How to Keep Your Shipping Prices Low so you can Increase Your Sales or Offer free shipping...

[CathysUniqueCreation]

I was visiting another BNS and decided not to purchase from 3 shops I really wanted something from because their shipping prices were too high for me and nearly doubled what I would pay. So if you've been wondering how you can reduce your shipping costs here's some advice I've learned after 4 years of selling online. . .
1) Keep all packing supplies you get and reuse them you already paid for them & now they're free for you to use.
2) Buy packing supplies in bulk through uline.com or papermart.com and keep a good variety of Priority Mail boxes on hand, when it's only .50 more for priority surprise your customer with super fast shipping, they'll remember & come back.
3.) Buy a postal scale from amazon or ebay & weigh your own packages.
4) Print your shipping directly through Ebay and Etsy, they give you discounts on your shipping over the post office. (1 to 3 ounce packages all cost exactly the same so you can stop charging for shipping on additional small items which makes everyone very happy and encourages multiple item purchases)
Through Etsy all packages 1 to 3 ounces ship for 1.69 in the US. PERIOD And you don't have to fill out the address form, and with my terrible handwriting that is truly a blessing. You also don't have to stand in line at the post office, I always just walk in and hand my packages to the postal worker, skipping the 10 people in line and saving myself a butt load of time. Or if the post office is closed you can stick it in the blue drop bins. Or if it fits in your mailbox just send it out with your regular mail. (We all started a home business so we could stay in our pajamas all day right? :)
5) You've reduced your costs so you can now reduce the cost for your customers and everyone wins.
I did all that cut my shipping and saw my sales increase by 30% since I switched my jewelry to free shipping.
Your customer looks at the items listed price and decides they want it at that price, when the shipping is very low or free they will happily buy it, but if it adds to much to the cost of the item they turn away, like I just did. Because I was ready to buy things at their listed price, not at the price it was once shipping nearly doubled it.

[Former_Member]

Printing labels through Etsy has been such a huge help! It will also automatically add the tracking number for your customer so you don't have to worry about that on the Customer Service stats. I never have to go to the post office, our delivery person comes in at work and picks up everything on the counter everyday so it's great! Now if I can figure out how to use the fancy scale we have at work I'll be set. lol

Cathy - when you went to free shipping did you raise your prices to help offset the cost? If it will help increase sales I would definitely be on board with that. Also, how did you figure out your international rates? I've been trying to figure that out but since I haven't had any international sales it's a guessing game right now.

[CathysUniqueCreation]

I did raise my prices some so that I would take a bit of a hit on individual items sales but I make more money on multiple item sales which is what I wanted, both increased sales and increased profits.

As for international shipping rates, they suck. The January USPS increase was ridiculous and nearly doubled the rates. It is now practically impossible to send an international package for less than $7. For international you really need to know you're item weights because 1 to 3 ounces is between $6 and $7 for everywhere I've shipped to since the increase but above that it gets pricey real quick. I sold a pack of my greeting cards internationally before I increased the shipping and had to eat $6 in increased shipping. So if you're inexperienced I'd say it's better to set the price a little high and then state in your description or shop policies that you'll refund the buyer if there are any shipping overages. And if a customer really wants it and is really concerned about the shipping price they will contact you and you can check the shipping to their specific address and change it to that for them.

[Former_Member]

I haven't been able to figure out how to print a cheap label from Etsy (or USPS site) for a small package that weighs 0.3-0.4 ounces. I had to go to the post office and wait in line every time I sell something small, but Cathy mentioned that it's possible to buy a label from Etsy for 1.69.

Cathy, can you please explain me which option you use to print a label for small items? Printing labels from Etsy for larger packages has been a blessing for me, but I can't figure out the small ones. Thanks!

[CathysUniqueCreation]

You just use first class shipping and put in the weight as 1 ounce. But are you talking about the label Etsy provides as being too big for your envelope? If that's the case I would suggest buying 6"x9" envelopes and putting your items in that, they are lightweight, the Etsy label fits great on them especially when you fold your envelope in half making it 6"x4.5" which both protects your item and makes it so your package is harder for the mail system to loose.

But also if you don't care about tracking (I.e. if you can easily replace any shipment than goes missing)
You could send all of your packages that are under an ounce for just a forever stamps and add a 20 cent stamp if the envelope is thicker than 1/4" or unmachinable. I send my proofs for my wedding invitations with just a single stamp since they way less than ounce and if they go missing I can quickly and easily send another.
Let me know if that's what you meant or not Alina.

