Question on Flat Rate Shipping?

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Tim'sTurnings

Tim'sTurnings

Member
Joined
Aug 19, 2008
Messages
420
Location
Central Michigan
I see that most people will ship some of their for sale/sold items with "USPS Flat Rate Boxes". Is this the Priority shipping flat rate boxes from USPS? I just saw snake skins that were sold and will be shipped in a medium flat rate box for $5.95. When I look at the USPS site and at the post office the Priority Medium Flat Rate box has the price at $12.95. I have some turning and pen stuff I want to sell but I don't know how to go about the shipping part. Is there a flat rate box that is cheaper that the priority boxes free from USPS? If so, where do you get them? The easiest and cheapest rates and boxes are for priority boxes that I see at the USPS site but I don't think the prices are jiving with what is listed on any of the classified sections in forums. Is there another way? I am confused and would like to figure it out from you people so I can list my items for sale but I need to know the shipping rates for the listings. Is everyone using the priority flat rate boxes or something else?
Thanks to anyone who can clear this up for me. :confused: :confused:
Tim.
 
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Tim what you are seeing on USPS is correct on the flat rate shipping. Flat rate shipping is priority mail. The only time you will see a difference is if you creat an account with usps and print your labels at home. Which is what I do and there is some savings. If the prices are not jiving from people are listing here than they are wrong, not usps :) hope that helps

Example would be a medium box, if
You print from home that same box is 11.30 to ship
 
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A small flat rate box costs $5.80 and a medium flat rate box is about $12. Besides fast shipping with these rates, you also get tracking and up to $50 insurance included.

Priority flat rates are very reasonable.
 
Sometimes you will see people offering flat rate shipping cheaper because they eat a portion to give the buyer additiional savings. I usually sell larger quantities of Tru-Stone that way - Buy more than XX blanks and shipping will be $8.00 even though it will need a medium or large flat rate box!
 
Tim'sTurnings said:
I see that most people will ship some of their for sale/sold items with "USPS Flat Rate Boxes". Is this the Priority shipping flat rate boxes from USPS? I just saw snake skins that were sold and will be shipped in a medium flat rate box for $5.95. When I look at the USPS site and at the post office the Priority Medium Flat Rate box has the price at $12.95. I have some turning and pen stuff I want to sell but I don't know how to go about the shipping part. Is there a flat rate box that is cheaper that the priority boxes free from USPS? If so, where do you get them? The easiest and cheapest rates and boxes are for priority boxes that I see at the USPS site but I don't think the prices are jiving with what is listed on any of the classified sections in forums. Is there another way? I am confused and would like to figure it out from you people so I can list my items for sale but I need to know the shipping rates for the listings. Is everyone using the priority flat rate boxes or something else?
Thanks to anyone who can clear this up for me. :confused: :confused:
Tim.
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Shipping for most vendors consist of postage and other costs - shipping prices often reflect that.

Cost of shipping is a big deal. I recommend Stamps.com or Endicia.com. They both can provide postage for less than the USPS site. Also, depending on the distance regular Priority mail can be cheaper than Flat Rate. It is in your best interest to study postage well beyond what you are hearing here if you expect to do much shipping.
 
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Shipping and HANDLING

For starters at the USPS.COM site, you can have your flat rate and any other "Priority Mail" box sent to you at NO COST! and yes you get a "commercial" discount when you get your postage off that site. Now, what is going to bring up the cost is the craft paper, bubble wrap or the PITA Styrofoam peanuts. So remember that in shipping cost.
 
Another great tip if you are doing any shipping: order flat rate padded envelopes from the usps site. You cannot get them at the post office. They are free to order and less than $6 to ship. Better than ther sfrb.
 
In the past week I have shipped 5 flat rate packages 4 small flat rate boxes with $50.00 insurance cast $5.25 a flat rate padded envelope wss less. I can fit 2 cardboard pen boxes from Exotic Blanks in the small box and I shipped 3 in the envelope. You can print shipping labels and pay the postage on line and print on plain paper. All my packages arrived in 2 days. If I start selling more pens I'll add a few dollars in the price of the pen for shipping.
 
TonyL said:
Do most of you folks use Endicia or Stamps.com?

Thank you,

Tony
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IIRC (correct me if I'm wrong), you have to pay Endicia or Stamps.com a monthly fee which adds to the per package cost. I use Pay Pal and get a shipping discount. On the GB I just did, a medium FR box which costs $12.35 on the USPS site cost me $11.30 and a FR envelope that is $5.60 on USPS is $5.05 on PP. Plus PP does not charge a monthly fee.
 
