Nobody enjoys paying shipping for online purchases, but what really gets buyers worked up is being overcharged. Etsy has been working on a shipping calculator for some time - and now it's launched a beta version that all sellers can try out in a prototype.
Calculated shipping has been high on the wish lists of sellers, who up to this point had had to use a flat rate shipping estimate. Even worse, they had to come up with a rate for those customers ordering multiple quantities. That often meant either taking loss or overcharging customers. And in many cases, sellers would feel they had to refund the buyer for overages, taking up valuable time and not leading to an ideal experience for the shopper.
Etsy Product Manager Calia Talmor told us the company was aware of the limitations - for example, sellers might offer $5 shipping and $1 for a second item, leading to "really inaccurate shipping costs."
Now with the new functionality, sellers input the weight and dimensions of their items and the Etsy calculator displays shipping costs based on the buyer and seller zip code.
We spoke to several sellers about their experience pre-testing the new feature (see the article in Thursday's Newsflash). One surprise was how sellers factored in the dimensions of their products.
We check backed with Talmor, who said Etsy recommends sellers use the item size, and not the final package size. And, if items require a lot of bubble wrap or packing, they've found it's a good idea to use the size and weight of the item "wrapped."
"We released a new feature yesterday, called "package preferences," which allow sellers to provide us with their preferred shipping boxes," she said. "This makes it even easier for them to just give us their item weight and size for individual listings, since we now know their commonly used box sizes."
"All that being said," she continued, "sellers have their own shipping workflows, so we're trying not to be too authoritative on item vs package size. The sellers in the closed team found that calculated shipping was most accurate when they entered the true item (or wrapped item) size."
What about Commercial Base discounts - are those shown or are retail rates displayed, we asked. Talmor said Etsy is giving sellers flexibility on this. Sellers can choose between Retail rates (the rates they would get at the Post Office counter) and "Etsy Shipping Label rates," which is the equivalent of Commercial Base pricing.
Sellers who use Etsy Shipping Labels and receive Commercial Base discounts may still elect to choose Retail rates on the shipping calculator, she said. There are legitimate reasons for doing this - for example, some sellers will use that difference to apply toward handling and insurance costs, she said.
One feature that's missing is the ability to offer buyers an insurance option via calculated shipping. "We know that this might be important to some sellers and hope to address it in future versions," a moderator of the prototype team told members.
Etsy is counting on sellers to test the tool in order to provide it with feedback. The sellers we spoke to, whose names were provided by Etsy, said they would never go back to doing shipping the old way and are enthusiastic about calculated shipping.
One selling duo said they were considering lowering their handling costs now that they've been able to use calculated shipping.
Etsy recognizes that sellers will have to invest the time to add weight and dimensions for listings using calculated shipping. Talmor said Etsy will build out additional features in prototype to make it easier. Sellers make the investment at the beginning, and it will save them time over the long run by not having to answer buyer questions and issue refunds. "Hopefully sellers will see it as a worthwhile investment," she said.
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Etsy Shipping about to Get More Accurate
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