About shipping!

Today I want to teach you guys all about shipping out your packages. If you are an Etsy seller this is a whole lot easier, and in most cases you will never have to go wait at the lines in the post office. (I'll explain about it all later on).

1.) Packing up a safe package

One of the most important things is to make sure that your items gets to your buyer safely and that they don't get broken. I have experience with shipping things in envelopes/mailers, compared to boxes, so I am going to mostly talk about those. First off; do not buy mailers from the stores. I did this for the longest time and I lost so much money because it is way cheaper to buy them online. I buy my mailers from here: http://www.tmart.com/Mailers/ All the of the mailers are a fair price and shipping is free. I've brought from this place several times and everything went over perfectly fine. 

I've found I prefer the polymailers over the yellow-ish paper ones. Polymailers are lighter (making them cheaper to ship), seal much stronger, and are water proof. Figure out what size works best for you and buy them in large amounts at a time (I buy 100 5x10). If you feel like you need to you can buy smaller amounts in other sizes just in case you get a big order and it won't fit all in one envelope. 

Bubble mailers are the way to go, they are much safer to ship in than regular envelopes. The post office is relentless with packages sometimes. I've had packages come to my door with footprints on them! I am not saying this to scare you, but you need that extra line of security. 

Another thing you will need is bubble wrap. Just about any kind will do. I looked around online and it seems like people can't agree that if you should wrap it with the bubbles in or out. You don't need to wrap up everything with bubble wrap. I personally don't need to use it for resin/bows, but I did use bubble wrap when I made polymer clay items. Bubble wrap adds that extra cushion of protection. 

2.) What to include in a package

Obviously you want to include your buyer's items, but what else should you include? You are not obligated to do/include any of the things, but I think they help make the presentation a little bit nicer. 

I've bought some packages where they wrap the items up in pretty colored tissue paper with stickers or ribbons tying it up. Another option is to put the items in either drawstring baggies (you can get them cheap-ish on Ebay) or clear plastic bags. I use the clear plastic bags. They are good for smaller items because there are many variations of size. It's a good idea to put everything in a baggy of some sorts instead of just throwing everything in the package. It improves the presentation. 

Business cards are another important thing. There are any free premade designs so there no need to worry if you cannot draw or afford to have someone design them for you.   I suggest buying from http://www.vistaprint.com/ I am always getting emails from them about sales or coupons so you should be able to get a good deal with them. One or two business cards per package is a good idea. Sometimes I have had people request more business cards with their order because they are wearing the items to a meetup/convention. Always, always, always take advantage of that. It's extra promotion from your customers. Promotion from customers usually says a lot more then promotion from the seller. 

I always like to include a hand written thank you note and a sticker flake or two in my orders. It helps add that 'personal touch' that a lot of people expect when ordering from handmade shops. You can write your notes of any kind of paper. I like kawaii memo sheets the best to write your thank you messages on. A good place to purchase them from is http://darlingdeers.storenvy.com/ 

And if you want to do other things you can either make extra items to give away with orders or give candies. I get an assortment of individuality wrapped candies (bubble gum, jolly ranchers, tootsie rolls, laffy taffy, ect) and give a few pieces with each other. 

3.) Calculating shipping prices

Etsy doesn't include shipping calculators on their site, so you will have to use another site to figure out the price. I like to use this one http://brittanysbest.com/2013/01/usps-shipping-calculator-for-2013/

First class is usually the best way to go for most domestic packages. It takes about 2-5 days (sometimes up to 10 days depending on time of the year/efficiency of the buyer's postal service/if there are any disasters causing delays) for the package to reach your buyer. 

When shipping internationally I suggest using First Class International. Other shipping methods can get very pricey for international shipping. Depending on what country your buyer lives in shipping can take a few days or a few weeks. I've had a buyer in the UK receive their packages within a week and another in the UK receive theirs in about two weeks. It all depends on how quickly it gets through customs and how efficient the post office in their area is. 

4.) Buying shipping labels 

If you are an Etsy seller, good news! Buying shipping labels in now a snap. Before you had to have direct check out activated, but now any Etsy seller can use Etsy Labels. Using Etsy labels you can print up to 5 labels for one order (if everything won't fit in one envelope or the buyer requests that you ship items separately). Purchase of the labels will be charged to your Etsy Bill that you can pay at any time. Etsy also checks that the buyer's address matches up with the USPS mailing address and if not you can fix it up with a simple click.

One of the best benefits of Etsy Labels is you can buy and print international labels right on the website! This makes it so much easier for sellers to start shipping internationally.

Purchasing a shipping label on Etsy automatically marks your order as 'shipped' and will include the tracking number for the buyer. 

If you don't use Etsy it is a little bit more work, but still nothing too bad. You can purchase your labels through your Paypal. When you log in you should see "print shipping label" next to your payments. Go ahead and click on that to get to the screen to print off the label. 

The biggest disadvantage of this is you cannot print off international labels. You will either have to use a third party website like Stamps.com or take the package to the post office.

5.) About Customs Forms

I think a lot of people who are new to international selling get worried on how to properly fill out a customs label. I was a little afraid of them at first too! But do not worry. Once you use them a few times it is no big deal. First off you are going  to need to have some clear envelopes like these. Instead of just taping the customs form on your mailer or box you have to put the customs forms inside the envelope and then attach it. Some countries also require that the invoice for the order is inside the envelope. 

Next is filling out the customs form. Never ever ever lie on a customs form. Not only do you risk your package not reaching the buyer, but you can also get in some legal trouble. Fines and everything. If a buyer asks you to lie on a customs form kindly inform the buyer that it is illegal. Surprisingly enough some people actually don't know how serious of an offense it is. Merchandise items cannot marked as gifts. You must mark them as other and put the correct value in USD on the form. If you sell handmade jewelry it is usually best to label your items as "Handmade Costume Jewelry" if it is not made with precious metals/gems. Some countries, like Australia, do not allow you to send expensive jewelry there without a more expensive shipping option, but handmade and costume jewelry will get through fine. 

Each country has their own shipping laws of what is or isn't allowed and what needs to be included in the clear envelope besides the customs form. If you are unsure always check places like the Etsy forums. Unless you have a very specific question you don't need to make a new thread simple search "Shipping to [insert country here]" and you will get lots of helpful results. Open a few threads and there will be lots of helpful tips from other sellers on how to fill out the customs form, what you can or cannot send, and if you need you need to include something in the clear envelope. 

Once everything is all situated you can sign the customs form and send the package on its way to the buyer. 

I hope that can help some new sellers out there. If you still have questions feel free to leave a comment and I will try and help you out or direct you to a place where you can find more info~