Shipping options

[bear-in-texas]

Hi, One item I ship goes in a padded thin envelop and only cost 90 cents to mail First Class if I take it to the post office.  (Actually I just put 2 - 45 cent stamps on it.)  It weighs less than 3 oz.  Using the mailing label system the least expensive First Class Option is for a thick envelop and cost $1.64 to mail.  Since I only make $3 on this item, using the label program cost me 30% of my profit.  Any hope for this option to be added in the future?  I know that I do not get tracking for my 90 cents postage, but I have never had one not arrive. Thanks 

[PayPal_Olivia]

Hi bear-in-texas, and welcome to the forums!

Some services available directly through USPS are not available through the PayPal and eBay shipping tools. There are no announced plans to add more services than those currently available.

I know where you're coming from when it comes to examining the costs of shipping options. I used to sell bumper stickers, myself. In the situations where a customer did not receive the sticker, I offered immediate reshipment or refund - their choice. Since those were such rare events and I was selling a lot of stickers, there was an overall monetary benefit to shipping with stamps instead of delivery confirmation.

While that business model seemed satisfactory to me at the time, the reality is that it still included risks. Without tracking to ensure that shipping company (my contractor for a portion of my responsibility) was doing its job, how did I really know I was fully doing my job? How did I know I was really making sure that every buyer got their merchandise? Is it possible that there were some people who didn't get their stickers, but didn't bother to complain because they'd only spent a couple of bucks on the item? Was it possible that a buyer might bypass communicating directly with me and file a buyer complaint or a chargeback and impact my otherwise stellar history? Might a buyer leave negative feedback for me, even after things were set right, just because things didn't go smoothly?

Once I considered all the risks of bad buyer experiences, it was no longer strictly a monetary decision. When I realized that my integrity as a seller was at risk, I decided that delivery confirmation was not optional for me anymore.

I definitely recommend that you consider employing delivery confirmation on a regular basis. You may find that raising the price on your items a little to accommodate the increased overhead will not overwhelmingly affect their ability to sell. Some experimentation may help.

I wish you the best!

Olivia