Guest Afishcalledwanda Posted March 16, 2008 Share Posted March 16, 2008 Hey all, I'm really new to online selling outside of Ebay (ick) and I'm trying to figure out what method, and how i want to ship my stuff. So, here I post this topic to get some input on how all of you handle getting your sold products to your customers. EVERYONE'S input is welcome no matter what country you ship FROM! It helps me with my decision! I want to use only the USPS as it has the best rates for me and international shipping is better with that. I like UPS but it's gotten very expensive. I can always use that in a pinch if I need to and go directly with a package at my local UPS store. I only offer a small variety of items that I hand make per order from my home, I have nothing large here in the way of my 'store'. Hopefully I can add more variety as i sell more! I'm in the USA, The post office isn't close by and using their click n' ship is very expensive. Do you use an online shipping service to purchase your postage? If so who do you use? Do you take your packages directly to the post office and purchase directly there? Or do you use online postage payments and have your mailman pick them up at your door? Do you use flat rate shipping? Do you use per item and weight per item? the USPS has suggested using a couple of outside sources that are 'approved by them' and i'm not sure what ones are any good either. http://www.usps.com/onlinepostage/ Stamps.com looks ok, but for international packages, I'm not sure they'll do! Their website STINKS in regard to information. I don't know exactly what is included in that $18/month fee for service! they are pretty vague. I don't care about their free trial package either. I just want the right solution, the freebies can come later. Now the Encicia looks pretty good. I like the fact they will print out the customs form for you on international shipments! Saves me a ton of figuring out customs. I sent stuff to a friend once and trust me, it wasn't pretty. Poor girl had to pay 35£ for Christmas gifts because I jacked up the value of the contents. I didn't know she had to pay ransom for her goods in the UK! In the USA we jack up the price to ensure our packages are covered fincancially if the post office loses them. Apparently in the UK it's a ransom tool instead. Here's my shop addy. I'm not ready to launch yet but you can get an idea of what I'm selling and hopefully help me make a decision on how to handle shipping. All my items are very lightweight. The reins are the heaviest weighing 12 ounces packed and redy to ship. http://www.wandaspetworld.com/shop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Afishcalledwanda Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 22 views and no one has an opinion? :yeahhh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 In my case, I sell mostly digital items, with a physical option (printout into a 3 ring binder). Currently, about 5% take the physical option. I have offered both USPS and UPS. The post office is 2 blocks from my house and the UPS office is across town. Makes it a real pain to ship 1 package out via UPS, but it's still better than paying the pickup fee. After all, I need to get out of the house once in a while. I haven't gotten into any type of online postage. My site pulls the real-time rates from the respective services, although for some reason, the UPS rate are ALWAYS higher at the customer counter than the rates pulled from their website. Haven't found ANY combination that pulls accurate rate info. USPS rates have never been wrong. Overall, USPS has been cheaper for most of the stuff I send out (small items), although UPS does have it's advantages, such as tracking info. I pay the shipping costs when I drop off the packages. One thing I'm starting to notice is that the sites I shop at usually don't give me a choice about what carrier I want to use. Now that I have a history of packages, I can probably figure out what my average costs have been and simply set up a generic shipping table using the Shipping by Weight module. This way, I can decide which carrier to use depending on destination. Each store will have its own shipping needs, which may be why no-one has posted. What works for me may not work for you. Use whichever service works best for you, and make sure that the shipping costs are reasonable for the value you offer your customers. Considering that you are offering custom-made products, that should be easy, as long as you can communicate to your site visitors the value of a custom-made dog leash. The only thing I noticed when looking at your site was the "comfortable" message, which COULD be made clearer. Personally, I was looking for the reason why the leashes are made to order. Do you personalize them with the pet's name or allow the customer to choose a length of leash? What's stopping you from making up an inventory beforehand? The reason I ask these questions is because if you created enough inventory, you could hire a fulfillment service that will take care of your shipping needs. All you'd have to do is send them an email with the customers name, address, and shipping preference, and they'd charge you a small fee to pack and ship the orders. I'm starting to move in this direction for my products. The other reason for asking the question is to get you thinking of the possibility of supplying pet stores with your brand of leash. Maybe you could arrange a deal where everything you could make is already sold the minute you make it. Just some ideas to think about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Afishcalledwanda Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 In my case, I sell mostly digital items, with a physical