Getting it right.. the shipping fee

[Tom Murphy]

I've been an online seller for a lonnnnng time. I've sold on eBay, Amazon, my own store, and now Bonanzle.

And I think I have it pretty well mastered.... EXCEPT as relates to shipping and handling.

Despite my best efforts, I still only get about 85% of the cost of shipping right when I list an item.

If I actually pack an item, and then weigh it before making my listing.. then my accuracy rate in getting the shipping fee correct are pretty high. But so often when I do that.. the items gets purchased along with other items.. and I have to unpack the item and repack it with the additional purchases. And all my efforts go down the drain.

If I "guestimate" the shipping weight before listing .. I am often wrong.. and it costs me money. Yes, on occasion the actual shipping fee is less than my estimate.. but not often.

I'm anxious to learn how other successful sellers go about calculating, guestimaing, figuring the package shipping fee - before making their listing.

Any takers?

Tom

[Ewanna Seremetis]

I fully get the problem with shipping charges. For me the problem is even bigger as I live in southern Europe and must ship everything FCI and with signature to take delivery. Also shipping from Europe is much more expensive than that of the US. Even worse, as our PO is govt. owned and operated they do not give us accurate price charts but only general guidelines. So far I have only been off by a few cents to two dollars except for one time when the chart was way off from the actual price and when I got to the PO I had overcharged the lady by $7. As soon as I got home I refunded the difference and explained how it had happened again even though I had already done so within our communications about her order. She has turned into one of my best customers and visits all of my selling sites!

[Tom Murphy]

A recent article titled "Save 50-75% on Parcel Shipping by Comparing Options" is worth a view.

You can find it here: shippingcoach.com

Author Mark Taylor shows a comparison whereby a 20 pound package can cost you either $27.30 or $11.93.... depending on the class of UPS service you choose... but regardless, will arrive the same day.

So it's important to check the options!

I need to remember that next time I go to UPS

Tom

[Vince Jelenic]

Hi, Tom, and others.

We're in Canada , so shipping is a particularly thorny issue.

We can't count on eBay to get it right, and Bonanzle & shipping to Canada, not yet, at least no simple way for us to use.
We're stuck with an internal database we built, it keeps fairly close tabs with Canada Post.
We take an item, weight and size.
We add 2 inches around all dimensions to allow for packaging and box.
We calculate using this dimension and size.
We calculate flat rate charges for US, Canada, and International, using mid-long range zones.
(like US is California for us, Asia is India or Australia. Europe is Germany)
We add the "fuel surcharge" Canada Post has (not usually available or covered in eBay shipping calcs, that's why we don't use it). Something like a small percentage of ship charges.
We add about $0.70 per package for packaging materials.
We do NOT charge a "handling fee".
We charge in $US.

Usually the exchange rate between US and CAN $$ covers any slight under-pricing.if we used more packaging or bigger box than planned.

We find it comes to about 99% spot on.or very close, within about $1.
When any overages are OVER $10, we refund with explanation.

On eBay, we just copy and past the calculated shipping into item listing.
On Bonanzle, we just let the importer take the US shipping price.

In fact, when we looked on Bonanzle, our items don't even SHOW UP AS BEING SHIPPABLE TO CANADA.
Seems like the bonanzle importer doesn't take shipment details for other than US into consideration.

So there goes many chances to sell to a Canadian through Bonanzle, I guess.
But then, only about 10% of our online sales go to Canadians.

When the post office changes rates, (once a year) we simply modify our database to comply with new rates.

At one point, we used to calculate it online, using same general criteria, with a custom-built html form straight into the Canada Post website.
I understand USPS alllows for software to do a direct query of their system. Canada Post does not, only general guidelines software, OR you can purchase a full scale commercial package for big bucks.

Cheers. HTH.
Vince.