I sell a lot of things online, most of it through Ebay. The shipping costs can add up over the years so I’ve spent some time looking at the cheapest shipping options.

First of all, do NOT go to those specialized shipping stores that will package the item for you. They will charge you an arm and a leg for something you can very easily do at home.

Just save all your old boxes (i.e from Amazon purchases) to reuse. With creative use of a bathroom scale, you can get fairly accurate weights of even light packages. Print out the label on a regular printer and tape it to the box. And tape it up well. No waiting in line!

The trifecta of shipping companies are USPS, UPS, and Fedex. I will usually shop around with each to determine where I can get the best price. Make sure you have a drop-off location nearby (unless you pay a little for a pick up) since you don’t want to waste gas driving too far. Each has certain advantages for certain items.

USPS. Best for any small items (<10 lbs). If you have a paypal account, you can create a shipping label online for free.

Letters, of course, just require a stamp. Instead of buying stamps at the USPS, you might consider Ebay for those forever stamps. They continually sell at a slight disount. Plus you are basically locking in the stamp price against future price increases because the forever stamp is guaranteed.

Wait for an Ebay coupon.I bought like a 10-year supply of forever stamps at a 35% discount when Ebay had its generous Live.com cash back.

USPS is also great for selling books and movies with its Media Mail option. You won’t find a cheaper price to ship these items.

Fedex and UPS I use quite often for the medium (5-20lb) and larger (20-40lb) items. They each have similar prices and you should choose based on on how far they are from you and what kind of discounts you get.

Fedex:  If you don’t have a company discount, here are some links to get a temporary 10-30% fedex discount or an 8-16% free discount. Also, many American Express cards offer a 5% Fedex cash back which stacks with the other discount.

UPS: I get up to a 23% discount since I qualify as an Ebay power seller. But I’m not aware at this time of any free discounts.

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Hope this was helpful in picking a shipping carrier. Do you know of any special deals to save money on shipping?