# How are people shipping items so inexpensively on etsy?



## SoapGrove (Jan 24, 2014)

I see a lot of soap makers pricing their shipping at just $2.50 or $3 for a 5-6 oz bar shipping in the US.  I have mine at $3.75 and a lot of the packages I ship out are around $5.50  How do they have their shipping prices so low?  Their product is pretty much same price as mine are yet their shipping is lower.  Am I missing something here?  Please advise.


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## Obsidian (Jan 24, 2014)

You can put one bar in a small padded envelope for only a few dollars.


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## kikajess (Jan 24, 2014)

I think it's because the lure of low shipping is worth eating the expense if the actual shipping cost is more than what is charged for shipping.

Here is my logic: If I were selling, I would definitely want to offer a low flat rate, and count the actual shipping amount above the flat rate as a business expense. This is based on how I like to shop online. Personally I would not buy a $5.00 bar of soap and then also pay another $5.00 in shipping. But if I could  pay only $3.50 in shipping no matter how many bars of soap I buy, I would be much more inclined to buy multiple bars of soap at a time.


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## AnnaMarie (Jan 24, 2014)

I use flat rate for that exact reason.  If people buy more then I make more, but give them a discount for the bigger order by bearing some of the shipping cost.  This was a tricky one to figure out.  I saw the low shipping and wondered about that, but a business advisor encouraged me to go the "one flat rate for all orders route."
Cheers!
Anna Marie


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## SoapGrove (Jan 25, 2014)

AnnaMarie said:


> I use flat rate for that exact reason.  If people buy more then I make more, but give them a discount for the bigger order by bearing some of the shipping cost.  This was a tricky one to figure out.  I saw the low shipping and wondered about that, but a business advisor encouraged me to go the "one flat rate for all orders route."
> Cheers!
> Anna Marie



Hi, so are you charging $5.20 for shipping no matter how many bars they purchase?  I see that the chart shows $5.20  Thank you in advance for the help and to all the other responses thanks so much.


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## new12soap (Jan 25, 2014)

Check USPS.com, you can send up to 13oz I believe for regular first class rates. 2 to 3 bars of soap should run $1-2. You can also use Regional Rate boxes instead of the flat rate. Depending on how heavy your boxes are and how far away they are shipping, that option may cost half as much. You have to order the regional boxes, they are not carried at the post office, but I can send a box roughly the size of a medium flat rate 3 or 4 states away for $6-7. Those hold A LOT of product. Also, when you purchase your postage online it includes delivery confirmation. Weigh the package and enter all your info under "get shipping quote" and you can see what is your best and most economical option.

edited to add: I agree with what other posters have said, I would rather absorb some of the shipping costs to encourage my customers to buy more product. As a consumer, I know I will spend an additional $20 on stuff I didn't mean to buy just to qualify for free shipping and feel like I am getting good value for my money.


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## dolores (Jan 25, 2014)

SoapGrove said:


> I see a lot of soap makers pricing their shipping at just $2.50 or $3 for a 5-6 oz bar shipping in the US.  I have mine at $3.75 and a lot of the packages I ship out are around $5.50  How do they have their shipping prices so low?  Their product is pretty much same price as mine are yet their shipping is lower.  Am I missing something here?  Please advise.




I don't know how they price them at that price as they are not only selling for no profit but are actually losing money.  It's one of the reasons I haven't been making soap anymore because of these unbelievable cheap prices. I would have to price my at least 4.99 and that would still be a very small margin for profit. They are definitely doing it for fun and nothing else.


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## AnnaMarie (Jan 25, 2014)

I actually charge $6.95 as my flat rate- I don't use the post office flat rate as my gauge.  I looked around and noticed a few soapers were using the $7 range for flat rate, and so I followed suit.
Cheers!
Anna Marie


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## SoapGrove (Jan 25, 2014)

AnnaMarie said:


> I actually charge $6.95 as my flat rate- I don't use the post office flat rate as my gauge.  I looked around and noticed a few soapers were using the $7 range for flat rate, and so I followed suit.
> Cheers!
> Anna Marie



Thank you so much!


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## mkstylessoap (Jan 25, 2014)

I charge $3 - 3.50 per bar for shipping. When I ship one bar in a padded envelope and print the label through Etsy, with tracking it usually is $2.76-3.06


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## ilovesoap2 (Jan 25, 2014)

new12soap said:


> You can also use Regional Rate boxes instead of the flat rate. Depending on how heavy your boxes are and how far away they are shipping, that option may cost half as much. You have to order the regional boxes, they are not carried at the post office, but I can send a box roughly the size of a medium flat rate 3 or 4 states away for $6-7. Those hold A LOT of product.




Thanks so much for this.  Had no idea, never heard of regional boxes.


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## Ael (Jan 25, 2014)

Would be interesting to know, but I guess it depends where you are VS. where you are sending to. I ordered a bar of soap from one of my fav. shops, here in Aus. 6.50 for the soap... 7 dollars to ship the thing. Their soaps is pretty awesome, I admit, but the shipping cost more than the bar of soap did!


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## SomethingGoodAustin (Apr 2, 2015)

I had the same question. Most of the other soap sellers I see on Etsy are charging $3 for the first bar and then 50 cents for each additional item. $3 for the first 5 oz bar is fine, but with two or more bars plus my packaging and shipping boxes, I hit that 16 oz limit very quickly. Then it gets expensive. I know some people talk about refunding shipping overages--don't think I'll ever have that problem. :/

ETA--talking about _domestic_ shipping, of course.


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## hmlove1218 (Apr 2, 2015)

I charge $2.75 per bar and $0.75 with each additional bar for domestic shipping. This covers me if I ship one bar or multiples, and I also have my packaging material costs figured into that price. I use the Etsy lables for shipping. I send anything under 16 oz. first class and anything over 16 oz. priority.  I usually come out a few cents ahead.


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## PippiL (Apr 13, 2015)

I charge 3 and addtional 2.00, because I also sell other heavier items and have been screwed sucking up some shipping costs in the past.
But I refund overages right away....never had a problem.


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