designing a safe booth for our current situation - question

[kmmcrafts]

Well shipping has come a long way with first class mail.. and if you print your labels online they tend to come with free tracking.. I'm not sure if that is standard for every printed label.. or if it's that way if you go to a post office service center.. Priority mail always comes with tracking.. and has been really close to the same price as the regular parcel... Printing a label online with priority automatic comes with shipping insurance but the insured amount varies.. on Etsy it's $100 value.. through Paypal it's only $50.. I don't remember now but i think through amazon it is also $100

I don't usually add shipping insurance unless it's a special custom order item or something over $50 in value.. and since I print my labels from the venue it's sold from ( etsy or Amazon ) I just use priority mail so it's already insured at $100 value.. 

In 25 years of online selling.. I've never had a missing package.. and have only had 3-4 insurance claims.. way back when I sold tractor parts and used to use UPS.. I had a few claims, LOL.. From what I read online... I must be lucky though, LOL

Glad your sale went well and you learned a few things..  

 

[BadBob]

11 hours ago, Puzzleguy said:

if they want something it goes with tracking - or it doesnt go at all - 

USPS 1st Class Mail package service has tracking. In August, I shipped 12 packages USPS 1st class and one priority mail.

 

[OzarkSawdust]

On 7/23/2020 at 2:59 PM, kmmcrafts said:

I was kinda jokingly saying that about the Hazmat suit as Scott posted a photo of one a while back..

Not really knowing what you are selling I guess maybe the ziploc bags may work to protect things.. Since your screen name is Puzzleguy I thought maybe puzzles.. I think the shrink wrap bags like I use would protect the wood and they also keep the puzzles together. Just need a heat gun or hair dryer to seal them up in the bags.. Maybe a sanitizer or two on your table.. 

 

I use shrink wrap bags for all my puzzles with a heat gun. Last winter when, I first started showing, I only had what was on the table as I was cutting everything in the shed behind the 5th wheel. When someone bought one I would stick it in the bag, put my card in, and hit it a few seconds with the heat gun. The whole process took less than 30 seconds and I told them about other stuff I made during that time...30 second infomercial!! This year I'm making stock to take with me! IF the shows go on I'll have all the puzzles pre-wrapped and may even wrap the ones on my table display. 

I got a call, and refund a week later, of a cancelled show for Jan 2021, so I called most of my people yesterday. Everyone was planning monthly shows as normal...but none had a clue if the owners were going to let the activities, and shows, continue or not yet. All were hoping to get firm go or no go by mid Oct for shows starting in Nov.

Last year, my first time doing shows, I made enough to pay for the lot rent, electric and internet for the whole season. If no shows...we may not go south this year. I HATE COLD WEATHER!!

[kmmcrafts]

2 minutes ago, OzarkSawdust said:

Just remember folks...if the Democrats get their way there will be a TON of mail-in ballots,  much more than the normal "absentee mail-in because I'm out of town" . This means the post office in November will be a train wreck! Just when we are all trying to get and ship Christmas orders!!  Tell customers to order earlier than a normal year.

I get tons of messages starting around the first week of Dec. asking if it'd make it before Christmas... I always tell my customers.. I'll get it in the mail by X date.. but I have no control of what the mail does with the packages from that point on.. my only guarantee is it'll be in the mail system by whatever date I say.. 

The mailing system is going to be overloaded this year.. I've been thinking about getting a Fedex account.. No matter the case... These shippers are going to have a very busy year.. Many of the big Black Friday sales are not happening in stores.. So there is going to be a lot of online sales.. Shipping companies ill be very busy this year I think... I normally don't insure many packages because I've never had a problem with missing / damaged packages.. I might be adding insurance to my expense this year.. Bound to be some missing / damaged packages.. Probably will also be a spike in porch thieves too...  

[BadBob]

I've seen warnings in other groups about shipping delays due to COVID-19. So far, I have not experienced any with my shipments. I ship 99% USPS First Class with an occasional Priority Mail. This year I had one package the too more than three days. I suspect as we get closer to Christmas that this will get worse.

I don't use any insurance on my packages, except the few international orders I get. I read the fine print in the insurance agreement and did the math. Complying with the insurance requirements is more expensive than replacing or refunding if something goes wrong. So far, I have not had to refund or replace anything.

