Right before sending your first order (or the next ones), it is important to decide how you want to ship to your customers and how much you should charge them. There’s a multitude of different shipping strategies available, so we will try to break it down for you!
Calculating shipping costs
There’s a lot that can affect the overall cost of sending your products to your customers such as;
- The Package weight and its dimensions. Most shipping carriers prices vary by the weight of the package and by its dimensions.
- The shipping destination. If it’s close to home, it will be cheaper than across the planet which can have extra fees added to shipping.
- High priced items. Depending on what the value of the items you are shipping, if they tend to be worth a lot, you might want to consider adding insurance so that if something happens, the carrier can reimburse you.
- Delivery options. From regular shipping to expedited, the rule is that the faster a client wants the package to arrive, the costlier it’s going to be.
EXAMPLE:
The goal is to make sure that from whichever shipping carrier you use, your margins are still going to be worth it.
To give an idea, here’s a break down of the possible costs;
Product cost $10.00
Shipping fee $12.00
Packaging cost $1.00
—
Total cost $23. To make a profit of roughly 50% of this product & considering Curt’s General Commission, you should sell it at $58. You don’t have to make a gross profit of 50% exactly, some products sell a lot with only a 20% profit. It is just a general number most companies like to use.
Getting all of your costs down on paper will help you tremendously figure out what’s the best strategy when it comes down to shipping your items. For example, if you have a high profit margin, it may be beneficial to offer free shipping to domestic customers and a smaller fee for international. You can even just increase your prices slightly to cover some or all of your shipping costs.
You can always simply charge customers what it cost you to ship them. Most carries have an online calculator you can use in order to figure out accurately (if you enter the right information) your total cost. There’s a lot more, but we particularly like to use these ones below;
• Fedex
Most businesses out there have started small and locally, we basic packaging and hand written labels. You don’t need to over think it and have everything looking perfect. Most people won’t even notice the small details. It’s best to start with what’s available and cost effective for you. Once you grow, there might be a time where investing in some materials might come in handy, but by then you will already be a pro at this.
It’s also best practice to revise your shipping strategy once a year. With inflation and things costing more nowadays, you might just not realize how much you are ending spending in a year of difference.
What to choose?
Now that you have determined what your shipping costs are, it is time to decide either you, the buyer or a mixture of both will pay for those fees. Here’s four different types;
Local pickup for free or small fee
If you can, having the option for local pickup or delivery can be a great advantage for you to stand out. Anything to personalize a service can easily make a difference regarding a buyer.
Free shipping
Typically, one of the main reasons why a buyer might not buy is simply because of shipping costs. Those who offer free shipping tends to have an increase in sale compared to others. For domestic orders, if your margins are high enough, it might just make sense for you to offer this. You can always slightly increase your price to cover part or all of the shipping costs. Now, don’t think you have to offer it just because statistic says one thing. You don’t want to be loosing profit at the end of the day so make sure you can truly afford it if you are going this route.
Alternatively, you can always offer free shipping if customers buy for a certain threshold. For example, you can set it up that in order for a customer to receive free shipping, they’d have to spend for $75. That might mean they would have to buy multiple things which, ultimately, is more profit in your pockets.
Charging exact shipping cost
The easiest might just be charging what it costs you to ship it. A lot of people still understand the concept behind it and if they really want an item, they will buy it no matter what the cost of shipping is.
Flat rate shipping
At times, charging a flat rate might be the best way to go for you. It’s like averaging all your typically shipping costs and deciding a middle ground. Some orders you might loose a bit due to shipping being higher. On some other, you might make a little more profit off the shipping costs being lower.
For instance, you could charge a flat rate of $9. It might not mean you are covering all of the shipping costs, but it might cover enough for it to make sense for you. Plus, for a customer, it’s still lower than paying the full shipping costs themselves.
Setting up Shipping with Curt’s Marketplace
No matter what you choose, you can head over to your account and choose a variety of options;
- From Curt’s General, login into your account and choose Settings.
- Select from the second menu the shipping tab.
- Choose and enter the data for your desired shipping method. These will be your general shipping charges to the customer.
- You can even customize it on each products. Simply go on the edit page of a product, scroll down until you see the general tab. Select the shipping tab and enter your rates.
Optimizing shipping costs
Not charging enough to your customers for shipping can drastically lower your profit if you absorb the costs while over caring can simply mean losing sales at the end of the end. Here’s general tips to help lower costs which can then be transferred to your customers.
Pack as small and as light as possible.
Most companies will charge you shipping depending on by the size and the weight (unless you’ve opted for flat-rate shipping). To lower your shipping costs, it’s a great thing to consider using as little as possible of packaging materials, but still making sure your items are kept safe. If you can, just changing from boxes to poly mailers or bubble mailers can make a huge difference. We’ve seen people use them for clothings for jewelry & even yarn (they vacuum seal them until they would fit in the envelopes).
Find discounted supplies.
Some companies offer discounts or even free packaging materials if you shop with them. Every dollar counts when it comes to making profit. If you ship regularly, you could be entitled to overall discounts with shipping carriers. It’s best to verify with an employee in order to see if you could save with them. Don’t hesitate to shop around if you can.
Pay for shipping online.
You can have an additional discount if you use a company online shipping tool. It might be worth checking out if it’s available near you.
Factor in all related shipping fees.
Costs can be added quickly if you don’t verify prior with your carrie. Some charges extra fees (or lower fees at times) on specific days. They also have added services like requiring a signature from the buyer at the time of delivery. If you are unsure, simply ask the employees and they can help you with that.
Don’t stress about it
If there is one thing stopping people from making the leap is by worrying and stressing too much about shipping. You don’t have to rush or have to it all in one shot. It’s just like shopping for a car, you won’t go to a dealership and buy the first one you see. So enjoy the process, make it a fun thing to do. After all, it’s your business, we are talking about!