option (printout into a 3 ring binder). Currently, about 5% take the physical option. I have offered both USPS and UPS. The post office is 2 blocks from my house and the UPS office is across town. Makes it a real pain to ship 1 package out via UPS, but it's still better than paying the pickup fee. After all, I need to get out of the house once in a while. I haven't gotten into any type of online postage. My site pulls the real-time rates from the respective services, although for some reason, the UPS rate are ALWAYS higher at the customer counter than the rates pulled from their website. Haven't found ANY combination that pulls accurate rate info. USPS rates have never been wrong. Overall, USPS has been cheaper for most of the stuff I send out (small items), although UPS does have it's advantages, such as tracking info. I pay the shipping costs when I drop off the packages. My thoughts have been just about as exact as yours. thanks for the input! Each store will have its own shipping needs, which may be why no-one has posted. What works for me may not work for you. Yes that was understood when I posted this. I just like to see more than what I am thinking of so I can get a better idea of what could be done, no matter what country the shop is shipping from Use whichever service works best for you, and make sure that the shipping costs are reasonable for the value you offer your customers. Considering that you are offering custom-made products, that should be easy, as long as you can communicate to your site visitors the value of a custom-made dog leash. The only thing I noticed when looking at your site was the "comfortable" message, which COULD be made clearer. Personally, I was looking for the reason why the leashes are made to order. Do you personalize them with the pet's name or allow the customer to choose a length of leash? What's stopping you from making up an inventory beforehand? The reason I ask these questions is because if you created enough inventory, you could hire a fulfillment service that will take care of your shipping needs. All you'd have to do is send them an email with the customers name, address, and shipping preference, and they'd charge you a small fee to pack and ship the orders. I'm starting to move in this direction for my products. The other reason for asking the question is to get you thinking of the possibility of supplying pet stores with your brand of leash. Maybe you could arrange a deal where everything you could make is already sold the minute you make it. Just some ideas to think about. They are not custom made but hand-made to order. the 'custom' part is only for color choices. The comfy bit is because the materials I use are just that, comfortable to handle and hold yet strong enough to do anything. I've used my dogs leash to actually move furniture a few times! The reason they are made to order is becaue each one is hand made start to finish. they are braided one at a time. They are not bought wholesale and then 'customized' with a little name or something. That's the reason they are not 'stocked' but made to order. If i were to sit around making braids all day long my hands would be cripple! The process actually does not take long, 25 mins per leash and then they can be shipped the next day. I say the length of time for delivery to cover my tush if I ever get backed up. Besides, it looks good that I say it's going to take awhile and then it comes fast Your other ideas are good though. I can think of other wording and thanks for that input! As for supplying pet stores with my product, no. I don't want to do that. Why? Again, I'd be crippled! I do not use machines to braid but my own two hands. If it really takes off, I might have to work out some kind of mass production solution but I'm far from ready for this now. I'm also starting this venture with no money! I have a little money that I bought supplies with to make the color choices that are there now and hopefully there will be more choices sooner than later. Years ago when I had horses I started a successful pony ride business with one borrowed pony and no capital at all! So, hopefully my luck will run the same way with the leashes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Brivtech Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 22 views and no one has an opinion? To be honest, its a lot to read through in one go. I posted up a topic about Internet Fraud, have had 69 views to date, no replies: http://forums.cubecart.com/index.php?showtopic=33035 Sometimes, it just happens, what may be of interest isn't really picked up on by other people. From a Moderator's point of view, there's just soooo many posts, and a lot of the time, I'll just scan through to check that there's nothing bad in the post content, and unless I have particular expertise in the topic, will leave it for someone else to reply to. In regard to your topic, well, I'm in the UK, our postal system works a bit differently. For couriers, my other business uses DHL - We don't have such a thing as real-time rates, our rates are agreed in advance as part of a contract, so we have a fixed price for a certain period of time. We don't offer a choice, because our rate is also dependant on our volume, so if we split it between 2 or 3 carriers, we would end up paying more money, as would the customer. We don't ship overseas, and charge a flat rate. The goods that are sold can be boxed approx. 1000 per carton, weighing approx. 