If you want to open an Etsy shop, you’ve probably thought about how you’ll ship your items. We are happy to say that the platform does a great job with shipping. You can choose a different courier as soon as you set up your shop and post your first item for sale.
You can also send packages without ever having to leave your house. This depends on where you are, but most sellers in the US should be able to do it.
Read on to find out how it all works. You will love how easy it is to set up everything. Etsy has done a lot to make things easier.
Shipping Essentials
As a seller, it’s your job to get items to the people who bought them. You can do it in any way you want. But to stay effective and efficient, you need to come up with a plan that works for both you and your buyers.
The first thing to think about is whether you want to ship the products yourself or work with a third party. Even though you might be able to ship orders at first, you’ll probably need to work with a third party to make sure everything gets sent on time.
Check what’s available in your area, because there are different delivery services in different places.
Here are some things you should think about when you ship:
Set up rules for shipping
Make a number of shipping profiles.
Set up a schedule that lets you take care of orders.
Plan out how you will ship your orders step by step.
Get as many boxes, packages, and envelopes as you can.
Here are a few basics that will help you get going in the right direction. Even though it sounds hard on paper, it’s not that hard to get everything done, especially once you see how it works.
How to Send Items on Etsy
From the start, you’ll be able to see how you handle shipping. Most likely, you won’t get a lot of orders, but as time goes on, you’ll have to figure out how to get packages to all your customers within a certain amount of time.
Because of this, Etsy has a way to make the whole process easier.
Shipping Profiles
You should make shipping profiles as your first step. They’ll make it much easier for you to ship. What are the profiles for shipping?
You can make multiple shipping profiles for other listings so you don’t have to fill out shipping information for each listing. For instance, you can make one profile for shipping to the United States, another for shipping to Canada, and a third for shipping anywhere else in the world.
Here’s what you need to do:
- Go to Shop Manager after logging in to Etsy.
- Go to Settings and click on Shipping settings.
- Click Shipping profiles, then click Add a shipping profile.
- You can now add all the information about shipping to your profile. When you’re done, click Save.
After you set up your profiles, you can use them in the future when you make new listings. Your new Shipping profile can also be linked to your existing listings. Just do the following:
- Click Listings in the Shop Manager.
- Click the checkbox next to the listing you want to change, and then click Editing options.
- You’ll see a drop-down menu with Change shipping profiles. Just click it.
- Choose the profile you want to use, and then click Apply once.
By making these profiles, you’ll be able to handle the shipping for your listings much more quickly. They will save you a lot of time.
Etsy Figured Out Shipping
You will see that Etsy Calculated Shipping is an option when you are making shipping profiles. You can use this for buyers in the US and Canada if you want to save more time.
But if you want to use it, you’ll have to add weight and size to each listing. So, Etsy can automatically fill out the shipping label with the right information about the package. On Etsy’s website, you can find out how to do it.
One thing is for sure: to do that, you’ll need Etsy Shipping Labels.
Etsy Shipping Labels
Etsy has teamed up with USPS to make it easier for sellers to send packages across the country and around the world.
You can print your own USPS shipping labels, which is great. You can buy them on Etsy, fill them out when a customer places an order, and print them for your package.
After that, all you have to do is ask for a pick-up from your home address. Here is how it all works.
- Go to the Shop Manager and click on Orders & Shipping.
- Click on the tab that says “Done.”
- You’ll now see a button at the top that says “Request a pick-up.”
- Choose where to meet. You’ll also have to check that your phone number and address are correct.
- Use the Additional Notes section if you want to add more details.
- Once you’ve filled out all the required information, click Request pickup.
You can always cancel a pickup in the Completed tab if you need to.
If you buy shipping labels from Etsy, your shipping costs will go down by about 30%. It’s a good choice, especially if you need insurance, which we’ll talk about in the next section.
The best part is that you can ask for more than one thing to be picked up. But keep in mind that USPS requires at least one package to be sent through a USPS premium service.
Shipping between countries
If you want people from all over the world to be able to see your products, you’ll need to change your Shipping profile.
