Sunday, September 13, 2015

Being a Lazy Shipper



I recently realized that some lazy behavior on my part was costing me money and probably some sales. I call my behavior 'lazy shipping'. Below I describe the different types.

1. When creating a listing instead of actually weighing the item with some packing material you guesstimate based on your past experience. For example I know most mugs fall between 1 to 2 pounds. So I choose the range instead of weighing to get a more exact weight.

2. When the item is sold you print up the shipping when you're still in bed without having packed the item. Later you pack the item and see you could have saved a little cash by putting in the corrected weight.

3. When setting up a new listing if you aren't sure you choose priority instead of priority flat rate so that you don't have to check if the item will fit in the flat rate envelope.

So I had a light bulb moment this week and realized these behaviors were costing me and my customers money and they were also probably costing me sales. Why is that?

When you use the 1-2 pounds instead of a more exact weight the post office rounds up to 2 pounds. So you are charged for 2 pounds when the item is 1.1 pounds. This doesn't matter for your american customers as shipping for 1.1 pounds is the same cost as 2 pounds. But this does make a difference for your international customers. International postage is charged by the ounce. So 1.1 vs 2 pounds can cost your customer a few bucks and may make them look for another item with lower shipping.

When I'm not sure if an item will fit in a priority flat rate mailer I'd play it safe and not offer the flat rate. I didn't think it really mattered thinking it was just a few cents difference. What I wasn't realizing was that it matters for some customers and not others based on distance and weight. If it it a light weight item there probably isn't much difference between priority and priority flat rate but if it is a heavy item it can mean a few dollars if it is going all the way across the country. I wasn't considering this and probably lost some sales this way. Likewise sometimes I would offer just priority and not parcel select. I didn't realize that although they looked like they cost about the same in my area for a buyer in California (the furthest from me) there was a significant difference especially with a heavy item. A buyer's question about shipping charges alerted me to this.

Guesstimating can hurt you in a couple of ways. Under estimate and you can end having to eat some shipping. This can cost you pennies or tens of dollars. Especially be careful of the size of your package! If your package ends up "oversized" this can add a lot of money to the cost of shipping. I've lost a few bucks this way. Over estimate and you risk scaring people away by a shipping price that sounds too high.

So I'm learning to spend a few more minutes on the front end. I'm weighing my item with a box and some paper to get a better idea of the final weight. I'm checking to see if it will fit in the priority flat rate envelope so that I can offer that more often.

Elsewhere since I signed up for Direct Checkout on Etsy my sales have increased. Almost all of my most recent sales have been through Direct Checkout.  Make sure you have this turned on if you sell on etsy. Here is an explanation of Direct Checkout.

Sales continue to be pretty slow on ebay.

Below are some of my recent ebay and etsy sales.

A Corduroy UNO trucker hat. I bought this in a bag sale so I paid about a quarter. Sold for $19.99 plus shipping.

Vintage plastic wall rosary. I paid $5 for this and took an offer of $24.99 plus shipping. I'd hoped to get more for this because it was really cool but alas I needed the money so I took the offer. 


Vintage Wool Varsity Jacket. I paid $1.75 for this and sold it for $50 plus shipping. 


A Ladish belt buckle. Paid 50 cents and sold for $24.99 plus shipping. 






11 comments:

  1. That rosary is really cool. I can't say that I've ever seen one like it before. Thanks for the tip regarding direct checkout. I just signed up for it. Maybe it will help my sales on etsy. As for shipping, I always know how much a package will weigh before I list any item and I won't list anything weird shaped unless I know I have a box for it first. Even still, I make mistakes sometimes. I recently sold a pair of size 15 boots and they were in a big box. I forgot to put the dimensions in when I listed it, so when I went to ship it, I realized it was an oversized package and it cost me a little more. Always learning.....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'd never seen a rosary like it either. The woman was buying it as a gift for her mother and very excited to get it. That made it worth selling for less than I wanted.

      I hope you see a sharp curve upward in your sales after signing up for direct checkout. My last 6 or 7 sales have all been direct checkout and I made about as much on etsy this week as I did on ebay! That's a first for me. Plus my ebay store has almost ten times the inventory.

      Delete
  2. When I first started selling on ebay I used a vintage kitchen scale to calculate postage...not a good thing for me. I quickly purchased a digital scale and its great. I keep one of all the sizes of boxes and check each item before listing to see which fits the best. I don't get burned too often, just when I guess. I keep a poly mailer with tissue, a label and a piece of paper (packing slip) to check if first class things go over. I try to use priority shipping because I don't have to purchase insurance and most of the time priority is about the same as parcel select or sometimes cheaper. I think we all have had these learning curves. If you're like me I takes a hard blow on the back of the head (or in the bank account) to get my attention!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good tips Annabel. I was just being lazy. No excuses of needing to learn anything new. I just didn't realize my laziness was costing me real money. I was in denial :)

      Delete
  3. Great advice, and that rosary is so pretty!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I just wanted to mention that I noticed your Amazon "books I recommend" widget and I love it! I spend very little time on my blog these days, but maybe I will find a few minutes sometime and figure out how to add it. For the past couple months I've actually been thinking about doing a "what I read last month" post. Not really eBay related, but kinda in my mind because I listen to a lot of audio books as I take photos, list, package things up, etc. I'll be looking to see what you're reading next. :-) (How are you liking Revised Fundamental of Caregiving? I remember that book stressing me out a bit when I read it, knowing something awful had happened in the main character's life before the book/story started, and not finding out exactly what till towards the end.)

    Also - nice sales! :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Kari :) I haven't been updating my Amazon 'books I recommend' since I first created it. I thought it would be easy to update but it is a pain if I remember right. I was thinking I should get rid of it before you commented on it. I've actually read quite a few more books since then. I'm going to look at it again and see how hard or easy it is to update. I can't really remember Fundamentals of Caregiving except that I liked it. Right now I'm reading Lily: A Novel by Maryanne Robinson. It is good but slow. What are you reading?

      Delete
  5. What an interesting rosary. I've never heard of wall rosaries before. So cool.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My mom painted one in ceramics class which hung in her bedroom. This was the first time I'd seen a plastic one.

      Delete
  6. I never thought about international buyers when setting up shipping costs - thanks for the reminder!

    ReplyDelete