[Former_Member]

How do you adjust shipping? I don't list an international price because I have no idea what to charge without going country by country.

[Former_Member]

Thank you for all of this information Cathy! I have been trying to get my shipping prices down, and now that I know that all 1-3 ounce packages remain exactly the same, I will be able to lower the cost on a few of my items!!

[CathysUniqueCreation]

For international shipping you can select "Everywhere Else" in the where to field. That is then the price charged for everywhere except any countries you've specifically priced (Like the United States if you are located here).

[CrookedSeamz]

My word, this is soo helpful. Thank you so much for all that information.

[Former_Member]

Thank you for the tips! Very helpful!

I would encourage anyone unsure of international pricing to check out other stores selling similar items and see what they charge. As mentioned earlier, Everywhere Else is an option so "guesstimate" or play with it to fit you. Initially I was concerned about shipping internationally but it came to my attention that I ignore a very large population of people if I don't. To date my largest order was one from the UK and I live in the US.

Good luck to everyone!

[AlohaCakesbyAndrea]

Any tips for shops that ship heavy items?:-)

[CathysUniqueCreation]

If it doesn't fit in a USPS flat rate box then I'd try Fedex and UPS, Fedex gives you a discount through Ebay, I don't know if you can ship through them on Etsy or paypal or not but maybe on their own website. But once you get above 2 pounds FedEx or UPS could very well be cheaper, especially since the USPS raised parcel post so much.

[Former_Member]

Most of my items are semi-light and after shipping them for so long I know exactly how much to charge. If there is a question of price, I simply take the item to my post office and they are really great they tell me.
There are many shops that overcharge for items, but some of them do refund your shipping cost if they charge to much.

[AlohaCakesbyAndrea]

Is it hard to refund for shipping? I could probably do that and it would work out. I can use the flat rate regional boxes which range from $5.44-$9.88 to ship anywhere, for the medium size box. I wonder if I could draw in more customers that way...

[Former_Member]

Great tips!

Do think my shipping prices to high? Would love some feedback.

[Former_Member]

I did a comparison of UPS, Fedex and USPS based on my typically over 3 lb packages. USPS was still the cheapest.
Just a thought.

[AlohaCakesbyAndrea]

Thanks Dawn, Cindy and Cathy! I have changed the wording in my descriptions to say I will refund shipping. We shall see what happens:-)

[AlohaCakesbyAndrea]

Mel i think your prices look fine. As long as you are charging what it cost you. $5 doesnt seem like a bad price to me...

[Former_Member]

Any suggestions on how to ship to Canada? I had to remove Canada from my posts because even ETSY was 6.16 for one ounce

[Former_Member]

Sammie,

Charge what your cost is. I shipped a $5 item last weekend to Canada and shipping was more than the item. If they want what you're selling they know the shipping prices and they'll pay it. I think everyone knows how much shipping has gone up. Offering to refund overages if you charged too much helps too of course.

[CathysUniqueCreation]

@ Mel I think your price of $4.95 for the 8x10's makes sense if you are mailing everything super protected in flat rate shipping envelopes. If you are using USPS First Class then it's too much. Where you are DEFINITELY charging too much is when you charge anything at all for the second item's shipping. Etsy automatically charges the highest first item shipping price and then uses every other item's second item's shipping price. The second item adds nothing to the shipping cost for you if you are using flat rate and only adds at most an ounce or two if you're using first class. You are discouraging multiple item purchases by charging essentially a fee on every additional item a customer buys from you. Everyone knows it does not cost $10 to ship two 8x10's. So you could very well be loosing customers who want to buy 2 or more items from you due to very high shipping costs.

[Former_Member]

Thank you for all of the wonderful tips! I too have not purchased items based on the shipping charges. I don't want to buy a $5 item and get charged a flat rate of $7.95. I love the idea of not charging shipping on additional items...I may have to add that practice to my shop. :) I recently had an order that I thought would fit into a flat rate box but did not and I ended up eating an extra $6 in shipping charges...OUCH! So this helps a lot! Thanks everybody.

[Former_Member]

Helpful, thanks!

[TAKUniqueDesigns]

Thank you Cathy for sharing this! I have found all to be true and I LOVE not having to stand in line at the PO! I've shared this in another team (per you) because it was such a good post!

[LadybugAwesomeFinds]

Loved all the info thanks