Fragrances are a profitable item to sell on eBay, but shipping them through the U.S. Postal Service can get tricky because they are  flammable and hazardous. Perfume, cologne, and fragrances in general are made from aromatic oils blended with alcohol. Because fragrances are a common household item, you may not consider them as a hazardous liquid. However, when fragrances are subjected to temperature changes or atmospheric pressure, the alcohol ingredients can become a volatile and hazardous substance.

Proper Packaging is Key
When eBay sellers are shipping fragrances, you must be sure to package them carefully. Glass bottles can shatter in transit if not packaged correctly. Always wrap glass fragrance bottles in several layers of bubble wrap. Then, set the wrapped bottle inside a box with at least 4 inches of space between the wrapped bottle and the box. Fill in the space with packing peanuts or shredded newspaper. If shipping multiple bottles, wrap each bottle in bubble wrap individually. Make sure there is plenty of space between each bottle inside the box and ensure the different bottles don’t touch each other. Fill in all the empty areas with plenty of packing peanuts. Once the box is closed and taped properly, try shaking it lightly — you should not hear anything moving around inside the box.

USPS Mail Classes to Use
The USPS only allows fragrances to be shipped by ground methods of transportation such as Parcel Post. USPS regulations also require your package to be labeled with the words “ORM-D Parcel Post” clearly written on the outside of the box.

Due of their flammable nature, they may not be shipped by air via expedited services such as Priority Mail or Express Mail. And since there are no ground shipping options to international destinations (including Canada), fragrances cannot be shipped internationally. Also, shipping fragrances to Hawaii is not permitted since there are no ground shipping options to the islands.

If you are selling empty collectible perfume bottles, the rules are not as strict. The bottles are empty, and therefore, not flammable or hazardous. Just make sure you package the bottles with care as described above. The fragrance bottles are still fragile and need special attention.

About the Author
Selling on eBay since 2003, Suzanne Wells aka The eBay Selling Coach has sold over 17,000 items as a one person operation and has achieved the status of Silver Level Power Seller on eBay.   Suzanne’s book, The Stay-at-Home Mom’s Guide to Successful eBay Selling helps eBay sellers learn what products to sell, where to find them and how to successfully market on eBay.

Expanding your eBay business to international buyers can open up a world of profit. However, sending a package to an international location is much different than sending one in the continental U.S. and requires a little more  research.  Plus, with many different mail classes offered from each carrier, shipping costs can be extremely expensive and can be two or three times the cost of the product purchased.   Check out the table below to see the cost differences by carrier: 

Example:  2 lb. package shipped from Los Angeles, CA to a residential address in Berlin, Germany purchased on eBay for $15.00

 As you can see, costs can vary widely and the U.S. Postal Service is by-far the cheapest method to mail packages outside of the United States.  Using the USPS can keep your total listing costs down, allowing your product to look more attractive to international buyers.

USPS Offers Great Low Cost Options for International Shipping
There are three great cost-efficient options to ship packages internationally with the USPS – First Class Mail International, Priority Mail International and Express Mail International.  Each mail class has its own unique advantages and disadvantages:

First Class Mail International is the cheapest method to send items up to 4 pounds in weight internationally among all shipping carriers. However, this mailing option doesn’t offer tracking or delivery confirmation.   

First Class Mail International is a great option if you are shipping low cost items that can be replaced easily.  Ideally, if your package was ever lost in the overseas delivery, it should be more economical for you to ship a second package to the buyer rather than track down the lost package.  Packages can take between a week and a month to arrive at their destination.

Priority Mail International is one of the fastest and most affordable methods to send packages overseas.  The mail class offers Flat Rate shipping and has a 70-pound maximum for packages. Similar to First Class Mail International, package tracking and delivery confirmation is not available for Priority Mail International. If you are buying postage online via Stamps.com, you’ll receive a discounted rate of 5% off the retail price for your Priority Mail International shipments.  Packages can take between 6 to 10 days to be delivered to their destination.

Express Mail International is the fastest mail service the USPS offers for International mail delivery.  The mail class provides a delivery-date guarantee to select countries including Australia, Great Britain, Northern Ireland, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Spain and South Korea. Similar to Priority Mail International, Express Mail International also offers Flat Rate shipping and has a 70-pound maximum for packages.  You’ll also get free insurance up to $100 with this mail class, as well as real-time package tracking. Stamps.com customers receive an 8% discount on Express Mail International rates.  Package delivery can take between 3 to 5 days anywhere the USPS ships to – over 190 countries.

Once you make the decision to sell to international buyers, online postage services like Stamps.com can make your shipping process easier than ever. Customs forms are automatically integrated into the program and will automatically import the delivery address into the customs form for you.   You can also consult the U.S. Postal Service’s International Mail Manual from inside the software to review the shipping prohibitions and restrictions of each individual country.

This week, the U. S. Postal Service, UPS, and FedEx all raised their shipping rates.  While the USPS raised retail rates by an average of 3.9 percent (3.2 percent for Stamps.com customers), UPS Ground and FedEx Ground both raised their rates by an average of 4.9 percent.  In our latest, survey, we asked customers to tell us how these rate increases would affect their ecommerce program.