Monty said:
TonyL said:
Do most of you folks use Endicia or Stamps.com?

Thank you,

Tony
Click to expand...
IIRC (correct me if I'm wrong), you have to pay Endicia or Stamps.com a monthly fee which adds to the per package cost. I use Pay Pal and get a shipping discount. On the GB I just did, a medium FR box which costs $12.35 on the USPS site cost me $11.30 and a FR envelope that is $5.60 on USPS is $5.05 on PP. Plus PP does not charge a monthly fee.
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While Endica and Stamps.com both have an monthly fee they also both have a shipping discount...they also offer some mailing options that PayPal does not. Such as Regional Box A which holds more that a small flat rate box and can often replace a medium flat rate box. Depending on how far the package is going it saves $1.50 to about $6.00 over a Medium Flat Rate Box. Shipping blanks, this can be a pretty big deal. Actually what I save on this feature more than makes up for what I pay to Endicia. Both also offer more printer options as well, for instance I use a Dymo Labelwriter 4XL which PayPal does not support. If you are into insurance, both offer third party insurance that is much cheaper than USPS insurance. Both can be linked to some invoicing systems for easy addressing.

This says that while PayPal can be the best option for you, it is not necessarily the best. If you expect to ship more than just a few packages per week you should look into the other services.

As I said earlier you need to determine how much shipping you will do and look into the various methods.
 
If you really want to save on your shipping costs, have someone bring it to China and ship it from there. I can't believe the things I've bought on eBay from China for a few bucks, shipping included. The Chinese government heavily subsidizes China Post.

I even had a $ 2.00 item come from China recently that required a signature. Amazing the amount of work the USPS has to do and not make any money.

Gary
 
vtgaryw said:
If you really want to save on your shipping costs, have someone bring it to China and ship it from there. I can't believe the things I've bought on eBay from China for a few bucks, shipping included. The Chinese government heavily subsidizes China Post.

I even had a $ 2.00 item come from China recently that required a signature. Amazing the amount of work the USPS has to do and not make any money.

Gary
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Try buying something that weighs a little more ... then shipping from China can get pretty pricey.
 
I just use my usps account....no stamps.com or other third party. I get a discount on flat rate, the ability to schedule a pick up at my house(rural), and can order more boxes/envelopes shipped to my door. I have not used stamps.con, but hear it works well also.
 
NittanyLion said:
I just use my usps account....no stamps.com or other third party. I get a discount on flat rate, the ability to schedule a pick up at my house(rural), and can order more boxes/envelopes shipped to my door. I have not used stamps.con, but hear it works well also.
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I get Postal Pickup as well. You don't need to buy the postage at the USPS site to get that.
 
vtgaryw said:
If you really want to save on your shipping costs, have someone bring it to China and ship it from there. I can't believe the things I've bought on eBay from China for a few bucks, shipping included. The Chinese government heavily subsidizes China Post.

I even had a $ 2.00 item come from China recently that required a signature. Amazing the amount of work the USPS has to do and not make any money.

Gary
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Actually, the US government subsidizes shipping from China (but not to, unfortunately). That's the reason you see so many items from China with dirt-cheap shipping... but it costs so much to ship it back, the Chinese sellers know you won't do it for smaller items (under a few hundred $s), so you end up eating it, not them. You can't leave bad feedback because their auctions clearly state "Refund provided when item is returned."

How the US gov got itself into such a stupid sticky wicket is beyond my comprehension...
 
I really appreciate all the information everyone has posted. All of my questions have been answered completely. Thanks to all who posted their information.
Tim.
 
Smitty37 said:
vtgaryw said:
If you really want to save on your shipping costs, have someone bring it to China and ship it from there. I can't believe the things I've bought on eBay from China for a few bucks, shipping included. The Chinese government heavily subsidizes China Post.

I even had a $ 2.00 item come from China recently that required a signature. Amazing the amount of work the USPS has to do and not make any money.

Gary
Click to expand...
Try buying something that weighs a little more ... then shipping from China can get pretty pricey.
Click to expand...
That's for darn sure. I just paid $120 for shipping on some kits and other goodies.
 
Dan Hintz said:
vtgaryw said:
If you really want to save on your shipping costs, have someone bring it to China and ship it from there. I can't believe the things I've bought on eBay from China for a few bucks, shipping included. The Chinese government heavily subsidizes China Post.

I even had a $ 2.00 item come from China recently that required a signature. Amazing the amount of work the USPS has to do and not make any money.

