Go to homepage
46 / 72
Jun 2016

What shipping service are you using? I don’t get how you can have a $6 part with shipping ranging from $1-12. I use first class mail for 90% of my orders and postage is less than $3 to almost anywhere in the country for items less than $20.

You must be printing parts that fit in an envelop and are under 13 oz.

I usually ship priority mail.

But all this is a mote point as you yourself said that your shipping could be as high as $20.00.

Brian, if I were you I would not bother with putting in states or regions, etc.

It does not solve the issues.

Perhaps a warning to the customer that the shipping quote is that, only a estimated quote and the hub may lower or raise the shipping quote based on actual shipping costs.

I sincerely believe this would be the only solution at this time.

Peter

How big can this $6 part be :slight_smile: The only order I have ever shipped with $20 shipping was going to Canada where 1oz costs $10. My highest shipping cost in the US after more than a hundred shipped orders was $12 for priority mail and that was a $600 order that used an entire spool of filament. I charge $3 for most orders and fanatically track everything and am generally a few cents in the black on shipping costs (postage, padded envelope and thermal label) overall.

One of the big benefits of selling 3D printed parts is that they are light and you can offer low priced shipping to overcome the objections US consumers have to paying for shipping. You are also the manufacturer and can self insure pretty easily. Buy more sizes of padded envelopes, most parts go in the 6x9, but I have two larger sizes for other stuff that does not fit in the smaller one. At 25-35 cents each in low quantities they really cut down your shipping costs compared to boxes unless you are shipping truly massive volumes (You have a 40% or greater UPS discount).

You probably need to look at lower price postage options like first class for $6 prints, you are wasting a lot of money using priority mail for inexpensive items to maybe get it to the customer a single day faster. I can ship you an 8oz part from Seattle to Miami for $3.40, I can’t think of a part under $30 I couldn’t ship in a padded envelope first class.

I would never mail a part in a padded envelope. I use small boxes from uline. Most fit in a 4x4x4 box. Part of my shipping cost is also to pay for the box, bubblewrap, and the label.

Most items can ship first class. But once in a while it needs to be priority or ups due to size of the parts or padding needed.