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A.
Dear Ameena,
Thank you for your question and subscription to Power Homebiz Guides.
To have a better idea of what you are shipping, I visited your web site and
observe that you have a variety of items in your product line which may range
from very small and light to medium weight items.
As you have stated, your current shipping charges based on value of the
ordered item is not working well for you, even causing you to lose out in
shipping. It is high time to experiment with new ways of costing the shipping
charges.
One way is to charge a flat fee based on the product or cost range, PLUS an
additional per pound charge. This is what I call the Amazon.com model. When
buying electronics, for example, at Amazon.com, you will be charged with a
$4.99 per shipment fee plus $0.59/per pound per item charge. Using this
strategy will take care of your worries of losing profit due to varying
weights of products being shipped (hence, varying shipping costs).
You may want to study Amazon's shipping charges located at this page: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/468636/ref=br_
bx_c_1_0/102-2113268-6651326
Of course, implementing this approach will greatly depend on the
flexibility of your shopping cart system. If your current system does not
allow you to do this, you have two other options:
1. Continue basing your shipping rates on the value of the items ordered,
but increase your shipping rate (downside of course is that your customers may
find your shipping cost too prohibitive)
2. Revise your shipping cost structure and instead base it on the total
weight of the items ordered. Like your current system, you may present varying
tiers of shipping costs.
You may want to devise a system based on the shipping rates used by your
present carrier (e.g. UPS). Note that UPS calculates their shipping rates by
weight and distance. By adopting the UPS pricing standard, you as user of
their services will be assured that the amount you charge in shipping the item
will at least cover your cost (if not profit from it).
Hope this helps. If you have further questions, please feel free to email
us.
About
the PowerHomeBiz.com Guide:
 Nach Maravilla is
the Publisher of Power Homebiz Guides. He has over thirty years
experience in sales and marketing of various products, which
covered as he jokingly describes, "from toothpicks to
airplanes" He also had extensive experience in
International trading and he always excelled in special promotional
ideas for retail outlets.
The opinions expressed in this column are
those of the author, not of PowerHomeBiz.com.
Users
should not treat the Guide's response as legal, accounting, or
professional advice as all answers are intended to be general in
nature. Such advice can only be properly given by qualified
professionals who are fully aware of a user's specific geographical areas or circumstances, such
as
an attorney or accountant.
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