Etsy's inaccurate shipping estimates are probably driving customers away.

[TheWoodenFly]

A customer just purchased three items from my shop.

Etsy charged the buyer $30.10 in shipping fees.

Etsy charged me $9.56 for a package containing all 3 items.

I refunded the difference.

Etsy's total of $30.10 exceeded the total of Etsy's charges for the three items. How could this happen, even on Etsy? Etsy seeed to have combined the lengths of two of the items, incurring oversized package fees.

Etsy is shooting its seller, its buyers and itself in the feet with these inaccurate estimates. 

Crazily high shipping estimates (and charges) have to be driving customers away.

Does anyone have any suggestions.

I have added a note to all my item descriptions urging buyers to use the [CUSTON ORDER] option when buying multiple items, but Etsy buried the item description sections a long time ago.

Does anyone have a solution for, or a way to ease this problem?

Thank you for your attention.

[BagmakerSupply]

@TheWoodenFly: We have also noticed that calculated shipping has become more inconsistent in calculating the "box" that a multi item order will fit into but nothing quite as drastic as your example.

[ChantillyAvenue]

I just ignored a shipping label warning message that something not due to ship until May 10th may arrive late.  Something not due to ship for two weeks could arrive late if USPS screws up badly enough.  It almost feels like mobsters trying to extort you into spending more on insurance (shipping upgrades) to protect you from whatever unpleasantness they can throw your way.  Is that where we are now?  I think a lot of shipping related things are headed into the crapper.

[TheToyBox]

We have noticed lately that on multiple items purchased on the same purchase order a shipping label was created for each item. You have to delete the labels (before printing!) that aren't used or it will combine them and charge for all. 

[DragoninKnots]

Have you checked your Package Preferences? If there isn't a box listed there that will fit all three items (using the measurements in the listings - Remember Etsy treats each item like a solid rectangle), then Etsy will decide the order needs to be split into multiple packages, resulting in an inflated shipping estimate.

[TheToyBox]

Thanks for that tip.

I have never even looked at Package Preferences. We sell all sorts of things in many different sizes so it may take awhile to add the appropriate box sizes. I don't understand why this is all of a sudden an issue though. Seems like Etsy used to be a lot smarter.

[DragoninKnots]

At least, list the largest you use overall and the largest you use that is below the oversized fee threshold.

[UniqueByGurkan]

Lately, shipping costs are more expensive than the price of the products. There must be a solution to this

[BeaconwoodDettman]

I remember this happening before I moved to Free Shipping in my shop. I think a lot of this depends on what you are selling. 

If I was selling only vintage Rubik's Cubes and I put in my standard box sizes, Etsy could probably calculate shipping pretty accurately whether someone ordered 1, 6, 13 or 100. 

For my shop, if someone ordered one of my large milk cans, a fruit crate, a mason jar, and a coffee can, I don't think Etsy (or any selling platform) would know what could fit inside what to reduce the number of boxes needed. In this example, I would need two boxes - the fruit crate can't go inside the milk can, but everything else could. Or maybe everything could go in one giant box - I don't know, I would have to experiment to see what is the safest and least expensive (it's like playing a game of Tetris). 

I totally realize what you are saying though, the total shipping cost for multiple items might turn people off. I think all you can do is what you describe, refund the overage, and on a positive note, your customer will be so appreciative of that you might have earned a repeat customer.