Check to see if you have chosen the option to ship the item globally when you are setting up your Shipping profile.
If you don’t want to ship everywhere, you can list the countries you want to ship to.
Shipping is free.
If you offer free shipping, you are paying for the shipping costs. It’s kind of a marketing trick, since the shipping cost is already built into the price of the item.
That’s why it’s important to set the right price so that the sale makes you money. This can be easy to plan for in the US, but if you’re shipping internationally, the costs can quickly add up.
Etsy has set up two ways for people who want to offer free shipping to do so. Check out how you could do it.
Returns. Whether or not you offer returns is up to you. Customers from the European Union are the only ones who are different. For them, you have to follow all of the rules in the EU Directive on Consumer Rights.
If you decide to accept returns, it’s best to come to an agreement through Etsy’s case system or Etsy Messages. So, it will be easy to prove that you gave a customer a refund or sent a replacement product to their address.
No matter what you decide, you’ll have to say in the shop policy section where you take returns and give refunds.
Shipping Insurance
You can add extra insurance or coverage to your package when you buy a shipping label from Etsy.
Different shipping companies have different insurance packages, which means that the most they will cover is different.
Here is a full guide to how to file an insurance claim if your package goes missing or gets broken.
Prices that are fair
For your Etsy shop to grow, you need to stay competitive. All of the numbers are correct. If a product ships for free, buyers are more likely to click on it. Because of this, offering free shipping is something you should think about.
But it’s important to do the math right. Even a small mistake can cause you to lose money on a sale with free shipping. So, use Alura’s Etsy Fee calculator to find out exactly how much money you will make. Then you can take out the cost of shipping and see if you’re still in the black.
Make sure your shipping rules are clear.
From the moment a customer lands on your listing, you need to work on building trust with them. Always be honest about the services you offer, and put all the important information in your shop’s policies.
When someone looks at your shop’s policies, they should see everything they need to know about how you handle shipping. Some of the answers to these questions should be in your shop’s policy.
When do you plan to send it?
How long does it take to process?
Do you accept returns?
Do you give money back?
How long do I have to send something back to you?
Who will pay for the cost of shipping the item back?
If you answer all of these questions, the customer will see how professional you are and be more likely to trust you.
Correctly estimate when your packages will arrive.
Don’t make the mistake of telling your customers something that isn’t true. Set a realistic delivery date as soon as you open your Etsy store.
If not, you’ll get reviews that aren’t necessary. So, when you talk about delivery dates, you should give a rough estimate between 7 and 14 days. You can’t know if the courier will get everything to the right place on time.
On top of that, delivery times can vary a lot based on where the buyer is.
Plan for all of these problems before they happen, and if they do, have a plan of action that will blow your customers away.
Set up clear ways to talk with your customers
Be aware that you are bound to make a mistake at some point. No matter how well you plan, things will happen that you didn’t expect. How you deal with them is what will keep you growing.
The most important thing you can do as a seller is to be patient and kind to your buyers at all times. Even if the misunderstanding has nothing to do with you, you need to say you’re sorry for the whole thing.
Communication is all that matters. You need to always let your customers know where their packages are.
Watch for and learn from mistakes
Even though you will make mistakes sometimes, you must learn from them. For example, if you notice that a certain delivery company keeps making the same mistakes, you should try to switch to a different company.
Your shop’s good name is at risk. Try to find something else that will work better for both you and your buyers.
You can learn something new without making a mistake. Watch how you ship things and think about how you could do it faster.
Tell others about what you’ve learned.
You aren’t the only one who has an Etsy shop. If you have a problem with shipping, you should go to the seller’s community to see if someone there can help you. Most likely, someone has been through something like this before.
The official Etsy community website is a great place to start. It has a lot of sellers with a lot of experience who are always willing to help out other people in their community.
If you want to try something else, you can always go to the Etsy Subreddit and talk about your experiences there.
Even if you don’t get help, you’ve told the community about a possible problem that could happen to someone else.
Obviously, if the problem is serious, it’s best to contact Etsy’s customer service.
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