Gary
Click to expand...
Actually, the US government subsidizes shipping from China (but not to, unfortunately). That's the reason you see so many items from China with dirt-cheap shipping... but it costs so much to ship it back, the Chinese sellers know you won't do it for smaller items (under a few hundred $s), so you end up eating it, not them. You can't leave bad feedback because their auctions clearly state "Refund provided when item is returned."

How the US gov got itself into such a stupid sticky wicket is beyond my comprehension...
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As I recall they can send the really light items "letter" surface mail. They will also cheerfully resend if you don't receive an item.
 
sbell111 said:
Smitty37 said:
vtgaryw said:
If you really want to save on your shipping costs, have someone bring it to China and ship it from there. I can't believe the things I've bought on eBay from China for a few bucks, shipping included. The Chinese government heavily subsidizes China Post.

I even had a $ 2.00 item come from China recently that required a signature. Amazing the amount of work the USPS has to do and not make any money.

Gary
Click to expand...
Try buying something that weighs a little more ... then shipping from China can get pretty pricey.
Click to expand...
That's for darn sure. I just paid $120 for shipping on some kits and other goodies.
Click to expand...
Buying kits, you can expect 30 cents to 50 cents per kit depending on the weight of the kit and the quantity ordered.
 
Smitty37 said:
sbell111 said:
Smitty37 said:
vtgaryw said:
If you really want to save on your shipping costs, have someone bring it to China and ship it from there. I can't believe the things I've bought on eBay from China for a few bucks, shipping included. The Chinese government heavily subsidizes China Post.

I even had a $ 2.00 item come from China recently that required a signature. Amazing the amount of work the USPS has to do and not make any money.

Gary
Click to expand...
Try buying something that weighs a little more ... then shipping from China can get pretty pricey.
Click to expand...
That's for darn sure. I just paid $120 for shipping on some kits and other goodies.
Click to expand...
Buying kits, you can expect 30 cents to 50 cents per kit depending on the weight of the kit and the quantity ordered.
Click to expand...
I obviously don't order in the bulk that you do and I don't order very many 7mm kits, so my shipping cost per item tends to be higher than that. In general, if I assign a buck per kit, wooden box, or blank, and no shipping cost assignment for anything else on the order, then I come pretty close to approximating my shipping cost so I don't get hit with any surprises.

The hard part is breaking down the shipping cost on a per item basis including all of those tiny things so that I can try to track the real costs of each item in stock without going totally off the mental reservation and weighing each item.
 
sbell111 said:
Smitty37 said:
sbell111 said:
Smitty37 said:
vtgaryw said:
If you really want to save on your shipping costs, have someone bring it to China and ship it from there. I can't believe the things I've bought on eBay from China for a few bucks, shipping included. The Chinese government heavily subsidizes China Post.

I even had a $ 2.00 item come from China recently that required a signature. Amazing the amount of work the USPS has to do and not make any money.

Gary
Click to expand...
Try buying something that weighs a little more ... then shipping from China can get pretty pricey.
Click to expand...
That's for darn sure. I just paid $120 for shipping on some kits and other goodies.
Click to expand...
Buying kits, you can expect 30 cents to 50 cents per kit depending on the weight of the kit and the quantity ordered.
Click to expand...
I obviously don't order in the bulk that you do and I don't order very many 7mm kits, so my shipping cost per item tends to be higher than that. In general, if I assign a buck per kit, wooden box, or blank, and no shipping cost assignment for anything else on the order, then I come pretty close to approximating my shipping cost so I don't get hit with any surprises.

The hard part is breaking down the shipping cost on a per item basis including all of those tiny things so that I can try to track the real costs of each item in stock without going totally off the mental reservation and weighing each item.
Click to expand...
I know what you mean .... I have the same problem...thankfully other than kits, I usually only order bushiings and tubes and I assign them the same shipping cost as a kit. Springs and other small parts I usually forget the shipping.
 
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Monty said:
TonyL said:
Do most of you folks use Endicia or Stamps.com?

Thank you,

Tony
Click to expand...
IIRC (correct me if I'm wrong), you have to pay Endicia or Stamps.com a monthly fee which adds to the per package cost. I use Pay Pal and get a shipping discount. On the GB I just did, a medium FR box which costs $12.35 on the USPS site cost me $11.30 and a FR envelope that is $5.60 on USPS is $5.05 on PP. Plus PP does not charge a monthly fee.
Click to expand...

OR Monty,
IF you go though the USPS Dot com site you can use your pay pal accnt to get the same deal, and the Plus side is that you get a better way to print the postage lables. you can either do two at a time or just one. Unlike going though pay pal alone.
 
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