Shipping questions and the new postal rates in the US.

[musicyouneed]

I sell CD's on both .com and .ca.  On both I have been using flat rate shipping amounts for both US and Canada. 

The shipping in Canada has gone up 18 cents, so I will probably over time raise my shipping by 25 cents.  

For the US, I am using chit chat and USPS first class, delivery in 3 business days.  Now this is where there will be quite a bit of change.  I looked at the last 5 US sales and they were all to zone 8, which is quite a difference from the flat rate, and can be up to .75 CDN between zones plus the rate has gone up for 5 oz it is now lumped with 8 oz.   

Now I have the option of changing my location on .com to Blaine Washington where all my CD's are shipped from anyways and offer both media mail which takes up to 10 days for delivery and also offer calculated shipping for first class.  

Do buyers prefer a choice or do they not read and just click.  Would you offer buyers a choice, it could mean about $2 cheaper for media mail but delivery delay?

[retroman_studios]

I'm in the same boat per day, as I am even thinking of moving new listings to COM and using a cheaper mailing method with ChitChats for Canadian customers.

I'm caught between low prices for shipping but claims for INR or high prices and not many sales. So I'm trying to balance these.

For the US I do flat rate and choose Economy Shipping 1-10 days. The one advantage is ChitChats charges in CDN, and on COM is US, thus far I've had no qualms from buyers with my 1-13oz flat rate of $4 US. But I may move to calculated shipping soon.

[ypdc_dennis]

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@musicyouneed wrote:
...  Now I have the option of changing my location on .com to Blaine Washington where all my CD's are shipped from anyways and offer both media mail which takes up to 10 days for delivery and also offer calculated shipping for first class.  

Do buyers prefer a choice or do they not read and just click.  Would you offer buyers a choice, it could mean about $2 cheaper for media mail but delivery delay?

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Many buyers skip the reading part.

If it were me, I would offer just media mail for the cheap cd listings and just calculated for the higher priced cd listings.

On the other hand going that way could muck up a sale when a buyer is after a bunch of cds.

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[recped]

I sell similar stuff but only list on .ca..........

I'm going to bump up my shipping charges for US items that ship First Class, I haven't decided the exact amount yet but probably an extra CA$1 (75 cents US).

I only use Media Mail for things that can't ship First Class (LP's mostly) or infrequently for lower weight items that are going to Zone 1 or 2.

I have never and probably will never offer multiple shipping options, buyers tend to pick the cheapest but expect the more expensive delivery times.