[kmmcrafts]

Out of the 4672 packages I've sent out I've had 6 insurance claims for damaged items and 4 items that I had to replace because of no insurance.( usually cheap small items like ornaments because I don't add insurance to my first class packages ). Also one package came up missing but that is a story of the customer forgot to add the apartment number in the address so it was un-deliverable... but the customer tried to intercept the package and purchased a new label from the local post office over the phone.. as it was a gift to her sister in another state.. between the non- delivery and the interception with new label we had no tracking for the new label and somehow it got mis- placed.. That was my 6th insurance claim.. I don't add insurance to a package but as I said priority mail offers free insurance if you print the label online.. This so happen to be a 100 value as I printed it on etsy and the item value was $75.. so they mailed me out my $75 and I sent out the new one to the correct address with apartment number.. 

That was the only lost package I ever had...

If you ever file a claim... you'll have to prove the value of the item.. You'll likely have to show picture of damaged item.. They may ask to see all packing materials as they will not cover for poor packaging.. They only pay out what the value of the sold item is.. so it the item is $50 but you paid $30 for shipping... they only cover the $50.. if you send a replacement then you pay the shipping again... I never thought that was right but that is how they've done it for me.. A way around that and what I've now done.. is to raise your price to cover the shipping cost and offer free shipping.. a claim payout pays the full amount of the sale.. a bonus is for some reason people don't like trying to add a shipping cost to reach their total cost for a item.. more times than not they'd pay more for a item that has free shipping than to take the time to calculate the shipping etc for a less amount of money... Online shoppers just like quick-easy buying without having to use their brain.. LOL

[BadBob]

21 hours ago, kmmcrafts said:

They only pay out what the value of the sold item is.. so it the item is $50 but you paid $30 for shipping... they only cover the $50.. if you send a replacement then you pay the shipping again... I never thought that was right but that is how they've done it for me.. A way around that and what I've now done.. is to raise your price to cover the shipping cost and offer free shipping.. a claim payout pays the full amount of the sale..

That is the best argument I have seen for using free shipping. I turned it on in Etsy, but it wound up costing me money. What happened was that customers would add a small item to get over the $35 they needed for free shipping, and the actual cost of shipping would jump from $4 to $10, and the shipping would come out of my pocket. After this happened three times, I turned it off. I don't blame the customer; I would have done it too.

Now I am slowly moving to a pricing method that includes the shipping in the price. This pricing method makes it cost more for the customer that purchases multiple items, but it is easy to refund the excess shipping, and these are few and far between.

[kmmcrafts]

1 hour ago, BadBob said:

That is the best argument I have seen for using free shipping. I turned it on in Etsy, but it wound up costing me money. What happened was that customers would add a small item to get over the $35 they needed for free shipping, and the actual cost of shipping would jump from $4 to $10, and the shipping would come out of my pocket. After this happened three times, I turned it off. I don't blame the customer; I would have done it too.

Now I am slowly moving to a pricing method that includes the shipping in the price. This pricing method makes it cost more for the customer that purchases multiple items, but it is easy to refund the excess shipping, and these are few and far between.

Free shipping has its advantages and disadvantages... and it can be tricky to work it to make it fair priced.. My experience has been that people are more apt to buy a item that has free shipping.. even if the item actually cost more.. Not everyone likes calculating a total price.. they like to see that total price right out in front without having to search for it... 

Ever get those annoying sites where they say... add it to the cart to see shipping? or your sale price? People these days are always in a hurry.. and just want quick simple up front cost.. I'm not in a hurry but with online shopping I'm not interested in all the extra clicks of the mouse just to see my total cost.. and those sites that say add to cart for the "sale" price.. I just go to another store to look.. they just lost my business as that really ticks me off when i come across it.. and typically they just are never a great sale price in my experience when I do put it in the cart.. What ticks me off more is that I think they do that so you get it in the shopping cart and forget it's there.. then you end up buying it on accident.... they also have the cart set up where it's hard to find where to remove it from your cart.. I just leave the site now when I see it.. I'm not into playing the games..

Easy to navigate sites with upfront in your face prices is the way to go with it..

Also I only do free shipping within the USA.. then adjust the prices for shipping to other countries..

If you price it right.. sometimes in order to get free shipping people will order more than they intended to.. My puzzles and my ornaments are not free shipping unless the price is over $35.. Quite often I get a sale on one of the semi truck puzzles... but the way etsy does it they show them my semi Christmas ornament.. almost everyone that has bought the puzzle... also bought the ornament.. both are light weight which still keeps me under 8-10 ounces so the price on shipping is only a dollar or two.. Now my goal needs to be... make themed ornaments around the same themes of the puzzles.. Betting most will buy both if I had ornaments the same theme as puzzles..