Podcast: Play in new window | Download
USPS Shipping Updates
- If you’re based in the U.S., be aware that USPS has announced their rate increase schedule for 2019 and you’ll likely feel it, most especially if you live on either of the U.S. coasts
- It’s a little bit complicated so here are the links I mentioned in the podcast where you can see the hard numbers on the USPS website:
Shipping Costs & Your Etsy Shop
-
- Etsy has stated in their new “guide to search” that listings with free or lower shipping costs will be favored in Etsy search results… So how can you benefit from this without losing out?
- Do Your Market Research
-
-
-
- Look at what other brands that are selling similar items to yours are charging from shipping and adjust your shipping prices to align with what your shared target buyers expect
-
-
- Price Your Item Accordingly
-
-
-
- If adding the entire cost of shipment into your product price is too jarring then instead, add just a part of the shipping costs to your product price
- Try adding different percentages to your product price, for example:
- Product price = $10
- Shipping cost = $3.00
- Split the shipping cost 60/40, so your new product price will be $11.80 and your shipping cost customers see will be $1.20
- With the new Etsy fee structure, you still pay the same amount in fees
- This way your customers don’t feel like they’re paying significantly more for your product than the market average… They feel like your shipping costs are reasonable… But you’re still getting the customer to pay for shipping
- Be sure to lay out in your Shipping Policies who is responsible for paying return shipping costs if an item is returned
-
-
- Test Out Free Shipping
-
-
- According to Etsy’s research, they say that buyers report comparing shipping prices between Etsy and other online selling platforms and sure enough… Because they see free shipping offered on other platforms they expect to see it offered on Etsy too
- An additional benefit of offering free shipping is that buyers can filter search results based on products that ship for free so that will give you a better chance of showing up among fewer results
- Your products that ship for free will also get the “free shipping” badge
- If they need to meet a minimum requirement before getting free shipping, your products will still show up in the free shipping filter and when a buyer clicks on it, they will see what the requirements are in order to qualify for free shipping
- You can offer free shipping a few different ways…
- You can offer free shipping only after a customer spends a certain amount of money in your shop OR after they buy a certain quantity of products from your shop
- If you ship internationally, you do have the option to limit your free shipping promotion to just domestic customers
- If you sell large or heavy items then instead of offering free shipping, you can try offering a percentage off the shipping cost instead
- You can offer a free shipping coupon to certain customers only… This can help to encourage repeat business OR to encourage new buyers to shop with you… For example, you can offer it to your social media followers by sharing a special code they can use at checkout
- Even with your free shipping code, you can still set order minimums if you’d like to
-
After reviewing all this information, I went ahead and set up a Free Shipping promotion in my Etsy shop… I’ll let you know how it goes in future episodes
- An added bonus at the time of this recording is that if you offer free shipping between October 10th and December 10th, 2018 you’ll be eligible to win something in the Etsy free shipping giveaway
- They’re giving away over 600 prizes and you could even win up to $25,000
Please take a minute to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes and Stitcher or wherever you listen to podcasts. Please also tell a friend out about the show.
Connect With Me:
-
- Instagram: @EtsyConvo
- Twitter: @ConvoMePodcast
- Email: Use the Contact Form OR interview [at] convome [dot] com
- Facebook Group: Etsy Conversations
For more help growing your Etsy-based business, check out these resources: