Just shipped my first cubic box 20 minutes ago. Saved 0.95, but that can be as much as $9 depending on location. A dollar is a dollar!
First class doesn’t have tracking, but first class with added tracking could be an option for small stuff if cubic works out.
None of this was available until recently without big fees. Glad shopify has really stepped up.
I have no idea how many Canadians you have in your customer base. I’ve seen a few on the forums, but for myself, I’d buy more stuff from you if shipping were less expensive. My last order was more than it would have been from Amazon shipped. I still chose your store because I’m happy with the product and want to help support it.
Congratulations on a successful 2020 and here’s to an even better 2021.
“First-Class Mail” and “First-Class Package” are slightly different services. First-Class-Package includes tracking but doesn’t include insurance (which Isn’t a huge deal). First Class Mail has a lot of limitations on it for size/shape/weight but is even cheaper if you can manage it.
And you can get tracking with first class envelopes by putting something in the envelope to make it more than 1/4" thick, then it can go as first class package.
I have an e-commerce business also and have used Shipstation since they were a startup. Good outfit and works well for us. With this said we are also looking into ways to further reduce shipping costs.
Since we also sell on Amazon, I will be looking to see if they open up the Amazon shipping to third parties for shipments that do not originate from Amazon. That is something I understand they will be rolling out this year.
We ship via first class package a lot, that is the majority of our shipments. $100 of insurance and we use a third party for extended insurance if needed. Insurance is no good for international.
Sadly shipping from the USA is never going to be cheap, and with Covid it has only gone up in price. International shipping is very expensive thanks to the WTO and how China has manipulated the postal services via that body. That is why it is cheaper to mail something from China to your neighbor then it would be for you to send the same item from your own house!
Avoid things like Smart Post from FedEx and UPS. They flat out suck. They save a little money, but the shipping is VERY slow. Basically the shipment goes across the country via UPS or FedEx, and final delivery with by via the USPS. But that final mile may take days or weeks! All it does is piss off customers.
I’m keen to hear anything you discover on this subject. We are currently working on add volumetric data on our site to get very accurate shipping quotes for our customers. Problem is we have nearly 4,000 SKUs. They range from tiny to larger the USPS can ship.
I hate to say it, but to get international shipping to a lower number you will need to have the items shipped from outside of the USA. Setup with trusted partners around the world… Yeah, even more to manage.
I would like to add that you did a great job on my full kit from you. Very well packed and well thought out. Nothing missing. Well done!
Thanks for that reply…Solid info.
So far the cubic is working out well when things are nearby (I am learning my geography). it has been one cubic every other day, worth doing but not going to change much. Still need some time to impliment the smaller first class stuff but I don’t ship all that many small things (so far).
Ryan,
I have to say whatever you are doing, it is quite fast. Not sure if it is because I live in the DC metro area or not, but your California packages are making it in 2-3 days USPS Priority. (I have been trying it out alot lately - 
)
I just had a filament shipment from CA take 10 days via UPS ground.
UPS ground is so slow, that is how the Ultimachine boards come. It is so slow the first box sent is one day behind the 5 boxes sent 2 days later.
Overall I am very happy with USPS, This year was over 5000 shipped and I only think there was one small issue. No lost packages, nothing major. I’m a fan. They are even separating out local packages when I have them to deliver the next day instead of sending them to the sorting facility first. Sounds like a no brainer but they never used to do that.
Shipping has such a massive impact on your business. Shipping TIME is a big issue.
I ordered 3 items from Aliexpress 2 or 3 years ago using the Postal system. I am still waiting for 2 of them, the third arrived Literally after a year. Because of the long shipping time, Aliexpress would not refund as missing items and they would not let me put the claim in at the end of the refund period as they said I had to give more time. No win. Even with tracking, it gets lost in the postal system.
I cannot afford to buy small items directly from the you only because of the shipping costs. I don’t know how they do it, but Banggood ship to South Africa faster than I can get it shipped locally, using an agent I am guessing, they call it South Africa Direct, but I am sure they do it the same for all other countries as well and at a nominal cost ($5 with insurance and tracking which is cheaper than the local couriers) Takes an average of a 5 working days. Thats cheaper than I can get stuff shipped locally as well. I order, pay and then I get an email a few days later with the import cost which I pay via bank transfer and the item is here delivered to my door step the next day. So far no complaints about the quality of the goods which are I am guessing exactly the same if I was to buy locally. two items in the last 2 years got damaged and were replaced speedily without issue. Guess we have fairly low expectations over here. A first class post letter to a local address takes about 3 weeks.
Not sure if it is worth you looking into something similar for your small parts for international customers. Find a supplier on Bangood with a quality you are happy and arrange for shipping directly from China factory.
Congrats @vicious1 for this very successfuf year!
Let’s hope it will be ridiculous compared to 2021 !
Kudos on your great work and thanks for creating this machine, it was a game changer for many of us and something that really had an impact on our lives. Well at least on mine, I learned so much stuff building it!
Thanks for everything.