putter5775 Posted May 24, 2011 Share Posted May 24, 2011 Shipping is gone completely out of sight. I was looking at a purchase with a vendor today, was gonna test some wax and pick up a few wicks. 10lb slab of wax and 100 wicks, 25.50 in shipping, just for grins I put in a order for 60 lb of wax. 26.50 shipping, what wrong with this picture or is it just me? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricofAZ Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 (edited) Its gotta be hurting the vendors too. I now only buy from the closest vendor and sometimes even pay a bit more because of the shipping savings. So that limits the vendor market share if they can't attract buyers from farther away.Add this to the rising cost of wax and FO's etc, and it makes for an expensive candle. You noticed the same thing I did, which is the shipping charges are often based on the box size rather than the weight. Sometimes stuffing a box full ends up being the cheaper way to ship.I'm sure, though, that vendors can work on more precision with their shipping so that they don't quote the same price for 10 lbs as they do for 60 lbs. That is a bit obnoxious.Some companies like lonestarcandlesupply have a 'save on shipping' note that lets you know that there is a natural cutoff point in what works for the best price/quantity ratio. Edited May 25, 2011 by EricofAZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
putter5775 Posted May 25, 2011 Author Share Posted May 25, 2011 suppliers need to use the USPS, if it fits it ships box, lol I sent a 5 lb object from Alabama to Washington state for 10.95 today, thats cross country Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam W Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 suppliers need to use the USPS, if it fits it ships box, lol I sent a 5 lb object from Alabama to Washington state for 10.95 today, thats cross countryA slab of wax won't fit in the flat rate boxes unless the suppliers cuts it up - and that would increase their labor costs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scented Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 A supplier explained it to me once before. It pays to get more than less to make shipping affordable. It isn't necessarily ALL suppliers who set their shipping rates. Much of that is governed by FedEx rates or UPS rates and those places will deliver fragrances that can't go USPS because of precautions from the flash points etc. And I would imagine that FedEx rates are influenced by the gas prices and I can't see either of them saying oh the poor customer, here let me eat the added expense. At that rate, no one is in business. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanetsCandles Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 You are exactly right, Scented. And I'm having shipping concerns as well. There are no suppliers in New Mexico. Nearest supplier to me is Peak over in Denver. And the horrible thing is that it's actually cheaper for me to catch a flight, rent a Uhaul and load up with wax and other supplies to bring it back home than it is for me to ship the wax. And I'm seriously considering it at this point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
putter5775 Posted May 25, 2011 Author Share Posted May 25, 2011 A slab of wax won't fit in the flat rate boxes unless the suppliers cuts it up - and that would increase their labor costs. I undestand that, I was just making a point about shipping, 100 wicks will fit in one though, call and see what shippings is on them, its $5.20 USPS, believe me I hate USPS, who else can lose 2 billion a quater and keep on going Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernadette Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 I hope this will help to explain something about shipping...I only sell on the internet. I have over 900 products in my store. Each product must have a weight - total weight with packaging listed. For instance, a .8 lb. product will fall between 1-2 rate for shipping one. If you decide to order 5, the cart has no way of knowing whether they will all fit in a flat rate box or not, and will go ahead charge a full blown 5-6 lb. rate. Additionally, if the customer decides to order multiple items of various sizes, the cart has no way of knowing if they will fit in a flat rate box. If the customer decides to proceed with the order and pays, if I know they will fit in a flate rate box, and issue a refund, then the processor(even Paypal) not only has taken out their initial cut, but also charges me a cut for the refund. Then I'm loosing money. The same applies to suppliers. I have it marked all over my site that I may be able to save shipping dollars if the customer will use the contact form first, letting me know what the items & quantities they want are, and their zipcodes. If I can save them shipping money, I set up a custom order for them. Trouble is, most online customers don't like to read and miss this - even though the written word is the only way to communicate with online customers, unless they call first.When I order supplies, I almost always call the order in. Since I first tried ordering online and saw terrible shipping charges, I've been doing this, and have almost always gotten a better shipping charge.Shipping charges hurt coming in and going out. It's a real dilemma.:tiptoe: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernadette Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 Oh, and I forgot, if you add flat rate boxes to the site, then when the customer is checking out, they will always pick flat rate shipping if it comes up less than regular shipping. So...if the items won't fit in a flat rate box, then you could end up eating alot of shipping dollars.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackbenimble Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 I use 3dcart and I'm able to shipping by quantity. I also do not have 900 items so it's alot easier to judge this. I know that 5-6 of my candles fit in a medium size flat rate box and then if they order more it goes to a large flat rate box. That's how I do shipping. Wish I could ship for $5 like some others but I can't. Maybe one day I can. