Shipping questions

[romad97]

I have some shipping questions. I have been selling a lot of cards lately, mostly low dollar cards and have been taking a loss on some of them due to shipping costs. My local PO told me that in order to provide DC that all packages have to go out priority, is this true? I am not looking to make a lot of money on my cards but when I sell a 2 or 3 dollar card it costs me almost 2 or 3 dollars in supplies and shipping cost. What can I do to help cut down on my shipping costs?

[iluvfish2]

No its not true.

If its a 2-3 dollar transaction, I'm probably not using DC if your using the post office to mail your stuff. Saves you time and money, and your shipping costs should go down considerably since in all realities if your using a 000 mailer with no dc and only one or two cards in them, your probably only at the .68 shipping rate (there is a template that can be used but typically packages under 1/4" in fit into this category).

If your manually paying for DC then I'd switch to paypal shipping. To use the electronic delivery confirmation (keep in mind they do not have to scan these at the front counter as your paying for delivery confirmation not shipping confirmation) its .19 (verses the .65 or so it is now). Plus you can leave these in your mailbox or drop them off at the Post Office ready to go. A simple scale is all that you really need (minus either sticky labels or scissors and tape to tape the label to the package). Keep in mind here, your packages must be 3/4" thick or they can be bumped to priority shipping, which means your buyers are now getting postage due delivery or its being returned for insufficient shipping.

Then it comes down to your supplies. A 2 oz package with eDC runs me $1.58 USD through paypal (I think its 1.39 +.19 per additional ounce up to 12 ounces - 13 oz or more has to go priority). On top of this I have 0.09 into my shipping label (0.18 per sheet), and 0.09 into my bubble mailer. Maybe 0.05 in ink (hard to guess, but probably much less than this as I use draft printing for everything which uses much less ink). So where your buying your supplies from can make a big difference. I also reuse as many bubble mailers as I can. One i think its environmentally responsible, secondly this greatly effects the bottom line.

[romad97]

Ok this all sounds pretty good. Couple more questions though. I agree that looking at utilizing paypal shipping might be the way to go. What exatally do you mean by the must be 3/4" though, I am assuming you mean must be less than 3/4" right? Is this still First class? Also, looking at using a shipping label printed from paypal, will these labels fit a 000 size envelope?

[gman71]

Not true on the priority if you use the APC that alot of the post offices have now.

If you select that you are shipping a package,it allows you to send it 1st class with DC

[vatechhokiefan]

Originally Posted by romad97

Ok this all sounds pretty good. Couple more questions though. I agree that looking at utilizing paypal shipping might be the way to go. What exatally do you mean by the must be 3/4" though, I am assuming you mean must be less than 3/4" right? Is this still First class? Also, looking at using a shipping label printed from paypal, will these labels fit a 000 size envelope?

I am told that the bubble mailer should be at least 3/4" thick for DC to be available on a first class parcel. My LCS owner gave me a bag of packing peanuts for free and I put some of them in my mailers to make them thick enough. The decoy cards in packs can be used also, but they may add weight. If you print your labels on regular printer paper, you can trim the label to fit onto a 000 bubble mailer.

[iluvfish2]

By 3/4 I meant 3/4" thick.

for a 000 Mailer I need to trim it, but an 00 Mailer fits really close

[MasterOfTheDark]

Easiest thing to do is print the labels yourself and buy in as big of bulk as you can on supplies. Also, stay under 13 ounces if you can.

It will really grind your gears is when you've got something that breaks the 13 ounce barrier. I've had to deal with that the last week or two as I'm selling sets right now and the Chrome sets weigh more. I can print a label with DC on 13 ounces for $3.45 postage cost (scaled printing, about 63% of the original size - and I thank this board and member "swerve" for that tip) on a 100 count box and it ships just fine. But the Chrome sets weigh just over 13 ounces, around 13 1/2, and since anything over 13 ounces has to go to the post office, they cost $6 to mail at the post office with DC, packaged exactly the same way. From $3.45 to $6 because of half an ounce??? Talk about annoying!

Sorry for the rant.

Anyway, as far as things getting scanned, I don't do anything to make my bubble mailers any thicker and I've really not had many problems with them getting scanned. Over 500 singles sold in the last few months, and only 2 arrived at their destination without being scanned. Had maybe 5 more not get scanned locally, but got scanned when they arrived. I started using a green highlighter on the EZip DC number and since then, they've all been scanned. So grab a bright green highlighter as well.

EDIT TO ADD: And make sure if you use tape that it is the clear kind, not the filmy kind. You can tape over the bar codes and such as long as the tape is clear. Not taping over the emblem on the top right hand corner of the printout is hard to do when you stink at art (trust me, I stink at art, so I know).

[iluvfish2]

Master

Here's your tip of the day. Over 13 oz does not have to go to the post office. Print it through paypal and put it in yoru mailbox or one of the postal bins. The purchase can be directly linked back to you so yoru fine, you can't put the right amount of postage stamps on a priority package and put it in the mailbox, thats not trackable, and has to go to the counter.

over 13 oz forces priority rates, which very much depend on the zip code (think it starts at 4.85 but you do get free eDC so it does knock a little off).

[MasterOfTheDark]

Originally Posted by iluvfish2

Master

Here's your tip of the day. Over 13 oz does not have to go to the post office. Print it through paypal and put it in yoru mailbox or one of the postal bins. The purchase can be directly linked back to you so yoru fine, you can't put the right amount of postage stamps on a priority package and put it in the mailbox, thats not trackable, and has to go to the counter.

over 13 oz forces priority rates, which very much depend on the zip code (think it starts at 4.85 but you do get free eDC so it does knock a little off).

Hmm... I'll definitely look into that. I've always used Ebay's shipping, and the dropdown for weight stops at 13 ounces. I just checked Paypal's shipping page and it does appear I can put whatever weight I want on it. Very cool. Thank you kind sir!

[MrSnyder]

Originally Posted by romad97

Ok this all sounds pretty good. Couple more questions though. I agree that looking at utilizing paypal shipping might be the way to go. What exatally do you mean by the must be 3/4" though, I am assuming you mean must be less than 3/4" right? Is this still First class? Also, looking at using a shipping label printed from paypal, will these labels fit a 000 size envelope?

I use 000 and what I do is wrap the label around the side. So the bottom half of the label is on the sealed side of the padded bubbleope, then along the longer side of the envelope wraps the label onto the other side. Hope that makes sense.

[amazingpacks]

Originally Posted by iluvfish2

No its not true.

If its a 2-3 dollar transaction, I'm probably not using DC if your using the post office to mail your stuff. Saves you time and money, and your shipping costs should go down considerably since in all realities if your using a 000 mailer with no dc and only one or two cards in them, your probably only at the .68 shipping rate (there is a template that can be used but typically packages under 1/4" in fit into this category).
...

Is this for real! I thought any bubble envolope was $1.50+. I send alot of free cards and if i can send the 000 "thin" at .68 that would cut down on my free cards i send out. Good information.