Etsy And The New USPS Pricing Increase

I remember a time when it only cost me $.20 to mail a letter. That was around 1984. Today that same letter will cost me over double what it was then. It seems that shipping prices are always going to increase. The United States Post Office is increasing their rates again. So, you may want to go ahead and set up a new shipping profile and get all your mailing options changed.

If you'd like to see what your new rates are through Etsy or PayPal, Etsy has set up a chart that you can view here: New Postal Rates For Etsy For 2014 Please keep in mind that these prices are for postage purchased through Etsy and PayPal and they will be HIGHER if you go to the post office.

SO, it is time to calculate your shipping costs and change your listings. Don't forget that your shipping cost should not only reflect postage but packaging and the cost to take it to the post office. Be sure to factor in the full price of shipping as if you were paying for it at the post office as you will never kno when you have to actually do that.

Have a great weekend and I will see you all next week!

Etsy Lifts Ban On Shipping Upgrades

It's official! Etsy has lifted its ban on Shipping Upgrade Listings. Read about it in the Etsy Forum Post. So, what does this mean? Etsy has decided that it is okay to offer more than one shipping option. They plan to put some serious energy into making shipping options available in your listings. Until then, they have given the go ahead to make a listing for shipping upgrades.

Previously it was against the TOS to add an item that was contingent on purchasing another item. Because a shipping upgrade was deemed to not be a tangible item it was not allowed. After much discussion and interaction on the Etsy Admin forums they have finally changed their views.

Earlier in the year they actually tried a few different options and tested it with a select few accounts. Apparently the options provided were not all that effective so they abandoned them. Hopefully now that they are revisiting the options something will change soon. I would not expect any changes before the holidays. So, in the meantime, add those shipping upgrade listings.

When doing so I would make sure to include some information. The biggest thing that you need to have in your listing is that the upgrade is for your shop only! Also, it is probably a good idea to make sure that if you have different shipping prices that you have upgrades for each one. I suggest after creating the link you add it to all of the listings that it would work for.

These changes come just in time for the upcoming holiday season. So, get it done and get it done now, before it gets busy! That is it for today. See you all tomorrow. If you have comments please leave them here or email me MarketMyShop@gmail.com

Etsy Makes Shipping A Lot Less Complicated

Most of you probably already know about Etsy's shipping. I use it all the time. It saves you money! I bet a lot of you didn't realize that Etsy has some great shipping information for you, right at your finger tips!

On the left side of your user screen toward the bottom, tucked away, there is a section called Resources. Etsy adds things here without making any announcements so it is always good to check what's new. Honestly I am not sure how long this bit has been there. It is full of useful information. The kind of information you get frustrated with when you go to the USPS site!

 I suggest you have a look at all this shipping information and see what you didn't know! It is always a good idea to check what has been added by Etsy each day you log in. Important information can and is over looked because we are not paying attention.

I am working on the next eBook and it will be ready this week. This one is going to be about using Twitter to its fullest potential. Remember, all of the information I offer here is 100% free. My VERY inexpensive eBooks are the only way I make any money from this site. (Unless someone clicks on one of the ads, then I get like $.01!) So, if you would like to help support me and my free information please do not hesitate to buy one of my eBooks: https://www.etsy.com/shop/MarketMyShop

Let me know if you have any questions or comments! MarketMyShop@gmail.com

Selling Internationally On Etsy

I know most of you are based here in the US so this will apply to most of you. Ever since the major rate increase for USPS shipping I have lost about 1/3 of my sales. I did not lose any of my US sales but it would seem my international sales have screeched to a stand still.

When the rate increase happened items that would normally cost around $4 to ship became $8. I have yet to come up with a great solution to remedy this. I may end up raising my prices slightly and lowering my shipping. This seems to be the only option. I am not sure what it is but when people see $8 shipping they move on.

So, I have a few questions today and I would like a lot of answers either as comments or as emails. Has your Etsy income dropped since the postal rate increase? Have you done anything to make it better? If So, what? And for those of you readers that are not in the US: How has the rate increase hurt your business? Did your postal rates increase? Did it affect your business? Have you come up with a plan to make it better? If so, what?

On another note, I am almost done with my Twitter eBook and wanted to know what type of eBook you would be interested in seeing in my Etsy shop? Let me know by leaving a comment or send me an email to MarketMyShop@gmail.com

Keeping Accurate Records

An issue happened today that sparked this post. Me and my girlfriend run a small supply shop on Etsy. (Magpie Lane Supplies on Etsy) We do it to help offset the price when we buy in bulk. We ship to people everywhere in the world. Today someone opened a case saying that they had not received their item that they purchased in December. They reside in India.

Now we keep pretty good records, though I am not as organized as I should be. I generally make it a point to add shipping notification on every item I ship as well as the tracking number. I must have been out of customs forms and got one at the library because I marked the item as shipped but did not provide a tracking number. *Hint: You should always add a tracking number.

Fortunately, I keep receipts for any packages that I ship outside of the US, I always have. I was able to enter the number into the claim. I am not sure what is going to happen with this because there is no way to track an item sent out of the US First Class Mail. It may be I end up refunding the money. I do have proof that I shipped the item and proof that it was in the US for a time.

The point of the matter is you should keep detailed records of all kinds including records of shipping. I plan to put a tracking number into the Etsy system on every order from now on just to be safe.  Keeping accurate records can save you money.

Shipping Cost Increases

In case you were not aware prices for shipping through the US Post Office have increased yet again. Domestic shipping has not changed all that much, but if you ship internationally you'll notice a HUGE difference in pricing.

You may want to take a look at your current prices for shipping and make adjustments accordingly. I just had to nearly double my international shipping costs because I did not raise my shipping during the last postage increase.

Speaking of postage...

Have you figured in your cost for packaging? I buy a lot of my shipping materials in bulk so that I can save every penny for me and for my customers. For example, Bubble Wrap at Walmart is $17 for 150 feet. I was able to purchase 600 feet on eBay for around $35. 4x8 bubble mailers at Walmart are 3 for $1.97 and on eBay I got 500 of them for under $50.

It is a good idea to shop around for your packing materials. And be sure you are not giving the packaging away. Add it into your shipping cost or pad it into your product price.

I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them here or send me an email to: MarketMyShop@gmail.com

Etsy Direct Shipping

Yesterday I went to my sold items to mark them as shipped after creating the labels from PayPal. Low and behold I noticed something I had not seen before. There is now an option for creating shipping labels directly from Etsy! Now, apparently not everyone has this option yet and I never received a notification about it.

This is their answer to shipping with Etsy Direct Checkout. I had already made my labels so I have no idea what the pricing is and if it is comparable to PayPal or the USPS site. Hopefully Etsy won't be trying to make money off the shipping any more than they already do with your final fees.

Here is how it looks to work. You create the postage and the cost gets added to your Etsy bill. I can see this being a huge problem for some people. Your Etsy bill could get pretty hefty. Though it should come in pretty handy for those orders made through Etsy Direct Checkout. Well, it saves a short amount of time anyway. I guess as with all things, only time will tell.

If you already have this feature and are using it,  I would like to hear what your experiences are. Leave a comment or send me an email to MarketMyShop@gmail.com

Benefits of Free Shipping

Free shipping in your Etsy or ArtFire shop? That is crazy! Wait a minute, this could actually work...

I know it sounds like a no win situation but in reality it is a Win/Win situation! You add shipping to all of your items and offer free shipping. You also do not charge if it is purchased with something else. This is for domestic shipping of course. You still charge shipping on International orders but you take the Domestic charge out first. Here is an example:

Fabulous Item
Retail cost: $15
Actual Domestic Shipping with Materials: $3
International Shipping with Materials: $7
Listing Price: $18 w/ Free Shipping
International Shipping $4

Now if your customer buys a second item, they will also be paying full shipping in the cost of the item. You win. The customer wins. Everybody is happy. It may take you a while to change over your shop, but you will see an increase in sales.

That is it for today. Tomorrow I will be talking about special packaging that will double your chances of repeat customers. Also, if you don't follow this blog now is a great time to do so! Next week I will start a week long series on Advertising with Facebook! Until then, let me know if you have any questions! marketmyshop@gmail.com

Save On Packing Supplies

The Christmas season usually means more sales for your shop. More sales means a lot more packing material. Taking the time to search for the best packing materials can save you tons of money. I use a 7x9 bubble mailer for a lot of my items. I looked all over for a place locally to buy them. Walmart had them 5 for $2.97 and the Dollar Tree had them 2 for $1.00 I realized I was going through these about 5 to 10 a week so I started looking online and the best deal I found was on eBay. I found someone with high feedback selling 250 of them for $35.00 and free shipping.

Here are a few tips to help you save money on boxes, tape and more.

1. Paper or Plastic? Pick up a paper shredder at a thrift store. Get the one that does not cross cut the paper. Recycle newspaper and junk mail by shredding it and putting it in grocery store plastic bags. This works for a viable replacement to bubble wrap. If the bags do not look professional enough for you, use zip-lock bags and put a label on the bag stating you are using recycled material for packing to help save the environment.

2. It's a sticky situation. If you are using Priority Mail a lot, don't use your regular packing tape on the boxes. Order the tape from the USPS website. What you pay in postage includes your packing box and tape.

3. Boxy lady. Again if you are shipping Priority you can order all kinds of boxes from the USPS website. Why pay for a box if the post office supplies it to you free of charge. It isn't really free it is more included in the price.

4. Boxy lady, too. If you need boxes don't pay big bucks for new ones. Go to your grocery store, liqueur store, convenience store and ask them for their boxes. Recycle and help the environment. If you don't like the look of the box, most have a seam and can be taken apart and turned inside out.

That is all for now. I will be back again next week with more information, tips, tricks and maybe even a funny story. Tell your friends about the blog. If you have questions please share them.

Shipping Ups And Downs

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.