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Go To Great Panes, Kathryn Maloney ©2011
(This post is copyrighted–you do not have permission to repost this content elsewhere but you are welcome to link to it if you’d like to share the information.)
January 2012 USPS Rate Changes
If you are selling online you’ll need to learn about shipping your goods. It can seem overwhelming–especially international shipping–but with a little practice you’ll get the hang of it in no time.
Below are links to all the vital shipping tips on the blog, this page will be updated when more are added. To get notices when new posts are made in general, feel free to subscribe to our blog using the links on the left.
For the most part these posts are geared toward folks shipping from the US. Links with a purple asterisk at the end contain info that should be helpful to folks shipping from outside the US too.
The best piece of advice I have is to invest in a scale so you can both accurately estimate weight and ship from home. It may seem like an investment when you are first starting out, but the hassle it saves you is soooo worth the $30-ish you’ll spend on it.
So far I only have information about the US Postal Service as it is the most commonly used and most economic for the majority of the packages folks seem to ship. If you are shipping oversized items or very heavy items Fed Ex or UPS will sometimes be a better deal.
| Shipping 101: The basics |
| Shipping: Service Choices: First Class Mail, Priority… |
| Getting a Handle on International Shipping: Using First Class International makes setting your rates easy! |
| USPS Shipping Rate Charts–this post helps you see how the rates change at different weights for First Class Domestic & First Class International. |
| USPS Shipping Zone Tool: You’ll need this to figure out Priority Mail domestic rates when using the USPS Shipping Charts. |
| Priority Mail: by Weight or Flat Rate? Often shipping by weight is a much better deal! |
| Shipping Insurance: Yes you can insure international First Class! Information on third-party insurance companies that will cover domestic and international packages–insure all services, not just First Class, for less than the PO charges. |
| Can I ship jewelry through International First Class Mail? If it is of “nominal value”… see the post for more details & USPS.com links. |
| Missing package? Package missing its contents? Find out what to do about it here. |
| Getting a PO Box–Protect your personal info. It may be rare to be harassed, but better safe than sorry. |
| How Etsy’s “With Another Item” works* Many buyers & sellers have a hard time understanding how Etsy’s Secondary Shipping functions, until they read this post. |
| Figuring Out Your Secondary ShippingRates * “Ship with another item” demystified: Getting accurate secondary shipping rates doesn’t have to be difficult. |
| Shipping Labels Through Paypal: Once you start shipping from home, you’ll never want to go back to standing on lines at the PO. |
| PP Shipping 2: Shipping Through Paypal–Regardless of How the Customer Paid Info for creating labels for items paid for by check or money order, or even for just sending gifts to friends & family… |
| International First-Class: Print Labels From Your Computer Paypal doesn’t offer them yet, but if you have PC you can still have nice printed labels for your International First Class Mail packages without paying a fee. (Sorry, this free program is not available for Macs though you can print your International First Class labels with websites that charge you a monthly fee for their services.) You can also use it for domestic labels and while you’ll still pay retail rates (unlike when you use Paypal or other online labels with postage where you get a discount on postage), you’ll get Delivery Confirmation free. |
| Don’t miss the Getting a Handle on International Shipping link above! |
| Do I need a customs form?* The short answer is: You need a customs form if your package has “potentially dutiable contents”. Click this post’s link for the long answer and the links to the page on the USPS website where you can see this for yourself. |
| International Shipping: Prohibited & Restricted Items |
| Marking Your Package “Gift” on the Customs Form: Not unless you are sending an unsolicited gift to someone you know. |
*Helpful to folks shipping from outside the US too.
If you are still unclear on anything feel free to post a comment or join me here:
http://www.etsy.com/teams/7722/business-topics/discuss/6382394
Go To Great Panes, Kathryn Maloney ©2011
(This post is copyrighted–you do not have permission to repost this content elsewhere but you are welcome to link to it if you’d like to share the information.)
| Visit our Etsy shop: GoTo |
