I've opened up my shop to international shipping too, but I'm not entirely sold on that idea yet. There's a few reasons for that. 1. The idea of shipping something I made outside of the U.S. generally just makes me worry. 2. Regulations vary by country. (It's already in my shop policy that I'll give refunds in the event that I find I can't ship something, so hopefully I don't run into a problem there). 3. Not even sure the shipping costs are worth it. Speaking of which,
*If you find reading about shipping really boring, just skip this;*
I decided to use USPS flat rate priority mail shipping boxes. Sturdy, ready to mail boxes. Convenient, flat rate prices, and priority shipping, 2-3 days domestic. U.S. is $5 (I'm rounding up, btw), which isn't terrible. Canada and Mexico end up being $13. That might be a little high, but I once bought something from Canada, shipping was $10. My order came poorly packed in a flimsy box (really surprised that nothing broke), and it took weeks to get it in the mail. So, I would pay $13 if I knew it was priority mail and wasn't going break. I guess what I'm saying is that I'm ok charging people for the quality shipping my work needs to get to them in one piece, as quickly as possible. However, everywhere else, international shipping is almost $17. That sounds like a lot to me.
I'm interested in what other people think. If you bought miniatures from a foreign country, how much of an issue is the shipping costs? Would you buy something online if the shipping cost more than what you bought?
Regardless, I've posted the new shipping costs on Etsy, so we'll see how this all works out.
Wow, I started this at 2, but now it's 3. Don't blog when you're tired-it takes forever. I'm going to bed, but before I do I'm posting this photo of the Van Buren pretending that it's a spooky backdrop.
It was for a, movie themed, contest entry over on DeviantArt that you can see here if you want.
Annnnd Goodnight. (morning)
International shipping is a hard one Kyle...I am lucky and have no had any protests about cost, but do my best to keep it to a minimum. I am also cautious about buying stuff from overseas because of postage costs.
ReplyDeleteGlad I'm not the only one who finds it difficult to figure out. I've been looking into it for a few weeks, and aside from the, "Everywhere else", costs, the flat rate boxes don't sound too unreasonable. I dunno, it seems dumb to just ship domestic when you're selling your work online, but if the shipping is too expensive you're still excluding people. Guess I'll just wait and see if I get any sales or complaints-then I'll know for sure.
DeleteThanks for the input Jazzi. :)