25kg. Our weight limit per carton is 31kg. It is rare that a customer would ever order more than 1000, and if they do, we calculate the additional shipping manually - it depends on jus how many we can get into a carton, and we let the customers know this in advance, that additional cartons will mean additional fees. We process the payments manually, so there's no bother with adjustments to the shipping cost. With regard to customs, you'll find it is the same the other way around as well - If you were receiving a package from a country outsode of the USA, depending on the tax agreements between the countries, you'd also have to pay customs tax. Can't really offer much else - Every business is a bit different from the next. ... and yes, if you can manage to get a business up and running without having to borrow money (or get investors involved), you're already off to a good start. It may take a little longer, but the rewards in the long term will be greater. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 I use Paypal to process my credit cards so use their shipping to print USPS labels with postage. I have used the free service at USPS.com to do my labels. I find the printed labels with barcodes either service produces speeds packages thru a lot faster. The post offices click n ship service is free - so not sure what you mean by it being very expensive? I have daily carrier pick up (but I ship 10-50 packages a day - if you have smaller quantities, you could just take them to the post office of course). I also use the free Priority Mail boxes from the post office ordering them online when I need them. I use shipping by weight, but I have a lot of variety of items and they all weigh different amounts, so it works for me. If your items are all about the same size and weight though, flat rate would be easier. Nice thing about cubecart is you can always change modules if one doesn't work for you as well as you expected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Afishcalledwanda Posted March 18, 2008 Share Posted March 18, 2008 Thanks everyone. All this is really useful! Mysty, click n ship rates for postage are much higher than if you bring the item into the post office and weigh and pay there. Flat rate and all the other rates on click n ship as well. The USPS tells you to use stamps.com or the other ones they offer in that link. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 19, 2008 Share Posted March 19, 2008 Sorry but that is not correct. If you weigh the package correctly on an accurate scale, the rates are the same using click n ship or taking it to the post office. Perhaps you aren't using a good scale? I have a Royal package scale I bought at Sam's for $50 that works very well. I've been using it for 8 years, and a flat rate box is $8.95 paid at the post office or paid online. The priority mail rates are the same starting at $4.60 for a lb. And online, delivery confirmation is free as well. You have to pay for it if you go to the post office, so if anything, taking it to the post office is more expensive. Using stamps.com or another service, you have their monthly service fee on top of your postage costs. Never could figure out why someone would want to bother with them or endicia.com - guess they must have great software or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Afishcalledwanda Posted March 20, 2008 Share Posted March 20, 2008 Sorry but that is not correct. If you weigh the package correctly on an accurate scale, the rates are the same using click n ship or taking it to the post office. Perhaps you aren't using a good scale? I have a Royal package scale I bought at Sam's for $50 that works very well. I've been using it for 8 years, and a flat rate box is $8.95 paid at the post office or paid online. The priority mail rates are the same starting at $4.60 for a lb. And online, delivery confirmation is free as well. You have to pay for it if you go to the post office, so if anything, taking it to the post office is more expensive. Using stamps.com or another service, you have their monthly service fee on top of your postage costs. Never could figure out why someone would want to bother with them or endicia.com - guess they must have great software or something. Really? How did you manage it? I am asking because I've never been able to send a package less than 1 pound in weight and no price lower than $4.60 minimum fee. If I use the calculator in the software for the same weights and delivery to the same place, I get a minimum fee of shipping for a 1 pound box of $3.42 The clerk at my post office said that click n ship is more expensive too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 20, 2008 Share Posted March 20, 2008 Okay, I figured out the confusion. Click n ship rates are no different than pay at the post office rates - but you are mixing apples and oranges in terms of the class you are shipping thru the post office. $4.60 is the minimum for Priority Mail. I suspect your $3.42 quote was for parcel post, not priority. Click n ship only does priority & express mail, so this is probably where the confusion came in. There is a free shipper assistant program at http://www.usps.com/shippingassistant/ that lets you print labels for: * Express Mail service * Express Mail Flat Rate Envelope * Priority Mail service * Priority Mail Flat Rate Envelope * Priority Mail Flat Rate Box * First Class Mail Parcel * Bound Printed Matter * Library Mail * Media Mail * Parcel Post * Express Mail International * Priority Mail International * First Class Mail International When you create a label, you can also select (depending on the service): * Signature Confirmation * Delivery Confirmation It is free whereas endicia or stamps.com has the surcharge for pretty much the same thing. Printing postage thru Paypal as I do also lets you choose first class, media mail, parcel post, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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