Put a Shipping Cost Calculator in Your Auction
Use an HTML form and a little JavaScript to provide accurate shipping costs to your customers on the fly.
One of the advantages of understanding HTML is the ability to add functionality to your auction descriptions without having to rely on extra-cost services or — gasp — the intelligence of your bidders.
A shipping cost calculator, placed right in your auction description, will allow you to avoid setting a single, fixed shipping cost (which can scare away frugal bidders), and still avoid the burden of having to quote shipping costs to everyone who asks.
Probably the easiest way to provide self-service shipping cost information is to include your zip code and the weight of your item right in your auction description. Your bidders can then punch that information and their own zip code into a courier web site, such as ups.com or fedex.com, and get an accurate cost to ship, as well as any available shipping options (insurance, overnight, etc.). The problem is that it’s easy for the bidder to make a mistake or choose the wrong shipping options, which can cause all sorts of problems.
Fortunately, there are many more streamlined solutions, ranging from services provided by eBay to custom HTML-based calculators.
eBay’s Calculated Shipping
eBay offers sellers its own shipping calculator, a feature introduced in the middle of 2003. When listing your item, just choose the “calculated shipping” option. Specify your zip code, the weight and dimensions ...
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