Reply to "Charging for Postage"

Kimbo's Cookies posted:

I just wanted to share this, with the hope that it will help others. When I first started Kimbo's Cookies, I wanted to provide shipping at the lowest possible cost to my customers. The problem was that, on Etsy, I had to list a shipping price, so I would estimate the weight of an order and low-ball the cost. I lost over $650 in shipping fees that first year. I now ship everything flat rate. I have boxes from BRP that fit one dozen and two dozen nicely. A medium flat rate box will hold one dozen (with lots of room for bubble wrap) and a large flat rate box holds the larger order.

 

I was so scared of losing business because of high shipping costs, that I burned myself. So my tip is, use flat rate boxes. It makes invoicing and/or Etsy listing a breeze.

Cookies Fantastique here...I also ship flat rate but a medium box costs $13.65 for a dozen cookies! That's such a high shipping cost that I've had some clients decide not to purchase because when you add in  the shipping it's a fairly significant change in the overall cost. It would be different if I were charging $60/dozen but my costs are variable depending on many factors (I'm sure that many of you structure your pricing in much the same way).

Are there other shipping options that I'm not aware of to give the customer a bit of a break? There's the issue of freshness of the cookies which is another reason why I went to the flat rate 2-3 day shipping.

I'm so glad to see this topic here!!