Most interesting is the rate at which merchants will be changing carriers due to the rate change; in particular the rate at which merchants claim they will be moving volume to the USPS (likely based on the USPS have the lowest rate increase).  Be sure to check out the rest of the survey questions to find out more about how shipping affects ecommerce merchants.

Will Merchants Change Carriers Based on Changing Rates?
Almost half (46 percent) of survey respondents stated these rate increases will influence which mail carrier they will use in 2011.

Two-thirds of respondents reported that they currently use more than one carrier.

Of the respondents that use more than one carrier, 50 percent have no intentions to change carriers based on the rate change.  For those that plan to change, the USPS is the carrier merchants are most likely to switch to.

Switching Costs

While more than half (52 percent) of respondents reported that there is little or no back-end work required to accomodate the rate change, 26 percent of merchants will need to perform at least one day of work due to the rate change.

In addition to rate change questions, we also asked a number of other questions for ecommerce merchants.  Here are some of the more interesting results:

How Do Ecommerce Merchants Determine Shipping Rates?

When asked how ecommerce merchants price their shipping charges, 44 percent of the respondents stated they utilize destination and/or weight based pricing.  40 percent stated they use flat rate pricing to determine their shipping charges.

While the zone/weight based pricing is generally a more accurate method, it is also much more complicated as it generally requires merchants to populate rate information for hundreds of zone/weight combinations and typically necessitates a system that allows for dynamic rate checks based on what customers have in their cart and what they have entered as a delivery address; to say nothing of the added complexity that more than one distribution center can add.

Customers Prefer Home Delivery

74 percent of respondents ship at least half of their packages to a home address.

Although FedEx ($2.50) and UPS ($2.45)  charge residential surcharges, only 12 percent of merchants have different rates for home/business shipments (USPS has no residential surcharges).

How Heavy Are Typical Packages?

83 percent of respondents reported that the majority of their packages weigh three pounds or less.  Only 4 percent typically ship packages over ten pounds.

This survey was sent to current Stamps.com customers that operate an ecommerce store.  The survey was conducted from December 16-21, 2010.

Click here for more information on the 2011 USPS Rate Change.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the survey!

The USPS recently announced that today is the busiest day of the year estimating a 40% increase compared to typical daily volume (today would be a great day to skip the trip to the Post Office by using free USPS carrier pickup).  We thought this might be a good day to share some other interesting postal facts published by the Post Office.

• Average mail volume is 559 million mail pieces per day
• On Monday, December 20th, the USPS estimates they will process 800 million mail pieces (40% increase compared to average mail volume)
• 40 percent of the world’s mail volume is process by the USPS
• The USPS uses over 218,000 vehicles to transport mail in the United States making their delivery fleet the largest civilian fleet in the world
• The Post Office with the highest elevation is 10,500 feet above sea level in Leadville, CO
• The lowest elevation for a Post Office is 190 feet below sea level in Mecca, CA
• The most isolated Post Office is in Anaktuvuk Pass, AK.  All  mail must be flown in.  Unlike other carriers, there is no rural surcharge when shipping with the USPS.

Click here for more interesting postal facts.

Kat Simpson has been selling women’s fashions online since 1997.  She operates her own website, KatsKloset.com and also sells on eBay, Amazon and Bonanza.  Along with being an entrepreneur, Kat is a certified eBay education specialist and often teaches new sellers how to find selling opportunities.  She lives in Montgomery, Alabama.

Stamps.com recently caught up with Kat at the eBay Radio party in Las Vegas.

Tell us about yourself and your business.
I’m Kat Simpson from KatsKloset.com  I sell products invented by women for women, such as shoes, hats and hand cream.  We donate 10% of our proceeds to a women’s charity in Honduras and I’m a Stamps.com user and I love it!!!

How are you using Stamps.com to ship your products?
I’m using Stamps.com to make my life easier!   Shipping is one of the most time-intensive processes for an entrepreneur like myself.  So if I can use a service like Stamps.com to import all of my sales order data and I don’t have to retype it four different times in four different places, that software becomes a huge time-saver for me.  Stamps.com imports the sales order data automatically from eBay and Amazon – for my Amazon orders, it really cuts my shipping time because I haven’t found any other program that imports orders from Amazon the way Stamps.com does.  Stamps.com brings the order info into the software, I hit the button and tell it the software how much the product weighs and Stamps.com prints that pretty little shipping label out.  Afterward, in a wonder of wonders, Stamps.com goes back into Amazon and updates the order with a delivery tracking number. 

Tell us more about how Stamps.com saves you time.
The best part about Stamps.com for me and my business is that it processes my Amazon orders almost seamlessly.  I don’t have to go into Amazon and grab the customer info and paste it into the shipping software and then go back to Amazon and copy and paste the tracking number. Stamps.com does all of that for me – the software saves me a ton of time with Amazon orders —  and that’s why I love it.

Check out Kat’s site at KatsKloset.com or follow her on Twitter @katskloset

Thanks for watching!  For more information, be sure to watch our video on importing orders from your ecommerce store.