I don't know if this is me just being paranoid, as I'm new to the business world for items needing to be shipped, and quite worried about messing up and possibly getting negative reputation.
I ship with USPS and will provide the express and priority mail shipping rate from their online price calculator when the shipping price is requested, but I'm a bit confused for when shipping is more expensive than the estimate from online I normally pay out-of-pocket with money from the sale itself, but what do I do when I accidentally overcharge the customer? (I luckily haven't done this yet, I have accidentally undercharged) Also, how can I make sure my shipping estimates are fully accurate?
I'm just really worried about keeping a good reputation for when I sell more / offer commissions more, and I want my reputation to be correct. (As I've seen overcharging on shipping being a problem in some bewares, but not the main point normally.)
I purchase the boxes at the post office when going out to ship, if that makes a difference.
Thank you in advance for any responses!
I ship with USPS and will provide the express and priority mail shipping rate from their online price calculator when the shipping price is requested, but I'm a bit confused for when shipping is more expensive than the estimate from online I normally pay out-of-pocket with money from the sale itself, but what do I do when I accidentally overcharge the customer? (I luckily haven't done this yet, I have accidentally undercharged) Also, how can I make sure my shipping estimates are fully accurate?
I'm just really worried about keeping a good reputation for when I sell more / offer commissions more, and I want my reputation to be correct. (As I've seen overcharging on shipping being a problem in some bewares, but not the main point normally.)
I purchase the boxes at the post office when going out to ship, if that makes a difference.
Thank you in advance for any responses!
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I ask because I previously handled the A/R for a publishing company with online retail store. A lot of clients would nitpick shipping costs but not take into consideration packaging prices or things like company time/gas mileage to package an order and get it out to be shipped. Basically the 'handling' portion of shipping and handling. All of those should be considered when putting together shipping charges.
If it was just the postage you were considering, minor overage would be acceptable to cover your costs.
It's okay for your estimate to be $5 or so over the actual price (to account for these issues as well as your time and materials) but if you think you charged too much then you can easily go into Paypal and give them a partial refund. I often do this when they buy in bulk and I am able to fit things together more efficiently than I expected.
I also quote and ship priority only (for the tracking and insurance that I consider mandatory) except in the rare case where the item is so large and expensive that Express is actually cheaper after you count in the insurance discount.
The only way to really be accurate is to 1) ship flat rate or 2) box and weigh the parcel only after the item is totally finished and ready to go. IME USPS's calculator is pretty good as long as you don't change up what you are sending after estimating (I write what info I used right on the box).
Just so you know, if you go to usps.com and dig around a bit, you can actually order free boxes and certain envelopes in bulk, entirely for free. All they ask is that you actually use them for what they're made for.
Correct me if I'm wrong of course.
The dude at the counter tried to scan it but no price came up, then the other counter dude said those boxes were free. So I wouldn't necessarily just walk in and grab some without checking in case other employees don't know about this. But looking at the USPS website it does indeed look like those boxes aren't charged for.
ETA: Just commenting to verify that you can get those in-store too, though it's not entirely obvious at first.
Edited at 2013-02-20 11:23 pm (UTC)
In the cases where I still undercharge, I typically eat the difference unless it's pretty extreme. In those cases I will typically hold on shipping out the package and contact the buyer with an updated shipping cost, and see if they still want the item.
I have found that getting boxes ahead of time and having a scale on hand has greatly increased the accuracy of my quotes. Even more awesome, is that by having a scale on hand, I can print postage from USPS.com from home, for less than it costs me at the post office. A package I sent today cost me $2 less to ship from home via Priority-- that really adds up! It also automatically ties in a tracking/delivery confirm number with the transaction and so it's very easy to look up shipments and to troubleshoot when things go awry.
Anyhow, you can get a scale off of eBay for pretty cheap. Just get one that is known to be fairly accurate and can display lbs/oz. I think mine was around $18 and the brand is 'digiweigh'.
I cannot begin to tell you how much time and money that little scale has saved me on gas to and from the Post office, and electronic shipping rates are nearly always lower. Probably hundreds of dollars over the last few years. Just something to keep in mind!
On the occasion that my online shop overcharges shipping for my customer, I always refund the difference with an apology. Most people are actually very thankful for the honesty!
I keep a list of frequently used shipping materials (box & envelope prices and sizes, ect) so I can try to make a more accurate guess for the client before I know, if I can't weigh stuff right away.
If there's ever an issue of overcharging, as noted already, you can refund the difference. :)