Shipping Costs...Advice? Tips?

[Former_Member]

I feel pretty confident in every area of my shop...except shipping! I tried just picking a number, that wasn't fair, then I thought about the flat-rate from USPS of $4.95, but some of my items are super-light so I know I'd just be overcharging.

How do you guys all determine your shipping costs? I'd also really love to ship worldwide, but I want to tackle this before I do. I'm thinking about buying a food scale to weigh my merchandise so I can price just right.

And as far as just how much shipping to charge...should I add the price for the envelopes, too? I use padded envelopes and they come in packs of either two or three.

[Former_Member]

Hi!

I actually determined my shipping costs by mailing a package to a family member who lives across the country. My packages are light (all less than a pound) and it usually costs me $2.51 with a delivery confirmation. I also include part of the price of packaging with that and part in my product price.

I would suggest packing heavier products in the flat-rate but if it is fairly light try and do a "practice ship" or if you can weigh it at home or just guess how much it weighs, use USPS's postage calculator on their website and ship as far away from you as you can.

It's your choice about including packaging charges with shipping, but I would suggest at least part of it, if not all the charges for packaging should be included in shipping.

Hope this helped and best of luck!

[JewelryByCarlotta]

My shipping charge is a flat rate and includes packaging costs.

[Former_Member]

we priced our shipping based off of trial and error in the beginning. sometimes we lost money and sometimes we had to refund some overages. we do include the cost if the packaging in our shipping costs. we also bought a scale so we could estimate online easier. getting the scale really helps b/c you can estimate the shipping cost for all over the world and decide on a price that way. good luck!

[Former_Member]

I do my shipping similar to bamcraftymommas. International shipping can be a little tricky. Once I realized I overcharged and just refunded the customer. There is way to correct things if your estimate is not accurate.

[Former_Member]

I was just thinking about my shipping rates today and updated them. Now I partially cover the cost of bubble envelope and packaging in the cost of shipping and partially cover it in cost of item.

Be aware that USPS increases their postage rates at least once a year (in May, I think) but they reserve the right to do it again any time they want. They increased rates in May 2010, Dec 2010, and in May 2011, about 0.20 each time for the lowest rate of small packages. They usually have alerts on their webpage.

I may revisit my shipping prices in Dec this year, and definitely in May of next year!

[Former_Member]

I price my stuff off the USPS flat rate. For items that are really light weight (mug fobs, etc.) I post them as shipping free with any other purchase. I really do trust USPS, they handle millions, if not billions of packages a day and have never burned me, unlike FEDEX or UPS. I've even shipped 15 pounds of steel cross-country in a flat rate box, and it came in without a problem and in one piece.

If you are really concerned about shipping your smaller stuff and gouging your customers on the shipping, look into the padded envelopes as an alternative to the flat-rate boxes.

[JewelryByCarlotta]

LizabethDezigns...I thought there was an increase in postage. The post office is tricky!