Postage… it’s not a very exciting subject, is it? But to small retailers everywhere, it’s a hot topic. I dare say it’s important to big retailers too, but let’s just focus on the little guys right now. Little guys, girls, and their animal helpers, like us here at Fox + Finch.
Last year Etsy (where I sell most of my stuff) changed their fee structure. As well as increasing the fees, they also started charging fees on shipping costs.
So, it used to be that if I sold a card for £3, Etsy would take 3% of that. Now they take 5%, plus 5% of the shipping costs. Plus there’s a bunch of other fees, but let’s not go into that just now.
Suddenly, I’m paying an awful lot more money to Etsy. Now, I don’t really grudge it; Etsy gives me a convenient platform to sell on, and their fees are still more competitive than a lot of other options.
But when you have increased fees on one hand, and upcoming postage increases on the other (Royal Mail are putting up their prices at the end of March), it does mean I need to rethink postage options.
I don’t know about you, but when I order stuff online, I can’t wait for it to arrive. Every day when I hear the letterbox rattle I’m off checking to see if my goodies have arrived. #impatient
But… I also love me some free shipping. When I order on Amazon, I’ll take the free shipping option, even though that means waiting a few extra days for my stuff. Yep, I’m contrary like that. How about you?
I’ve considered free shipping. Especially since Etsy has really been pushing encouraging sellers to offer it. But let’s face it, free shipping ain’t free. Just because Amazon aren’t charging me for shipping, it doesn’t mean that they’re not paying someone to deliver it.
And if I offered free shipping, I’d still be paying Royal Mail to deliver my packages. So… I’d have to increase the price of each card, print and decoration to cover it. That might end up with my customers actually paying more in shipping than if I’d charged for it separately. While that could boost my profits, it doesn’t sit right with me.
So something needs to change when it comes to posting out our orders. Currently all UK orders are posted out first class. To keep offering that, I’ll need to charge more for shipping. Or I can try to keep prices as close to what they are right now and start sending orders out by second class mail.
I’d love to know what you think – would waiting an extra day or two really bug you? Or would you prefer to pay more and stick with first class?
Could you please fill in this quick survey and let me know? It’s only 3 questions so it should just take a couple of minutes and it’ll help me make sure I’m going with the option/s that you really want.