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Shipping parts vs. sets
Hi,
I am starting to offer sets for sale on Brick Owl and am having trouble trying to set shipping costs so that I don't charge too much for parts or too little for sets.
Let's for the sake of argument just consider USPS First class. It goes up to 13Oz.. I have set up tight bands with sufficient allowance for packing material, which in the case of parts consists solely of ziplock bags and bubble envelopes (if I need a box for a parts order it generally will be over 13Oz.). For small sets, this shipping method does not work because more padding and an external box will be required, which will move the order possibly 2 or more bands up or out of range for the shipping method. Of course I don't want to build that into my shipping cost for parts as it would be too expensive/unfair to the parts buyer.
I can think of 2 possible solutions:
1. Stores could have the ability to adjust the weight of any particular set in their own inventory to include the typical amount of shipping material for that size/weight of box so that the shipping cost would reflect actual final weight more accurately. The same set could be 12 Oz. in my store and 9 Oz. in someone else's (because I like to pack well :-))
2. Stores could (can?) have the ability to have the same real world method (in my example USPS First Class) priced in 2 different ways for parts and sets and have it visible only when appropriate. If a buyer is ordering parts the "set" method will not be available. If ordering a set, then the "parts" method would not be visible.
Maybe this has been brought up before but I missed it.
Thanks for your thoughts!
I am starting to offer sets for sale on Brick Owl and am having trouble trying to set shipping costs so that I don't charge too much for parts or too little for sets.
Let's for the sake of argument just consider USPS First class. It goes up to 13Oz.. I have set up tight bands with sufficient allowance for packing material, which in the case of parts consists solely of ziplock bags and bubble envelopes (if I need a box for a parts order it generally will be over 13Oz.). For small sets, this shipping method does not work because more padding and an external box will be required, which will move the order possibly 2 or more bands up or out of range for the shipping method. Of course I don't want to build that into my shipping cost for parts as it would be too expensive/unfair to the parts buyer.
I can think of 2 possible solutions:
1. Stores could have the ability to adjust the weight of any particular set in their own inventory to include the typical amount of shipping material for that size/weight of box so that the shipping cost would reflect actual final weight more accurately. The same set could be 12 Oz. in my store and 9 Oz. in someone else's (because I like to pack well :-))
2. Stores could (can?) have the ability to have the same real world method (in my example USPS First Class) priced in 2 different ways for parts and sets and have it visible only when appropriate. If a buyer is ordering parts the "set" method will not be available. If ordering a set, then the "parts" method would not be visible.
Maybe this has been brought up before but I missed it.
Thanks for your thoughts!
This discussion has been closed.
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Comments
The second idea of is quite a bit more complex to introduce. Possibly instead some sort of predefined packaging weights might make more sense. Maybe for each item type you could set a multiplier. So for example, with a set, you set a multiplier of 1.2 so if the set weights 1000g it will be treated as 1200g for shipping purposes.
I have to be careful to tread the correct line between making shipping accurate, and making it ridiculously complex
So, other stores- are you charging too much for shipping parts or too little for sets? Or sticking to "Quote only"? ;-)