Shipping question

Postage Price Calculator

If you look at the USPS Priority Flat Rate options:

$8 is good for 1-2 shirts but more than that you run into your package being over 1 pd so you would
need to move up the box to medium (est$11) to large (est$15.45).

I would go to the post office and get 1 of each flat rate and priority packages. This way you can see how much can fit into each box or envelope. Also, make sure you know which ones are flat rate and which ones are priority.

I say offer free shipping if they buy two or more @ Or 4.99 flat rate. You can eat the cost and take it off of your taxes the difference. Or offer free stuff and charge whatever the full rate is.

IMO, you will lose your 'one shirt' customers. People aren't going to interested in paying $8.00 to ship one shirt and if they ONLY want one shirt, they won't spend more just to save on shipping.

We charge a flat rate for the first shirt $3.50 and add $1.00 per additional shirt. Generally we come pretty close on most orders, some a little less, some a little more.

greyhorsewoman said:

We charge a flat rate for the first shirt $3.50 and add $1.00 per additional shirt. Generally we come pretty close on most orders, some a little less, some a little more.

Click to expand...

Why not build an extra 1.00 in the selling price so you can offer 2.50 flat rate for any size order?....

Swisha said:

I have a, hopefully not complex, question about shipping. I am thinking about pricing shirts at $18 each online and do a $8 shipping rate.

Click to expand...

Charging almost half the cost of the shirt for shipping will definitely lose you a lot of business. Especially since you can ship a shirt for around $2.

I would charge $2 per item for shipping.

If you are buying your shirts in bulk and trying to save money then shipping on your own. You are going to lose money especially if you are starting out. You are best buying in small amounts work it out with your printer on a shipping plan. Because you don't want to be stuck with a bulk of shirts that don't sell.

Find a local fulfillment center who can print and ship for you. Also, buying in small amounts can give you an advantage of changing up your designs and more chances to make changes to your business. If you spend your entire budget on thinking you are saving money on bulk. How are you going to justify selling off those shirts that didn't sell?

Thanks for the great advice guys. I've been trying to wrap my head around this all week. I don't want to lose single shirt buyers but I don't want to run off multiple item buyers as well.

I'll go down to the post office tomorrow and get a couple flat rate boxes. I was told today that they may offer business accounts. I'm hoping that they offer discounts on shipping.

If anyone is interested in an update, I gave a call to the local post office. They sent me around lines a bit but got me to a great agent. She talked to me about some packets they offer. She talked to me about a quick-n-ship program they offer. I can also get up to 5% off shipping rates.

She emailed me the packets to go over. I'm waiting for a call back. They let you review it then give you a call back to go over it fully. I'll post if anything else changes

i usually do $3 shipping for 1 shirt, 2 for $5 and each additional shirt is $2...
I don't charge $18 for my shirts though so you are in a whole different scenario than me..

Greatzky said:

I don't charge $18 for my shirts though so you are in a whole different scenario than me..

Click to expand...

Yeah, but the cost of a shirt has nothing to do with shipping costs, right?

Why not build an extra 1.00 in the selling price so you can offer 2.50 flat rate for any size order?....

Click to expand...

Because I sell my shirts at events and want the website prices to be the same as my booth prices. Folks understand they'll pay to ship, but may not be as receptive to HIGHER priced items online.

Our base shipping price the type of item and each additional item is a small amount. I've been doing this for 10 years and my shipping costs pretty much match my shipping charges.

I offer free shipping at a certain point.

The bottom line is that there is no pricing model that will please everyone.....When I buy on line I find myself most often choosing vendors that have flat rate shipping....I would not likely buy from a site that keeps adding on shipping the more I buy....

Roy, I'm really seeing that. Shipping is really growing to be a nuisance. I'm trying to do flat rates but see I will end up losing in both the long run and short run.
If shipping is too high, my one item buyers will flee and if it's too low i end up losing money from my heavy buyers

As a graphic designer and online t-shirt store owner:

$8 for a tee is expensive. From what I saw, the range is from $4-$6/tee for local mailing. Flat fee does not work because those who buy only 1 tee will be at disadvantage. You can set your back office to have the postage fee increased according to the weight of your postage ($4 for 1 tee, $6 for 2, $7 for 3, etc)

splathead said:

Yeah, but the cost of a shirt has nothing to do with shipping costs, right?

Click to expand...

I would hope not, but I still don't understand the $8 shipping thing so i was just grasping at straws.

I'm leaning on going with the free shipping. It's the only way I can please the single and multi item buyers. Guess my profits will be varying.