Shipping

[pinetreehome]

I ship with tracking the same day or day after I receive an order, yet am almost always at 90% for shipping. Is it because I don’t purchase labels through Etsy? And Etsy takes a shipping cut from each sale regardless.

[vintageNCtreasures]

Who do you use for shipping?  A lot of shipping sites integrate with Etsy and tracking #'s are uploaded automatically.

If you are entering tracking #'s manually are you sure you've entered the #'s correctly?

If your shipping is at 90%, are you sure ALL the tracking for your orders got uploaded to Etsy?

It doesn't matter if you use Etsy for shipping, Pirate Ship, Shippo, the post office, you're still charged fees on the shipping you charge the buyer.

You've been selling since 2020 and Etsy has charged a transaction fee on shipping for A LONG time and well before you started selling here.
It's noted in the help pages what the transaction/processing fees are charged for.
What are the Fees and Taxes for Selling on Etsy – Etsy Help

Etsy is NOT taking a shipping cut.
Etsy charges a transaction fee of 6.5% on the order total and also a processing fee on the order total.

Etsy started this (just like eBay did) because sellers were listing items for $1 and charging $20, $50 etc for shipping so they would only have to pay transaction fees on that $1.

[pinetreehome]

thank you for your response. I use USPS and  send tracking # right after I leave the PO. 
6.5% item total and 6.5% shipping total are taken out.

[vintageNCtreasures · Accepted solution]

Yes, the 6.5% is taken out on the item cost and shipping cost.
It's a transaction fee on the order total. It's been like this for a lot of years.

Be sure you're entering the tracking # correctly. 
The data files should show which package is missing valid tracking.

You'd save a lot of money on shipping if you printed labels at home (commercial rates) instead of paying full retail rates at the PO.
Plus tracking #'s are uploaded automatically to orders on most shipping sites.

[Vintorious]

Download and inspect the data to see where the problem is. The data for badges and Star Seller are for the entire 3 month period: maybe you have an older order that wasn't entered correctly/shipped on time that hasn't 'fallen out' of the calculation yet.

[NanaLetha]

@pinetreehome  you must mark the order as complete and enter the tracking number.

[pinetreehome]

Yup. I do that.

[BagmakerSupply · Accepted solution]

@pinetreehome: "... yet am almost always at 90% for shipping." First, you need to check the applicable CSV file on your Star Seller page (last review period for January star) to see what Etsy thinks is late or otherwise has something wrong with it. In particular make sure that *Had processing time?* = yes, *Ship by* has a date, *Tracking/label date* has a date, and *Shipped on time?* = yes. Remember that Star Seller dates / times are in UTC not your time zone.

For orders that show as having no tracking, does the actual order show as at least "in transit"? Has the package been scanned? Sometimes a tracking number cannot be validated until after the first scan is publicly available. Make sure that the shipped date, tracking number and shipping company show correctly on the actual order. Etsy relies on a third party vendor for tracking (and tracking number validation) and uses the data on the order. What happens if you clock on the tracking number link on the order?

A order still in "pre transit" usually means that the tracking information AS ENTERED cannot be validated.

[CarolsJewelryOrchard]

Thank you for the specifics on pre-transit. This seems to be affecting my star seller quest. Yesterday, I was only deficient on the $$$ and have ~ $46.00 to go in sales to make it for this period. This morning when I woke up, my shop has gone from 100% on shipping to 89% on shipping but one is listed in pre-transit.  So, if I am reading your response correctly, I  might be down % because one is listed in pre-transit. I guess the first thing I do is check that I entered tracking correctly. Thanks.

[BagmakerSupply]

@CarolsJewelryOrchard: Even something like a leading or trailing space can cause a tracking number to be unverifiable. An unsupported shipping company or invalid / unverified tracking number equals shipped without tracking.

You have 72 hours to update the shipper and tracking number from the time you mark the order as completed https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/115015774228-How-to-Add-Tracking-and-Complete-an-Order-?segm...

[CatsBeadKitsandMore]

You are paying more by using USPS. As said above you are charged 6.5% on the total transaction, no matter what service you are using for labels. If star seller is important to you then use etsy labels or pirateship, ect.

[PaynesFindsShop]

First time seller/shipper. First order came in. So I went to post office and shipped. So Etsy shows late shipping. How do I mark it or change it to shipped? 

[BagmakerSupply]

@PaynesFindsShop: Did you mark the order as "completed" with the shipping information? If you have not already done so, you may want to read https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/115015710308-What-to-Do-After-You-Sell-an-Item?segment=selli... for an overview how orders work for sellers.

[MoGalsVintageVibes]

When the buyer pays shipping, how is it determined what the cost is?  And is it Etsy that adds that to the statement?

[SushiGirl]

I've noticed if you have to cancel a label and buy another one because of an error, Etsy dings you on shipping time because the refunded label never shows delivered (for obvious reasons). I wish they would let you remove tracking numbers that aren't valid anymore.