuff to Canada :)

[TRM]

Shipping to other countries (such as Canada) is a pain. From my experience, it takes much longer (2-3 weeks) to get the goods or the payment and selling a $7 game for a 2-3 week payment wait, it just isn't worth it to me. As for international, that's even worse. I remember winning an auction for a Famicom cart in Hong Kong (my first and last international auction). It took about three months for the payment to get out to the guy, and another two to get the game. Sheesh.

[TokenGamer]

Please don't compare USA-Hong Kong to USA-Canada. there is a huge difference between shipping something half way around the world or just over a border.
here in canada, mail going to the usa isn't even considered international. there is domestic, international and usa. usps and cp mail systems are very similar. one poor experiance doesn't mean every subsequent experience will be a bad one.
i've been selling on ebay for some time and my feedback is full of praise for extreamly fast shipping. having said that, i have experianced some delays with items that go out to the west coast usa. it happens. sometimes items get to the west coast in 5 days or less. sometimes they take 2 weeks.
BTW, a while back there was a 20/20 episode on the usps regarding the difference between priority and the slower method. basically what they showed was that sometimes the priority container is only half full of packages. you can't send a container out unless it's close to full because of efficiancy. so guess what??? the rest of the container/truck is loaded with slower mail to fill it up to make delivery efficient. slow mail in the back of the truck gets unloaded first because it's right infront of the door and blocking the priority packages. in the end, they stated that priority was not worth the extra money since chances are you'll get your item at the same time as a slower method. and sometimes there are delays in priority shipment as well.
i'm canadian and i know about how that works.

[TokenGamer]

@ TRM
how can you say "from my experience" (implying that you have experience) when you've only done it once and refused to "experience" it again.
you don't have any experience! call your self un-informed.
i don't mean to come down on you but the fact of the matter is that others like starcade who don't know any better (yet) will actually believe what you are saying.
you could be infecting others with ignorance. that's ugly.

[liquidmetal]

isnt it weighed in grams?

[dave2236]

I ship to canada quite frequently and find that shipping times are the same in the US. I live in Wisconsin, so they just throw the packages over Lake Superior and they are in Canada :-D

Its easy, 5 seconds to fill out a customs for and your all set....also I have found it cheaper to ship both small and large boxes to canada than it is to ship those boxes to east or west coast.

Shipping a game internationally to Europe usually cost about $7-8 depending on how many games.

[dave2236]

Forgot to add about sending payment....most people have international Paypal accounts now , so you can get the money ASAP...also Moneygrams work good to...or for larger amounts do a wire transfer.

Sending a check or monet order shouldn't take long, just ship it global priority.