Sceaden Report post Posted February 9, 2019 Kind of like Barry King who insists on charging $10 for shipping in a flat rate priority mail box when I would be very happy with first class for $4. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
seeknulfind Report post Posted February 24, 2019 While I'm relatively new here and I mostly lurk, this post caught my eye. As I manage an ecommerce site for a living (nothing to do with leather), thisis one topic I have intimate knowledge of. Some mentioned earlier (paraphrasing) how shipping is the bane of internet commerce. This is so true. At best it is tough. While our shipping is mostly accurate, some glitches cannot always be helped. By the way, we ship a variety of products from hydraulic fittings - heavy and compact to leaf vacuum hose - large and light, so I can shed some light on several areas. That said, please allow I do not claim to have the final word on anything. Your own experience may vary. One shipping rep - FedEx guy I think, blamed Amazon for much of the crack down on shipping costs. He cited something we've all experienced - how they love to ship tiny objects in comparatively huge packages. Thinking about this, I partly agree as even I can figure out each truck has only so much space. Hence the introduction a couple of years back of "dimensional weight" i.e. they assign a weight value to the size of the package to compensate for wasted space. This is not the only thing. UPS still charges a "fuel surcharge" to compensate for high fuel costs. Yeah. Right. There are a couple of takeaways here: First, there are "sweet spots" when it comes to shipping. Smaller packages (One common size we use is 14x8x8) weighing up to 40 lbs tend to ship economically for us. I tell our customers if they want to save money to buy the small heavier stuff in as large a quantity as they can. No, this is not some ploy to increase sales. Even if I did not make the same no matter how much or little they buy, I always try to do my best to serve the customers. (About half my time is spent in sales.) Second, for larger packages, they are going to cost more. Period. Think about that box truck. No matter what the shippers will make more money shipping lots of small packages than a few big ones. They are GOING to make money! The best defense for this is for shippers to pack as much into as small a space as possible. I know this can be a daunting task. Our other nemesis is hydraulic hose. My suggestion for those shipping hides, if you don't do this already is to consider long cylindrical or rectangular boxes. We often ship up to 6 in x 12 ft vac hose in 8x8x60-72" boxes (The hose compresses) Similarly, we also ship 8-12 in diameter hoses in similar lengths. We've found the tall boxes tend to cost less overall than our other option - the 30x30x18 in monsters. While we do offer "free shipping" on some items, I often tell my customers there is no free shipping. It is a myth. As someone pointed out, shipping is actually calculated into the selling price. Seriously. What? Does anyone really think someone is going to lose money for the privilege of sending your stuff? Please excuse the sarcasm here but I actually deal with some customers who seem to have trouble grasping this concept, so I'm passing this thought along to emphasize the point. For that matter, on those items we do offer "free" shipping on, you can bet the costs are calculated to land in our favor most of the time. We do sometimes take a hit but not often. One more thing and I'll shut up. Over the years, I've gotten fairly adept at getting fairly accurate shipping costs most of the time. Where things go wrong is when someone orders items that short circuit the software. For example, I cannot teach the software that two clamps that weigh nothing and easily slip inside a vac hose, costs nothing to ship - so it adds shipping... for the entire order. Oy. What doe we do when stuff like this happens? We refund excess shipping charges. I noticed some vendors here do this also. Frankly I prefer to deal with vendors who will do this as a matter of course. If you sell online and you do this, it may behoove you to state it plainly on your site. This is not to say, people won't call or complain anyway but it may cut down on these instances and you may see a few less abandoned carts. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NVLeatherWorx Report post Posted February 24, 2019 The Buckle Guy website is just like everyone else out there, they have an estimated shipping rate that is based on how each item is programmed but that is not ever the final rate. I have ordered hardware to the tune of almost 100 pounds total weight and it was shipped in 3 different boxes for a total shipping charge of just around the $19 mark. This is a common practice that you will find on many of the websites that we all use on a daily basis so dropping an order just because you can't understand the estimate process is kind of ridiculous. If it is that critical then just phone the order in and I can guarantee that you will have an accurate shipping charge by the end of that conversation. Most shipping rates are not estimates and only rough quotes; even Tandy has this issue with their site and I have never seen an order on their site ship for the higher rate that was estimated. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Yankee63 Report post Posted February 25, 2019 Try Zack White retail shop... Their shipping was greatly reduced. I only suggest what I use, I have no connection with the company. Great service, great product for me as a small quantity buyer. Doug Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MPolo Report post Posted February 27, 2019 (edited) It's fairly simple to determine when a seller has included the shipping price into the product cost. The item usually costs marginally more. It's wise to consider customer service vs. cost and shipping, not to mention something rarely discussed and that's handling. The packaging materials can be a significant cost for smaller businesses. Although I also dislike high shipping rates, I'd rather not travel 3500 miles to pick up a $50 item and save $25 in shipping costs. I still don't like it, but it is, unfortunately what it is. Be well friends. - Marco PS - I apologize HeatherLeather. I was way off topic and didn’t really help with your question. Edited February 27, 2019 by MPolo Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Big Sioux Saddlery Report post Posted February 28, 2019 On 2/9/2019 at 2:36 PM, Sceaden said: Kind of like Barry King who insists on charging $10 for shipping in a flat rate priority mail box when I would be very happy with first class for $4. Yes!! Due to the fact that it costs $10 to ship one tool, I usually order a number of tools at one time. Who wins there? Haha! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JLSleather Report post Posted February 28, 2019 22 hours ago, MPolo said: packaging materials can be a significant cost for smaller businesses Priority mail boxes are delivered to my door for free. In packs of 25. Available in a couple dozen sizes I think, though I only order 4 sizes myself. When I want to ship something more economically, I get brown boxes on ebay for about 40¢ each, and it's $2.62-$3.82 to ship them 1st class (16 oz or less). Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MPolo Report post Posted February 28, 2019 57 minutes ago, JLSleather said: Priority mail boxes are delivered to my door for free. In packs of 25. Available in a couple dozen sizes I think, though I only order 4 sizes myself. When I want to ship something more economically, I get brown boxes on ebay for about 40¢ each, and it's $2.62-$3.82 to ship them 1st class (16 oz or less). Not being a small business owner, I appreciate your sharing on how to get shipping supplies economically! Thank you Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
