Help newbie with shipping

[Former_Member]

Hi!

I live in the U.S. and am trying to decide how to ship my cards. Priority mail or standard? International or no?

What stories/ lessons/ thoughts do you have to share to help me choose?

Thank you!

[SylvanGateDesign]

Hi Kelly, I just launched my store this week, so was looking at this recently. Due to the lower price point of cards I decided to go with standard shipping. It just makes financial sense… for buyer and seller. I am not sure that anyone would want to pay something like 30% extra for a card to go priority.

Having said that, there is a choice to allow customers to select priority for an extra fee - so you could offer this.

Or maybe, if they order 3 or 4 cards you might want to make a good impression and send it Priority anyway (covering the cost yourself).

[NeedAPhoto]

First class shipping is the way to go. Anything 13 ounces and under ships first class. Or at least that is how it is in the US. I don't really know where you are. Haven't shipped anything international yet, but plan to in the future.

[BucketListShop]

I just got my first sale - yea! It was international - oy. The shipping thing has been difficult for me to fully get a handle on and I actually lost money on the international shipping. BUT I consider part of the cost of my training. I used the Etsy label which cost $8.88 (parcel). For some reason I priced my international shipping at $6.50ish but now I have so many notes I can't remember why??!! :) Anyway, thanks to my very friendly post office guy, I have now determined that any future international shipments will be made at the post office and will be sent as a 'large envelope". Even though I used recycled cardboard for protection, he said it was still flexible enough to be considered a large envelope and I would have saved $3.78 on shipping!! You cannot stamp it "Do Not Bend" if you are mailing it as a large envelope, but he promised it would not be destroyed during the shipping process (hmmm - we shall see). I will be on pins and needle until I know it reaches the customer in England safely. I would HATE to get a bad review for my very first one!!

[piperspaperco]

Hi Kelly.

I just got my first sale and it was international. I did a lot of research on USPS.com on the cost of shipping domestic and international and found it very accurate. I shipped first class and used bubble mailers so they wont bend the cards. This is the most inexpensive way to ship.

I would highly recommenend checking out their website as it will tell you in detail depending on what you want to ship and how, etc.