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck_35550 Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 It has reduced my profit margin but I have not increased prices on any of my products. I don't rely on my side business for income but rather to make enough to keep the business afloat and wait for the better day. The flip side of this coin has been that a hand made gift can be purchased for less money than a store bought cheap china lead death trap gift. I just make sure that what I order is for the stuff that has proven to work and sell. I worry about suppliers for obvious reasons and can only hope that my favorites stay in business. I just wish Paula Dean and Martha Stewart would get out of the candle biz and free up some local market space. lolSteve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackbenimble Posted May 25, 2011 Share Posted May 25, 2011 I just wish Paula Dean and Martha Stewart would get out of the candle biz and free up some local market space. lolSteveLol! So crazy you mentioned that! I just saw Paula Deans cheap ass candles at Michaels the other day. I'm sure someone else makes them and she just slapped her fake airbrushed face on the front!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricofAZ Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 (edited) I think some of the software that calculates shipping is written by idiots. If a software can't figure out that two or three items fit in the same box, it is of no value to the customer and the sellers who bought the right software get the business.I have been buying from bodybuilders.com for a few years now. They have a program that assumes a certain sized box and can calculate the amount that goes in the box. If the volume of the products exceeds the box size, the shipping rate pops up with a higher number. If the weight exceeds the box size, same thing. So I can go shopping and buy what I want and then when it hits the magic number for a rate increase, I can adjust my order to either less (or more). I have not seen that kind of calculation very often. There are one or two candle sites that let you calculate and show if adding one more slab makes a difference or not. Some sites require that you go to the checkout and enter the CC info before they tell you the shipping. I avoid those ones.I think the lesson here for sellers is that the cost of shipping is important to buyers so having a very user friendly and accurate shipping calculation program is vital to doing business. Edited May 26, 2011 by EricofAZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Fields Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 We have the same problems. More so shipping out than shipping in, though. Whomever we order from we spend more time on shipping than we do on the order. Volume discounts. Which shippers are available. etc. Larger companies have contracts with shippers to get lower shipping rates. We always ask about that. For instance: I recently ordered a pallet of wax from one supplier at a slightly higher price/case because the shipping was $112; the other company I was dealing with charged $270 (as I remember). We all have to pay a lot more attention to shipping than we use to. On shipping out, I sent out three 50 lb boxes yesterday to a customer at a cost to them of $90 (UPS). I hate it, but we have no choice; we don't have the outgoing volume to get lower rates from UPS or freight companies (and believe me, palletizing the order yesterday and letting a freight company pick it up would have been heaven). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanetsCandles Posted May 26, 2011 Share Posted May 26, 2011 I have the same shipping problems as you do David. Shipping out, I am growing, but still don't have enough to get the discount I need for my customers. I sent out 2 50 LB boxes via UPS a week or so ago, and we paid $60 or so dollars for it. (Or I should say my customer paid that). But it's frustrating. They apparently count what you ship in on your own account and what you ship out as well, so I suppose I could run the rest though my UPS account to get the totals up there, but doing it that way would probably kill the shipping totals even worse. I'd absolutely love to get large enough to order direct from IGI... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Fields Posted May 28, 2011 Share Posted May 28, 2011 IGI. Bad word for us, Janet. Long ago they contacted us to use them. No minimums, lower prices. So, we switched to them. Then the next year they went to pallet orders only with a minimum of one pallet. Next year, minimum of three pallets per order. The next year they stopped taking orders from small guys and gave us the closest distributor in our area; IGI said the prices would be "about the same". Also, if we still wanted to order from them, we could with a new minimum of, as I recall, a trailer load. We don't have that kind of room, so forget it. We contacted our distributor and found that 1) they didn't carry all of the waxes we used, 2) the price was considerably higher, and 3) we couldn't get pallet loads unlesss we prepaid; then they would add our prepaid order to their next order from IGI. As you know changing waxes is a bear; we found a new distributor further away who was just getting started and would keep the wax we used on hand. That has been a blessing! And has been for two or three years. So, IGI is still a bad word around here. In talking with them early on I found they had the same problems we and everyone else has: small orders take up almost as much time to process as big orders do. I just feel that IGI could have handles the customer service end a little better. Just my rant. sorry..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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