EnvyCandles Posted October 14, 2010 Share Posted October 14, 2010 OK, so with the current costs of shipping, how do I still see either flat shipping ($7.95 shipping per order) or free shipping with $50, etc...?I guess for the free ship with a minimum purchase you have the wiggle room that should cover the shipping costs, BUT,A small, flat shipping charge? Candles and B&B are heavy items so how do small at home businesses get away with offering that and not taking a huge hit?By weighing/measuring my items I do not see how flat ship at such a small price would be possible....?Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blwoods Posted October 14, 2010 Share Posted October 14, 2010 You can fit quite a bit into the flat rate Priority boxes from the USPS. Thats what I do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brenda (OH) Posted October 14, 2010 Share Posted October 14, 2010 (edited) I price my products so I have the option to run sales. Whether it is on shipping or product. My regular retail prices are competitive but running a special / discounted product / free shipping etc. will boost my sales. I like a good bargain myself so I frequently offer some kind of savings to my customers. Once it's all said and done, both my business & customers are happy. I'd rather have money coming in than product sitting Which reminds me I need to figure out what special to offer next. Usually I do free shipping over $50.00 or $75.00. Edited October 14, 2010 by Brenda (OH) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
number2of7 Posted October 19, 2010 Share Posted October 19, 2010 First of all, do you ever offer any type of discount on your products? A percentage off, etc? Okay, let's pretend that you do for my demonstration DemonstrationYou offer your customers 20% off their entire purchase (prior to shipping costs). Let's say they purchase 4 bars of soap @ $5.00 each and 6 perfume oils @ $6.00 each. With their 20% discount, they save $11.20.Now, instead of a 20% discount, you have offered free shipping on select items (in this case, soaps and perfume oils are included) -- every item they just ordered fits nicely into a flat rate envelope for $5.00 (this now becomes the amount of their savings)In both cases, the customer is happy because they got either a discount or free shipping! BUT, which one put more money in YOUR pocket?? That's right....the free shipping option! So, free shipping (or even a flat rate shipping) can actually work to your advantage. You just know how to work it with your items! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shessuchatart Posted October 19, 2010 Share Posted October 19, 2010 Another thing to consider is that sometimes UPS or FedEx can actually be less expensive than USPS. It pays to shop around. We've begun shipping more and more with FedEx for the vintage items we sell, using our own account and disocunt rate we got because we are Etsy sellers. I encourage anyone that sells on Etsy to look into that-or even create a seller account there just to get it even if you DONT end up selling anything there. I think it's like 20% off book rate, but I can't remember off the top of my head. Also, if you do ship USPS, use Click N Ship or Paypal shipping-online rates are less expensive than going to the PO. And if you use USPS, take advantage of the free boxes/envelopes whenever possible to help reduce costs that way too. We rarely buy boxes, just packing tape, bubble and paper/ink to print the labels-we have to account for those costs as well when considering shipping costs (well, and the time to pack and take the stuff to the PO because we don't have p/u available). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnvyCandles Posted October 21, 2010 Author Share Posted October 21, 2010 These are all very good points! I can see the difference in the free ship vs discount...We have not really gone into shipping to non local clients due to this....I wonder the likelihood that the free ship will end up not being worth it...?I can see where a min. order for free ship would come in handy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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