{I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend. It was my birthday weekend and other than not enough sleep, it was fabulous here! If you’re just joining me on this series, you can catch up on parts 1-3 by going here.}
In the first three parts we have gone over getting started, photography, and writing. In this part we will go over shipping and packaging.
Packaging
Packaging serves two purposes: protecting your item during shipping and branding. Everyone does this a little different. Different products need different types of mailing packaging. My items mostly just need to be protected from moisture. If you sell pottery or jewelry, you also will need to protect from breakage.
For me, I purchase poly envelopes online as they protect better than a large paper envelope. I find purchasing them on Amazon provides the cheapest option. They come in many different sizes.
I wrap my items in white tissue paper and seal with an Abigail’s Attic sticker, printed by Vistaprint. This makes it like a little gift, not just a purchase. I also include two business cards and a thank you postcard that I make myself that has my logo on it.
For large items/orders, I reuse boxes I have received in the mail. I often will turn the box inside out so the outside no longer has any markings. I still use my white tissue paper to wrap around the item.
Some sellers will use different colored tissue and tie everything up in a ribbon. Others will include a little free gift with purchase as part of the packaging. Others I know will sew little bags and put the item in that before putting in the mailing envelope instead of using tissue. You will need to decide how you want to do your packaging. Remember that when people are purchasing on Etsy, they often like the personal touch. How you do that is completely up to you. This is where your creativity can show through as well as with your product!
Shipping
There are two schools of thought on shipping prices. Some have their shipping prices be exactly the postage. others round up a little to cover packaging, trips to the post office, etc. Both ways are perfectly acceptable.
There are a few tricks to make shipping easier. The first is to purchase a shipping scale. I purchased this one on Amazon. It weighs up to 35lbs. For my products, that is more than enough. You can purchase scales to have a higher weight limit.
Another is to check this website for shipping estimates when you are listing items. It is so much easier and faster than using the post office website.
One of the best things I have ever done is buy my shipping through Etsy. You can get the commercial rate this way which is cheaper than if you pay for it at the post office. You can also mail from home this way. You just put in the info for your shipping label, purchase, and print it off. You can buy labels for your printer, buy a label printer, or just print on regular paper and tape the table to your package. That is what I do. I love that Etsy shipping also comes with a tracking number at no additional cost.
If your item is small enough to ship First Class, you can just stick your package in the mailbox for your mail carrier to pick up. If you need to use Priority, you can schedule a pick-up online and your mail carrier can still pick it up at your house. I love how much easier this is than going to the post office. I no longer have to deal with getting a kid in and out of the car for a three minute stop.
Whether you decide to add on insurance or not is up to you. Just know that insurance protects the seller not the buyer. You are responsible for your item right up until it is in your customer’s hands. If it never arrives, it is up to you to refund or replace. If you don’t purchase insurance, you will just be out that money. I don’t purchase insurance on my items unless the order is over $30. That is just my personal decision as most of my items are so affordable, I can take the loss if I need to.
I think shipping and packaging is one of the easiest parts of selling on Etsy but it also one of the most important. There’s no point in selling if your item isn’t arriving in good condition, you aren’t charging enough to cover the postage, etc.
This week I asked other Etsy sellers this question: “What have you learned about shipping? What about packaging?”
Dory from worthygoods and worthygoodstextile said: “I’ve learned to use Priority Flat Rate to ship in the US whenever I can. The packaging is free (love the padded envelopes!), can be ordered online, is mailed right to your door at no cost, comes with $50 free insurance, free pickup, tracking, discounted online shipping and is delivered pretty darned fast. Hard to beat that deal!”
Lorien from KnitToo said: “I learned to be sure to charge enough for shipping, especially the ‘with another item’ part. I got burned a few times with multiple purchases of heavier items in the same sale. Also, if you are shipping overseas be sure to charge enough! Etsy now has a handy shipping calculator or you can use the one through the USPS website. Be sure to use shipping profiles. I have them set up for a range of package weights and it makes listing much faster. You just have to look up the weight once, create your profile, and then when listing an item just weigh it (and the packaging) and choose the appropriate profile.”
Wendy from HipposDream said: “The 3 do’s for shipping & packing are: pack safe, wrap beautiful, ship fast. This will give happy customers as all customers want to receive their item in one piece, fast, and wrapped as a present.”
BONUS:
Ellen from BeAditudes4U said: “ I’ve learned to charge enough to cover postage, packing and gas to get to the post office (I live on a dirt road with no mail delivery or pick-up) and to be flexible if someone buys a lot…Packing – I include a hand written thank you, either on bright colored paper or after I got my business cards, on the back of one of them. I often will include a little something extra.”
Next week we will be the last in this series as we go over marketing and promoting.
Be sure to follow me on Facebook and check back week for the next in this series, Shipping and Packaging. If you decide to open up your own Etsy shop, be sure to use my referral link to get your first 40 listings for free!
Go here to read the rest of the Selling On Etsy series
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