Packing and shipping: are the two least enjoyable parts of an eBay business. Almost every PowerSeller I have ever talked to says the least enjoyable part about having your own eBay business is packing the products and shipping them to their customers. But this is a major part of an eBay business and it typically can't be avoided. I know what your going to say to that...what about drop shipping!? Not so fast.

Drop shipping can be a great time saver, but most PowerSellers don't recommend having your items drop shipped to your customers right off the bat. But why not, drop shipping makes everything so much easier, right? All you have to do is list items up for auction and when they sell your supplier ships the products straight to your customers. In theory drop shipping is the obvious way to go, but in the world of eBay it's not so simple.

What happens when you sell a whole bunch of items and your supplier sends them to the wrong addresses? What happens when you sell a bunch of products and your supplier is out of stock? What happens is, your reputation goes down the drain. To the supplier you're just another client. If the supplier sends the items to the wrong address it's your reputation that's on the line not theirs.

If you are going to use drop shipping; make sure there is good communication between you and your supplier. Most suppliers are too busy to cater to all of your needs, so a good relationship with the supplier will also help. The best way to approach drop shipping is carefully. Place an order first, see how good the supplier's service is, and IF the service is good only then start drop shipping.

Make sure you have some products in stock in case the supplier runs out by the time your auctions have closed. A lot of PowerSellers use drop shipping, but they use it for only a small portion of the products they sell, most of the stuff they sell they ship themselves.

Most sellers use drop shipping to save time, they want to make more money by selling more products but don't have the extra time to pack and ship them, so they use drop shipping. Drop shipping can be a great way to save time and effort. And if you are thinking about using it, make sure you order some products and check out the service and communication of the supplier that is going to drop ship your products.

Anyways, back to the regular kind of shipping. As I said before, shipping and packing are the least liked parts of an eBay business but is something that needs to be done. Since shipping and packing are the least liked parts of an eBay business, they are often neglected and never worked on.

So how can you work on the packing and shipping part of your business? How can you make it better, more efficient and even somewhat enjoyable? Keep reading…