Are you referring to anything specific? Some places use shipping and handling to pad their profit. I do understand your frustration though, which is why I structured my shipping charges the way I did. I charge $2.50 shipping for the razors I have for sale. One razor is usually $1.56 but occasionally it costs $1.76, plus .85¢ for the padded mailer, so I sometimes end up with a little less than a dime left over, and sometimes I am short a few cents. Either way, it is cleaner for me to charge $2.50 instead of $2.41, and if I charged $3.00 on a $10.00 razor, then I could either be seen as gouging on shipping, or I could lose some sales because of the triskadecaphobic shavers out there.
I ordered a tub of shaving cream and two packs of de razor blades and it was shipped USPS two states away and the shipping charges were about half the cost of the bill.
Depends how it was shipped. I ordered injector blades from both Pella and EMS and spent about $10 for shipping on each order. They only use fedex and it costs more then many other providers. EMS is only about 40 miles from where I live.
It was shipped USPS 2 -3 day Priority which is normally cheaper than UPS or Fedex. I guess I shouldn't complain after reading your post.
Sadly I've learned many online retailers, especially shaving retailers, overcharge for shipping. With the new flat rate priority boxes, shipping could be so much cheaper if they'd use them. But of course they want to charge handling and packaging fees and will be quick to tell you tape and an employee doesn't come cheap. And if you print you postage online either at the USPS web site or Ebay and PayPal sites, you get cheaper rates on extras like delivery confirmation and certificate of mailing. What I did to minimize costs but make sure I'm not losing money when I sell shaving gear is I bought a cheap postal scale, pay for and print my postage online and I recycle old boxes, padded envelopes, packing peanuts and bubble wrap that I got when I bought shaving gear.
Maybe I did it wrong but just mailed three razors and some blades to London in a small box with confirmation and it was $33.50. Without the confirmation it was $16. The box weighted 14.3 oz. That is terrible. Maybe if I had put it in one of those mailing bags it would have been cheaper. Since I have never sent anything to London, I wanted the confirmation. I charged $7 mailing which was stupid on my part.::kngt
I did not see your post here, but I replied over here: http://www.theshaveden.com/forum/showpost.php?p=351906&postcount=603
I feel you dougr. I shipped some old spice deoderants to a guy in Australia on B&B. Since the large mailer came out to 3lb it was 30 bucks for shipping. The same price as all the product inside. Was kind of ridiculous.
I disagree. There are of course some businesses that overcharge for shipping. My experience though has been that shaving vendors typically do not fit into this category. I almost always lose money on shipping especially when you factor in packing supplies. Shipping is expensive, plain and simple. While the flat rate boxes help to mitigate cost, not everything fits into a flat rate box.
That may be the case with your businesses but I've bought from many and the shipping costs are almost as much as the product, sometimes more than the product depending on how many I'm ordering and what it is. I of course can only speak from my own experience.
My question is; how does the price of the item bear any significance on the shipping cost? A $5.00 4 oz. glass bottle of aftershave is still going to cost more to ship.
I just checked with my USPS Shipping Assistant software. 4oz bottle plus 2oz for packaging totaling 6oz costs $2.26 to ship First Class Parcel with delivery confirmation. Add a buck or even 2 bucks for packaging costs bringing the total to $3.26 or $4.26. Why would it cost more than the $5.00 product? What am I missing?
The product is 4 fluid ounces of aftershave in a glass bottle. It doesn't weigh 4 oz. And no shipping box weighs 2 ounces. Let alone the packing material to ensure the product doesn't break.
First off...packing weighs more than 2 oz. My 7x7x6 priority box weighs 4.8 oz when empty. Add packing materials, samples and you get the idea. The package weighs much more than one would think. I cannot speak for others but I ship Priority rather than 1st class for several reasons. The primary reasons being that Priority is much more reliable and I can print the labels from my computer (which you cannot do with 1st class shipping). I get an itemized printout with tracking and do not have to stand in the line at the post office. This itemized printout then goes into a folder in case I need to look it up later (there is also an electronic copy). A must for taxes. The best way to maximize your shipping dollar is to order more supplies. Many shaving vendors will offer free shipping over a certain threshold.
Actually, you can print 1st Class labels through Paypal, but not through the USPS website. Not sure about other postage sites. Priority is more reliable, and the boxes are free. Parcel post isn't really cheaper than Priority, and 1st Class only goes up to 13 ounces. The other issue is most store software programs have limitations to them. I can't tell the software how much stuff fits in a Flat Rate box, so I certainly can't enable that.
I've found that in general, the size boxes you and I tend to use weigh around 4 oz. That's the weight I add to the products weight when adding them to the store so the shipping price is right. Of course, that does on occasion end up causing an overcharging of shipping. That's taken care of by refunding the difference after the shipping label has been printed.
Just from a consumer's viewpoint, it may make sense for a vendor to use a "package deal" price. e.g. Tube, tub, razor and AS/Col selection of choice for a delivered price. Someone from India PM'd me about ordering product of various types and asked that I do it in 1000 gram (?) increments. I have no idea and no electronic scale nor any inclination to figure all of that out. This is supposed to be fun and a journey to try different things out. When the mailing cost makes everything less of a value, it is time to simplify things. Years ago I had to make up rail cars of General Mills products shipped in piggyback trailers and full cars with weight limits. Cereal, Hamburger Helpers and snacks weigh nothing but are large boxes taking up cubic space. Gold Metal flour, Bisquick, Betty Crocker frostings/cakes weigh tons and take up no space. I had to figure weights and cubes before the day of the cheap calculator which was not that long ago. I have no desire to tumble those numbers now even with calculator help.:happy102
