CS Shipping weight and how to check your shipping prices

[Former_Member]

Hey everyone, I'm just about ready to open my shop with the last few bugs to work out being the calculated shipping and writing my shop policies. But there are a few things about the calculated shipping that I still don't understand.

First of all they tell you to weigh your item with its' packaging (box, envelope, bubble wrap etc.) but if the weight for the packaging is included in the weight of every item, when someone purchases multiple items won't the weight always be too high?

For example: I sell zipper pouches they fold flat and I can fit 3 of them in the cardboard shipping envelopes I have. But because the weight for the item and envelope are applied to each listing, won't the weight calculated for that package end up being for three items and three envelopes instead of three items and one envelope?

I think the best way to fix this would be for etsy to separate the weight of the box or envelope from the weight of the item, it could easily go in the package preferences when creating a custom package size. I'm hoping someone out there has already figured this out though.

My second question is once the item weights balance out correctly how do I know if the calculated shipping price is accurate? Many of the threads say to check your shipping prices but I'm not sure what metric I'm supposed to check them against. I was hoping to figure this out before opening my shop, but generally people seem to put items in their own carts to look at the shipping cost and my shop would have to be open to do that.

Sorry this ended up kind of long, but any thoughts and ideas would be much appreciated!

[Former_Member]

Hello Erin

First let's deal with your zipper pouches. Put 3 of them in the envelope you talk about using and weigh that. Now you have a good idea what the weight is for 3 of them shipping together. Now see what the weight is for just one in the envelope. You can come up with an average to use. Not the full weight for one.

Now make sure you add this envelope to Package Preferences and also make sure you put a height for it of at least 3 inches.

Dimensions you put in your listing should be the item, folded and ready to put in the envelope. If this item is less than 1 inch in height, you can put that in the listing, but the calculator is going to read this as 1 inch. So if you count on the height being 1 inch and you can fit 3 in the envelope then the height of the envelope has to be 3 inches.

Now when you list a package preference you can add a shipping and handling charge to go on that box or envelope once per order. Here is where you can add in the cost of the envelope and you can also add a little extra to make up for the shipping price difference between shipping one or three.

Since you want the weight for 1 to be slightly lower in the listing so it doesn't add up too fast for multiples, you can make up the difference like I said above.

Usually you want to keep in mind the different thresholds. Are you going to print your shipping labels on Etsy? Or will you take your items to the PO? That makes a difference in the prices you select to use in your shipping profile and it also makes a difference for first class weight limits. For the PO it is 13 ounces. For Etsy it is 16 ounces.

So if you use Etsy labels and know the limit for first class is 16 ounces and 3 of your pouches can ship together in that envelope and not go over 16 ounces, then the weight you put in your listing should not be more than 5 ounces or 5.3 ounces.

You really need to open your shop and list an item in order to be able to set up and test calculated shipping. You can look at your shop in another browser or you can sign out of your ID and go back to your shop and put things in your cart to see how it is working.

[Former_Member]

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to me Kathy.

I do intend to use etsy's shipping labels for my shop.

I now understand how to get etsy to put multiple pieces in one envelope and have adjusted my numbers accordingly.

If I understand correctly what you're saying about the weight is that the actual weight of one pouch and one envelope isn't so important. But knowing the weight limits, whether or not you stay within them, and then averaging that number out is the way to go. Because I can look at a scale and know yes, three of my pouches and one envelope weigh less than 16 ounces, that is what dictates my math.

And any discrepancies in the weight can be made up with the cushion of a handling fee as well as the price of the envelope. (Since if someone just buys one the listed weight would technically be a little under the actual weight) Did I get that right?

[Former_Member]

Erin, you have it right. Some folks don't get the adjusting of the weight, but it's especially important with light items and if you tend to sell more than one. Come back with any questions anytime.

[Former_Member]

Whew, I'm feeling a lot better about this now thanks again for all your help. It seems like a lot to learn but I know it will ultimately be better for me and the buyer to put in the time to figure it out.

I've been playing around with my weights and decided for the sake of consistency I'm just going to do the math with two pouches in the envelope at a time. I have two different sized pouches, and once the larger size pouch gets involved only two will fit inside.

Plus I don't really see people purchasing more than two at a time.

I've got one more question for you.

Going back to my initial post once I input my new weights, open my shop and put items in my cart to see the shipping prices how do I know if the prices I'm seeing are accurate? Or in other words how do I check my work?

[Former_Member]

Here is the postage calculator on Etsy - you can find it by going to your Shipping Profile page - on the right side there are some links and one is to look up shipping costs.

https://www.etsy.com/shipping/us/price-your-postage?ref=shipping_mgr

With this calculator you put in your zip code and a destination zip code. The dimensions of the package (that would be your envelope not the item) and the weight of the package.

The calculator will give you both Etsy prices and Retail prices side by side.

To see what your calculated shipping looks like to a buyer by putting multiples in your cart there are two ways to do this.

You can sign out of your Etsy ID and go back as a shopper or your can open to your shop in another browser and not sign in.

If you know what it should cost, then you can check to see if that is what is calculating for your buyers.

Remember when you do this that if you have added a shipping handling fee somewhere, you need to add that onto the postage.

Good idea to base your weight on two rather than three. The idea is to get as close as possible. It may not always be right but it should be very close.

I can tell you that I recently had a big sale for 21 items. It was a mix of 5 different types of items from my shop as well. The calculator put them in two boxes and the total weight of all of this was only 8 ounces off from the actual weight I got after boxes up the order. And that 8 ounces could have been the free gifts I added to the package.

My point is, if you get your measurements correct and you have your box or envelopes listed in preferences, CS can work amazing well. It's very important to get your figures right though.

I've made adjustments over time with using CS. It all didn't happen correctly all at once. But it is worth the work.

[Former_Member]

Perfect.

It may still take some fiddling with but all this info should mean I can open my shop this weekend!

Thank you again for taking the time to respond, it made all the difference in my understanding of this new feature. Keep spreading the wisdom Kathy :)