Providing the best delivery options can delight your customers, everyone wants their items there fast! Choosing the right shipping partners can also help you save money and save time.
Shipping is often the final touch point in the sale of an item to your buyer. Leave your buyer with a really positive experience and increase the likelihood that they’ll buy from you again. There are many shipping providers out there and it’s important to know the benefits of each for domestic and international shipments. Choosing the right shipping options can also save you time and lots of money. Money you can use to buy more inventory or promote your shop.
Pro-tips:
1) Research different shipping solutions. The size, destination, and value of your parcel can all influence the delivery provider you choose. For example in the UK
- Parcel2Go is a great comparison site with competitive prices for international and domestic deliveries. Follow this link to our partnership page.
- Many companies offer tracking and proof of delivery services for free or little cost. Insurance can also be important for higher value items. This is peace of mind for you and the buyer.
2) Buying the correct label/postage for the size of item. Buying a label for a smaller item when in fact you have a larger one may get the item returned to you and you will have to repost it and pay for a new label. Keep this in mind when sending large items like a jacket.
3) Offer free shipping. Offering free shipping will make your brand more desirable to a buyer, it makes you competitive on Depop and the wider market. Did you know that 61% of buyers abandon an item at check out because of shipping costs? So offering free shipping is more likely to secure the purchase. We know that as a depop seller you are twice as likely to sell an item on Depop if you offer free shipping. But how do I go about offering free shipping? There will always be a shipping cost, it’s the way in which you factor it in to your overall strategy. Here’s a few ideas to get you started.
- Increase the product price to include the cost of shipping. That way there are no surprises at the checkout.
- Increase the price of your products slightly to cover partial costs of shipping, so both you and the customer cover the cost.
- Offer free shipping on select items, for example where you have a higher profit margin or items are cheaper to ship.
- Use free shipping as a promotional tool. Turn browsers into buyers by running a free shipping promotion over a weekend.
4) Create a standardised list of shipping options for your buyers e.g. Next Day, Standard, and International. Buyers now expect this from their experience on other online sites like Amazon. For example, you can do something like this:
- Next Day Delivery £3.95
- Standard Delivery FREE
- International Delivery £10.00 to (specify the country)
- You can also include something like “If the purchase is made before 2pm it is posted that day!
5) Offer international shipping. This is a simple way to grow your business, especially if you have higher value items. It may not make sense for a buyer to purchase something for £20 then pay £15 for intl shipping, but buyers in other countries are likely to pay for shipping if it’s a unique or higher value item. Tell the whole world about your amazing inventory!
“International shipping has had a large impact on my business. It has opened up my shop to a whole new customer base with different interests unique to their region”
The big question: how do I do this?
- Work out the average cost of shipping by weight and destinations to determine the price.
- Have a clear policy on international shipping and the service you use so buyers feel confident.
- Finally, remember that providing international shipping will be a learning curve, the more you ship internationally the more insights you will gain to make better decisions on pricing and service.
- Using a shipping site like Parcel2Go also provides tips on how to ship internationally and which companies to use
- If you’ve got lots of items have them collected from your workspace or house. When sellers are starting out they make multiple trips to the post office each week to post the items. You can save time by organising a courier collection from your workspace or house. This is especially helpful if you sell high volumes!
- Buy a general printer or label printer. This can also make your shop more efficient, instead of buying postage at the post office you can print labels from most companies like MyHermes, Parcel2Go, and others at home and stick them on your parcels. A printer will be an upfront cost but shop around for a good price and it will likely pay back in the long run!