Author:  ffilz  Posted:  Dec 8, 2022 16:10  Subject:  Re: Fees cut into margins with high shipping cost  Viewed:  72 times  Topic:  Selling Cancel Reply

BrickLink ID Card ffilz (631) Location:  USA, Oregon Member Since Contact Type Status Aug 1, 2000 Seller Store: Franks Bricks

In Selling, pitz8008 writes:    In Selling, ffilz writes:    In Selling, jbroman writes:    In Selling, ffilz writes:    I just got a $20 order that resulted in a $60 shipping cost and the result is about $16 taxes. The Bricklink and Paypal fees on the entire transaction equal about 1/3 the parts sale price. I figure my "cost" for the items was somewhere between $10-12, resulting in my getting just a few bucks margin for this sale... I'm wondering what other folks do to mitigate issues like this? I currently charge exact postage and don't have any handling fees. I'm wondering if one thing I should do is bump up my minimum order for international orders. Thanks for any thoughts you might have. Frank Remember, you don’t pay BL fees on shipping. Just for the parts. Yea, I figured that out later, that does help... But the saga gets worse... The USPS online postage calculator would not give me a First Class option, thus the extremely high shipping cost. Get paid, fill out customs (which I for some reason couldn't do online), get to Post Office. We can't ship Priority Mail packages to Spain right now. But you CAN ship First Class for less than $30 (I didn't catch the actual amount)... Now to figure out the best way to get the most refund (since the buyer paid VAT almost as much as the items, because VAT is on shipping charge also...) and not leave me in the hole... And this is the final straw for me on international shipping... Frank International shipping is extremely simple. Being completely honest, international shipping isn't the problem. Set up instant checkout. Charge all international orders other than Canada and Mexico the same price. Make a checkout for 0-7 ounces. And 8-30 ounces. You are wasting far too much time trying to send an exact amount for shipping to each country. That's way too much time wasted. Does the automated shipping pricing make allowance for packaging weight? I have had some orders have significant packaging weight, especially when I need to find an unusual size box. Also note that this is not a business for me, I'm just selling excess parts mostly from my early days of set purchases. Frank

Message is in Reply To:

Re: Fees cut into margins with high shipping cost - pitz8008 (14792)

[...] International shipping is extremely simple. Being completely honest, international shipping isn't the problem. Set up instant checkout. Charge all international [...] (18 months ago, Dec 8, 2022, to Selling)

16 Messages in this Thread:

 Msg 1 - ffilz (631) 18 months ago Dec 6, 2022 to Selling
 Msg 2 - 1001bricks (52465) 18 months ago Dec 6, 2022 to Selling
 Msg 3 - 1001bricks (52465) 18 months ago Dec 6, 2022 to Selling
 Msg 4 - 1001bricks (52465) 18 months ago Dec 6, 2022 to Selling
 Msg 5 - popsicle (6673) 18 months ago Dec 6, 2022 to Selling
 Msg 6 - rtzx9r (1037) 18 months ago Dec 6, 2022 to Selling
 Msg 7 - SDF_Bricks (297) 18 months ago Dec 6, 2022 to Selling
 Msg 8 - yorbrick (1185) 18 months ago Dec 7, 2022 to Selling
 Msg 9 - wildchicken13 (876) 18 months ago Dec 6, 2022 to Selling
 Msg 10 - yorbrick (1185) 18 months ago Dec 7, 2022 to Selling
 Msg 11 - jbroman (985) 18 months ago Dec 7, 2022 to Selling
 Msg 12 - ffilz (631) 18 months ago Dec 8, 2022 to Selling
 Msg 13 - jennnifer (3537) 18 months ago Dec 8, 2022 to Selling
 Msg 14 - ffilz (631) 18 months ago Dec 8, 2022 to Selling
 Msg 15 - pitz8008 (14792) 18 months ago Dec 8, 2022 to Selling
 Msg 16 « - ffilz (631) 18 months ago Dec 8, 2022 to Selling