5 Tips to Keep Your Shipping Costs Low

With the cost of shipping increasing every year like clockwork, you’re probably looking for ways to get a little thrifty. Here are my five tips to keep your shipping costs low:

1. Up with the Envelope! Down with the Box!
Obviously there are instances when this simply won’t work. If you’re shipping large or fragile goods, there’s just going to be no way around using a box. But if you sell small, fairly non-breakable items, you will save a ton shipping in an envelope instead of a box.

Take one of my items. Let’s say this top weighs about 10 ounces.

by SmarmyClothes

If I wrap this item in a sheet of tissue paper, put it in one of my poly mailers (I get mine from threerb on Ebay), and toss in a few of my business cards, the final weight is 11 ounces. Light enough to ship inside the US via First Class.

Cost to ship
Inside US (1st Class) – about $3.50
To Canada – $8.24
Everywhere Else – $13.41

If I put it in a small box, the final weight is 16 ounces. That’s too heavy for 1st Class in the US, so I have to go up to Priority.

Cost to ship
Inside US (Priority) – $5.05
To Canada – $9.50
Everywhere Else – $15.08

My poly mailers weigh about 0.5 ounces. The box weighs over 4 ounces! And of course, the bigger the box, the more it weighs.

Most of my jewelry weighs less than an ounce- if I shipped it in a box, I’d be paying more to ship the box itself than the item in it! My jewelry is fragile, but not that fragile. Wrap your items well and they will survive just fine in an envelope. Bubble wrap is your friend!Read more…