A seller using the internet has a lot of decsions to make in all aspects of selling to online and/or mail order customers.  The one choice that seems the most misunderstood is the choice that you make about method of shipping.  USPS, UPS, FEDEX or others who carry our inventory to our customers offer a multitude of shipping options but the first question a seller should ask is how do my customers feel about my choice of shipping.

Just take a moment and ask yourself "If I bought something on-line and it did not arrive for almost two weeks would I want to buy from that seller again?" 

I asked myself the same question when I set up my internet store (10 plus years ago) and my e-Bay auctions and store.  My decision was get it to the customer as soon as possible for a fair price and be able to tell a customer when it was shipped; I could determine when it arrived at what address and what time of day it was delivered by going on-line.  If  a customer tells me it never arrived I can send them a factual history of the shipment and when it was placed at the address they provided.  If it was missing it was due to something other than not being delivered.

My choice? USPS Mail- Express Mail, Priority Mail for shipments within the US and to APO's and FPO's.  I do it all online and have the mail carrier pick up and provide them with a scan sheet.

Why don't I use  Parcel Post-I do not use Parcel Post mainly it cannot be determined when and where the item was delivered and it is slower than UPS.  As a buyer for some of my customers I cannot abide by sellers who use Parcel Post and then say that Priority Mail is too expensive.   An example-I live in the metro Portland, Oregon area and I bought an item on e-bay that was shipped from a seller in New Jersey.  The seller used Parcel Post-the shipping was supposedly "free".  It was a "Buy It Now"  and I paid promptly, (July 5, 2007) and the item arrived July 19, 2007.  Cost to ship Parcel Post?  $6.15  Cost to ship Priority Mail? $7.50  Two weeks had past before I received the items then on top of that the item was not as described and the circus began, but that is another story.

My point is give your customers some choices that help you.  If they want it soon you can get it to them to meet their needs and if they don't care and want to save a dollar ship it at a snails pace.  As a customer I would rather spend the extra dollar and get it within three days and have Saturday delivery.  As a seller I want the item in the buyer's hands as soon as possible.  (Nope, I don't work for the Post Office-I am just one of their fans-)  

Feedback has its ups and downs, but the one that gets me going is a need to request a feedback from either a buyer or seller 3 or more times.  I have requested feedback over and over again and I am at the point that if I don't receive a response after a given time to my requests the bidder gets blocked from bidding on any other items.  If a seller does not respond I will consider them a business risk and I will list the seller as non-responsive as well as the horse he rode in on.

Then what about leaving feedback and then not get feedback.  I can see it where no one wants to leave feedback first then the whole system will go up in flames-just joking, I think.

So from the horse to the rider, lets all work together and get this party started on ensuring feedback from both sides of the horse.