Shipping is the one thing that we all have in common, from vintage seller to handmade jewelry shop. If you have an online shop you will have to ship items out. The question is what is the best way to ship? In most cases USPS is the best way to ship. That is if you live in the US. As far as different countries, if you live outside the US let us know how it is.
I use PayPal to collect funds on the items I sell. Paypal has a handy feature that allows you to print a shipping label directly from the order. Every label printed comes with "Delivery Confirmation." It does not have any insurance included. At least you have the word of the USPS that the package was delivered.
The way I figured out how much to charge for shipping was simple. I chose different weights and found out how much each would cost to ship to the farthest location in the US from me. That gave me my baseline for all shipping in the US. I also checked the same with the farthest location in Canada to get Canadian shipping. As far as International shipping goes, I took a look at the most expensive place to ship and dropped a few dollars off to get my Everywhere Else taken care of. If it weighs over 4 pounds you have to do International Priority which is very expensive, about double what it is under 4 pounds so keep that in mind.
Some of my items weigh over a pound so I use a lot of Flat Rate boxes. One item might cost $7.50 to ship priority but only $5.00 to ship flat rate. Another thing to take into account is packing material. If you use bubble wrap you know it isn't cheap. Shredded paper is a good alternative in some cases and it promotes recycling.
If you want to keep your shipping charges down so your customers don't freak out, you can put part of the cost into the item. This especially works well with insurance. On items that are higher dollar ($100+) you can add in $8 to $10 to your price and just say insurance is included. You could actually have free US shipping this way as well. Something to think about in the upcoming Holiday season.
Thanks for the information. Very useful.
ReplyDeleteVery timely post for the upcoming holidays. I will certainly re-visit my shipping and see how I can pass savings along and still be fair.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the perspective. I love using PayPal shipping also. It works for all domestic shipping ,but you cannot ship 1st Class International with it. For that, you must go to the post office.
ReplyDeleteFor International shipping, be sure that you read the shipping restrictions specific to the country you are shipping to. Also, you must fill out a customs form. I include the Post Office trip and customs form in my shipping price for International orders.
On another note, most of my items are extremely lite, so USPS 1st class is the least expensive option for me and my customers.
As always, thanks for the info!
Great information, thank you!
ReplyDeleteFor most sellers, Flat Rate Boxes are actually more expensive. If you can use the small box or envelope and it weighs more than a pound, then the small box or the envelope is the way to go, but for larger items, if they're heavy and not very big, it's worth looking into the USPS Regional Rate Boxes A or B. Those are similar in size to the Flat Rate medium and large boxes, but for most locations are cheaper than Flat Rate. You can only order the Regional Rate boxes online, and you have to print the label on the USPS website. Sometimes they save a significant amount of money.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I've discovered that the price to Canada is the same everywhere, whether it's just over the border or to a remote village north of the Arctic Circle, so when you check rates for Canada, you don't need to worry about where in Canada it's going. This makes it a little easier.
I'm fortunate to sell small jewelry items, so i usually charge 1.95 to 2.95 to ship all over the world. I rarely have to eat additional cost, but when i do, it's not very much so it doesn't bother me. I HAVE shied away from trying to sell my paintings online because of shipping though. I am so afraid of the canvases getting damaged, and just how high the cost to ship would be. I'll definitely need to look into how other painters do it before I attempt to take the leap myself.
ReplyDeleteI use USPS and Fedex. For shipping fragile bulkier things like pottery, I've found that for packages up to 2 pounds, you just can't beat USPS Priority majority of the time. Between 2 and 3 pounds it can go either way. Over 3 pounds (or if the box is over 12" square) Fedex is the best bet.
ReplyDeleteBeen finding your blog helpful, Eric. Thanks!
Great advice. I'll take it into account in the future!
ReplyDeleteI ship from Ireland and people in the US told me that my shipping costs might be seen as prohibitive. Someone suggested (maybe it was you!)that I lower the shipping and increase my price, because people for some reason don't mind paying more for handmade but baulk at having to pay shipping. I went one better and increased my prices in order to offer free shipping on everything. Suddenly, I started to get sales!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the advice. Will keep in mind.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the info. I am also shipping from Ireland. Now An Post has decided that you can't ship jewellery by registered post or insure it!Any ideas how I can get around this one?
ReplyDeleteMouflon.
I'm in the UK, so I weigh my items and find the price from the royal mail website: http://sg.royalmail.com/portal/rm/PriceFinder
ReplyDeleteMy buyers are often American, so I use http://zip4.usps.com/zip4/welcome.jsp to find the extra zip code digits.
In the UK we have no other option except to go to the post office to send our packages, you Americans don't know how lucky you are! Many of our smaller post offices are being shut down though, so I never use paypal shipping as that would disadvantage my local post office who don't earn so much if you don't buy the stamps from them.
Heather, Thank you so much for your insights.
ReplyDeleteMouflon, You mean Ireland won't let you send registered or insured jewelry? That is kind of not nice. Do you have any other shippers? Like Mollie said, if it is more expensive to ship add some of the shipping cost into your price. Do you have an option for general merchandise or fashion accessories?
Most of our products weigh under 1 LB, so USPS first class is our first choice in shipping. Something you may also want to consider as a business is offering other shipping options as well. It's few and far between, but on occasion we get asked to send something via FedEx or UPS due to postal restrictions in some rural areas. After we were asked if we could do this, it was a no-brainer to pop it into our shipping policy that we were happy to accommodate shipping needs and quote other shipping options upon request.
ReplyDeleteGreat information, thank you so much. There is so much to think about and figure out when starting a business, it can get overwhelming! I recently started thinking about shipping internationally but was clueless and avoiding the big internet search. You all made my life easier, thanks a million!
ReplyDeleteDanielle
Sadah Jewelry
www.facebook.com/sadahjewelry
www.sadahjewelry.blogspot.com
www.etsy.com/shop/sadah