Hi. The good news is we sold our first item. The bad news is we knew nothing about shipping, and it cost us. There are just so many options and so many charges depending on where it’s going. I thought shipping was like mail, a flat rate to anywhere in the U.S. That is not the case. I’d like some [URL removed] should we use calculated shipping, and if so, do we have to weight everything? I read online that standard shipping was about $6, turns out it was almost $8. That may not seems like a big difference, but when your total sale was less than $20 it makes you wonder what you’re doing wrong. I’d just like to know what my options are, and if there is something I’m missing. Any help would be deeply appreciated! By the way, what does SEO stand for?
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Kellibell2015 Reputation: 22 See Kellibell2015's booth |
Congratulations on the sale, condolences on the shipping hit.
If you want to use calculated shipping you will want to enter in the weight of the item plus all protective packaging, packing list, label and the carton along with any handling charge (for the carton and packaging, insurance,etc) you may need to assess.
For me after all that I would tend to ship it at flat rate determined on weight, best service (shipping/mailing) type and zone (destination zipcode determines this).
You can find rate and zone charts on each carriers websites (ups, fedex ground, usps). I recommend you print off current copies for reference, however a google search might still come up with comparison charts that stamps .com and other shipping/mailing sites have established)
As for SEO; the definition is Search Engine Optimization, and that is making sure you use the right descriptive words, MPN, UPC, ISBN, etc. in your title and body of the listing to make it rate high enough on the search websites (google, bing, etc.) to attract the buyer’s attention.
There are many posts and some really helpful people here to help out with this. Look for Google Shopping requirements.
You may or may not have signed up for the advertising here to submit your listings to Google, bing and other sites, but you will want to take a look into it. It is based on percentage of sale and you can find that under your seller dashboard in the Advertise Items column.
If you are on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and any other social network you can use them to your benefit I have heard. The more you get your item out there the more people see it.
Good luck on figuring it out, it is no longer as easy as Ebay was in the 90’s.
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rapidreader Reputation: 534 See rapidreader's booth |
2 Comments
First of all, congratulations on the sale! Regarding shipping, keep track of USPS postage rates & consider this for any order. There is now a minimum charge of $2.62 for anything considered a package, no matter how small. Anything other than small, low weight items like jewelry or beads should start a few dollars above the minimum. In my opinion, anything made of heavy materials like ceramic or glass should have a shipping fee of no less than $6-$8. Also consider if you are using a box, bubble mailer, tissue or padding, which are often needed for fragile items, basically anything adding weight to the package. Also consider investing in a postage scale, for reference & to get a better idea of costs beforehand. But I would definitely set a minimum shipping charge for your shop, unless it is a higher priced item you can offer free shipping on. Best of luck to you!!
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Jewelsbelegance Reputation: 307 See Jewelsbelegance's booth |
2 Comments
Shipping has become an art-form to be able to ship your item as cheap and efficient as you can to keep costs reasonable to the buyer. You MUST know the weight and SIZE of your packages. You need a scale. If it is over 1 cubic foot in size then you pay a higher premium cost to ship so try to keep it under 1 cubic foot to save money. Using calculated shipping for anything OVER a pound is the easiest as then the cost is calculated based on the weight, size and where the person lives from you. This would be for USPS PRIORITY mail service.
You can order all sorts of Priority Mail boxes for FREE from the USPS site. Using the Flat Rate boxes is a real money maker for the PO as there are alternatives that can end up cheaper than flat rate. They offer probably about 30+ different Priority mail box sizes to pick from (all for Free). All you need to do is setup an ID and Password there along with your mailing address. No cost to you and delivered to your door. Just order the FREE boxes, dont PRE-Pay for any of the postage already paid for boxes. All sorts of cheaper alternatives than using Flat rate (like using Priority Regional A and B boxes) that you can load up to 15-20 pounds of stuff and only pay a calculated 2 or 4 pound calculated Priority ship rate (if it fits in those boxes). I also like the Flat Rate BUBBLE Priority envelope that you can put a Priority box 1096L as in inside liner to it and load as much weight you cant fit in it for a flat rate price.
I dont ship international as costs are too prohibitive and you are open to more loss from theft in certain country’s. Priority mail comes with free insurance from the USPS but unknown if that carry’s to shipping outside the USA.
Good Luck.
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Atomicdiner Reputation: 1902 See Atomicdiner's booth |
4 Comments
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