I went this morning to ship a deer hat to someone in Australia, and to my utter shock, the price of shipping had doubled. I paid $17 to ship a small 3-oz package in a 6x10 envelope.
To be bluntly honest, I've always undercharged for international shipping. It's always cost me about $8.50 to ship a hat to Australia and Asia, and I just take the $3.50 hit out of the price of the hat, because I really don't feel right about charging a ton of money for a Blythe hat. I know a lot of people charge a bundle for their handmade items, but I don't want to make mine any more expensive than they are, and I've always charged $5 to ship internationally. I have been okay with taking that dent. I don't do any of this for a living.
I went ahead and shipped the hat, since I was already up there with the addressed package and declaration form filed out. But I couldn't believe it. I still can't. I actually lost money. As February is one of the most expensive months of the year for me, it was so hard to lose that ten dollars unexpectedly.
Rather than complaining, because Cure Touch is my happy place and not my venting place, I'm just taken aback and unsure of how to proceed. I don't know what this will mean for the future of my Etsy shop. I mostly send internationally. I have shipped to Australia often. I cannot imagine tripling my shipping charges. Luckily my shop is empty right now.
To end on ANY OTHER NOTE THAN THIS, I'm pretty obsessed with this strange little k-pop song that has a "country" twist:
The video doesn't really do it any favors, IMO (it is terrible), but the song itself is a guilty pleasure of mine right now!
I know exactly what you mean Jane...seems the only ones getting rich out our efforts are the ruddy postal departments!
ReplyDeleteIt's the same everywhere, all the sellers have the same problem and I think most of us understand that there needs to be a change to the way we list. I.E. put the price we want for our wares and put the postage down at what it actually costs, then those that don't already know, will understand we actually ask very little for our efforts.
Warmest hugs,
Sandi
I'll try not to be too pessimistic! Hopefully things will sort out with shipping costs and I'll be able to figure out how to keep on going! :)
ReplyDelete