I'd have to say that the most difficult part of selling online is figuring out how much to charge for postage! AND my time packing it AND the cost of gas while driving to mail it AND.......
I happen to use a small independently run postal place that is more convenient then our historic post office, (where movies have even been filmed), but by the time I'm done standing in that line, I might as well have brought my sleeping bag. The problem with the smaller mail stop is they add their own charge because they need to make a few bucks too. Urgh......... : /
I also run into the rush issue. I get wanting to get your goodies by tomorrow; the question is, can you actually afford that? AND don't get me started on foreign postage; I have no idea why someone in France wants me to send wooden beads that cost as much to send them as to pay for them. Surely they have wooden beads in France, but hey, I'm not complaining about selling them, just the fact that I didn't, once again, charge enough to send them!
I know people who ship for free & frankly I don't know how they do it. Some add that cost into the item being sold, but I often see items that are selling for too cheap plus no shipping & wonder how they even cover the cost of their materials & more importantly, the time they spent making, collecting & carefully packing the item.
I'm going to throw my two cents in here. Unless the item is absolutely under 13 ounces, or can fit into one of those flat rate envelopes or boxes from USPS; don't charge any less then $4 to send it, anywhere, AND if you're sending it overseas? Don't charge less then $8 for a light item or $15 for a heavier one. I HAVE learned that there IS no rhyme or reason to any of it. I sent an item to Australia once & it cost $5. I sent practically the same item to England & it cost $15. I have, in the past, offered a discount on the next purchase if my postage charges turn out to be too high; but have never been taken up on it. The only request in fact that I've ever gotten was to dial down the charges when someone was buying another 2 or 3 items in the same order. I was happy to do it.
I happen to use a small independently run postal place that is more convenient then our historic post office, (where movies have even been filmed), but by the time I'm done standing in that line, I might as well have brought my sleeping bag. The problem with the smaller mail stop is they add their own charge because they need to make a few bucks too. Urgh......... : /
I also run into the rush issue. I get wanting to get your goodies by tomorrow; the question is, can you actually afford that? AND don't get me started on foreign postage; I have no idea why someone in France wants me to send wooden beads that cost as much to send them as to pay for them. Surely they have wooden beads in France, but hey, I'm not complaining about selling them, just the fact that I didn't, once again, charge enough to send them!
I know people who ship for free & frankly I don't know how they do it. Some add that cost into the item being sold, but I often see items that are selling for too cheap plus no shipping & wonder how they even cover the cost of their materials & more importantly, the time they spent making, collecting & carefully packing the item.
I'm going to throw my two cents in here. Unless the item is absolutely under 13 ounces, or can fit into one of those flat rate envelopes or boxes from USPS; don't charge any less then $4 to send it, anywhere, AND if you're sending it overseas? Don't charge less then $8 for a light item or $15 for a heavier one. I HAVE learned that there IS no rhyme or reason to any of it. I sent an item to Australia once & it cost $5. I sent practically the same item to England & it cost $15. I have, in the past, offered a discount on the next purchase if my postage charges turn out to be too high; but have never been taken up on it. The only request in fact that I've ever gotten was to dial down the charges when someone was buying another 2 or 3 items in the same order. I was happy to do it.
This was very informative!!!
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