Question
...your shipping prices?
I am in the process of revamping my whole site and adding a shopping cart. No easy task with over 2000 items
The problem seems to be how to standardize the shipping prices.
I sell jewelry and prints. Some I stock, some I order, some are drop shipped directly from the artist.
On Ebay my shipping prices start at $2.00 first class usps. I have been encouraged not to offer usps unless it is priority. But then that boosts the starting shipping price considerably. And fed ex and ups will be higher. Might be ok if they buy multiples. 2-3 pieces of jewelry sometimes can be shipped for the same price as 1
Another option is to weigh everything and have the shipping costs calulated according to weight and add the handling charge separate.
Or...I could just set a flat fee of say $4.95 and free shipping over, say, $50.00
I have seen all these options on different web sites. Even one jewelry site whose shipping charges started at $15!
We need to come up with an answer soon and I am just getting confused.
How do you standardize your shipping on your site?
Answer
You win some, you lose some.
Just go with flat shipping by category of goods with maybe a flat addon per additional item. Saves a lot of emails and probably more buyers.
If you do not intend to make insurance mandatory, then you can use a dollar amount scale to handle that problem.
Answer
Hi Sherry:
I apply a weight volume to each item. In my shipping module I have a few shipping choices where it is figured out by the program for the shipping based on the total weight of the items the person buys. It isn't an exact process, but it works fairly well.
I use Miva Merchant shopping cart and am also working on oscommerce for another site, but that is taking a learning curve. Wish I had more time to work on it.
Your drop shipped items of course would have to have their own shipping charge as you can't combine them with items you have on hand.
For items that are post ordered, be sure you mention that so that your customer knows they have to wait for their entire order to be put together before you can ship.
Don't make it too complicated for the customers or they will just go forget it.
A lot depends on the shopping cart program you are using.
Jill
Answer
I just go with a flat $4.00 rate (1# Priority + 15c) regardless of the amount of items ordered. My items are light and I can ship several items without going over 1 pound. If it does go over a pound, that means they ordered a bunch of stuff and I'm happy to give a break on shipping.
Answer
I use Paypal's Shopping Cart and the basic function is set up for $ range of purchase = fixed S/H rate. So calculate my estimated S/H for an average order in that range, and that's what goes into the box in my Paypal account for processing those orders.
Sometimes I am ahead, sometimes I am behind, but it all generally evens out.
Answer
Jill
The program we are using is oscommerce also. My stepson is doing the work.
At 23 he has moved back in with us (has been living in California) and is getting his degree in computer science. He decided to work for his room and board by working on the site. I am redesigning it (I may as well put my degree in graphic design to work )
I am hoping we can get this done by Sept.
Answer
I use oscommerce also and just haven't wanted to attempt to delve into understanding the shipping section. So, what I do is include shipping in the price of individual items.
Have you tried the oscommerce forums? here is the url:
http://forums.oscommerce.com/
Mel-
Answer
Thanks!
Answer
I use a flat Priority Mail shipping rate of 6.95 (don't really have items much under $30-40 range) and then at $70 I begin a 10% shipping rate on up to $500. At $500 and up, which is a larger sale for me I offer free shipping.
I arrived at my rates by looking at my closest three competitors online and taking the closer of the highest two.
Dee
Answer
We decided to go with a weight plus handling charge. Looks to come out real close to what my competitors charge and still am able to offer first class plus all the other options.
It will base the shipping charge on 1 or multiple items. With jewelry I can send several pieces and stay under a pound so this will be a good deal for the buyer.