Shipping cost question

[TheFamilyJewelsWI]

For the last few years I have shipped my product in a pillow box with ribbons inside another shipping box. I have been charging $3.95 for shipping. I get tons of compliments on my packaging. Am I charging too little? It is very time consuming to do all this. I think it has made a difference in my sales though. But it is not always about sales. It is about profit too.

I greatly appreciate your opinions.

[LeedsRadio]

If $3.95 covers all your costs, including labor with a little room you are not charging to little

[SageNThymeDesigns]

I try to make sure that my shipping costs cover the following:
-postage
-shipping materials (envelope and postage sticker)
-packaging materials (note card, tissue paper, ribbons and sticker)
-my time to do the whole packaging and shipping dance
- Etsy fees (sometimes they're built in to the shipping costs, other times it's in the product cost)

You should not be losing money on shipping. Anything under $5 in my mind is pretty cheap shipping. I think you've got some room to increase your shipping price, especially if you include a pretty photo of your packaging in the listing.

[WhatCandySays]

shipping costs of my items, between $2.91-$4.21.

I think $3.95 is quite fair.

[kzannoart]

I think 3.95 is very fair and customers appreciate fair shipping as there is usually so much overcharging for it. - K

[maydaylabels]

You could consider trying a few listings where you have a variation that includes gift wrapping (what you're doing now) for whatever price you feel you need to charge and then setting default shipping at the actual shipping cost (presumably something like $2 if you're shipping USPS first class). Take photos of the fancy packaging to use as the last slot, and label them as Gift Wrapping on the photo so people know it's not standard and know what your gift wrapping looks like.

Then wait a few weeks, and compare the results - how often did people choose the extra cost for the extra packaging? Did having a lower default shipping price on these listings increase your sales of these items relative to the items with the fancy packaging (and higher shipping cost) as the default?

[TheFamilyJewelsWI]

I appreciate all the input. Matthew and Sara, great suggestion.

[ManmadeKnitting]

Good question, I do find here in the US shipping not straight forward unlike the UK, but I think I finally sorted it out, $6 and trying to get my products as fast I can tot he people who bought them. I guess it also depends on weight and size too, I know what I'm selling $6 is ok.

I first looked at others selling the same and went from there to give me an idea.

[Former_Member]

I agree with Joanne I make sure that the shipping covers everything like packaging, labels , postage and TRACKING especially this time of year.

[SageNThymeDesigns]

Good point about the tracking. If you print your shipping labels through Etsy the tracking is included so that saves you $0.80 or so. AND the postage is cheaper than if you went to the post office. AND Etsy automatically sends an email with the tracking info (and a little map, pretty cool) to your customer. Much, much easier than going to the PO, especially this time of year.

If there is a problem with the package getting lost, it's so easy to see what's happening with the tracking. You just click on the order in your record and there's the link to the tracking.

I think we sometimes get mislead into thinking that the 'shipping cost' should the same as the postage price. It's called shipping and handling for a reason, because there are labor and resources that go into this aspect of your product. This is also where your branding can really stand out as a business.