I hate dealing with shipping costs.

Ready to make a list of fall offerings (bargains!) and wondering what you all are doing now for shipping costs? And how are you offering multi purchases for shipping?

I am thinking of cutting plants back pretty drastically since it is fall, but still clumps do have weight. I have priority boxes that I stocked up on.

Oh, and let me know if you want to be on the email list that I'll send out. Northern grown, hardy and never had rust here.

The shipping I charge for clumps just depends on the size. I usually charged $12.00 first clump then $3.00 for 3 fans or less (if adding non clumps) and then $5.00 if 4fans or more. If the clump is 10 fans or more it's the regular shipping of $12.00. Some clumps I have shipped were 20-30 fans and the shipping was $15.00 and couldn't be combined with anything else since nothing else would fit in the box.
And then it just depends on the clump size because I have dug a 10 fan clump that was the same size as a 20 fan clump.
I have had to use 2 boxes for what I thought would fit into one box because the roots are so big. Sometimes you will lose money on the shipping and other times you will break even. Once in awhile the shipping will be a little less than what is charged. I'm not sure where the line is where the rates go up once crossed, but I shipped 2 boxes out to the same person and I charged $36 for shipping; it actually cost me $48 to ship.

This weekend I shipped some out in large flat rate boxes (they were bulging) and if I would have shipped regular priority some would have been around $23 to ship instead of $15.

For regular, non-clump orders I charge $10 first daylily and then $3.00 each additional daylily added.

WOW! You have clumps THAT big? HA! I'd hate digging those. Oh wait, some of mine are that have been in the display gardens.

Cheap stuff I always try to let clump up. Someone told me a long time ago, to dig anything under $10 is just plain not worth it!

My Trahlyta clumps are all usually pretty big because the fans aren't that big. But I imagine a lot of what you grow down in Fl are leeks!

I do know that over the Miss R from here that the rates change quite a bit but i haven't kept up with USPS rates of late.

Thanks for the help.

No one else gonna share their shipping costs? And how they arrive at them?

Basically guestimate. If the shipping distance isn't far, like a state just south of me, Ohio, Indiana, Ilinois, New York, shipping is generally less, about 6 to 7 dollars. The farther south and west you go shipping is usually more so I charge $8. I generally charge $1 extra per 2 to 3 fan clump extra added to the box. If the order is extremely large I will generally use the flat rate boxes. I know last year I underestimated a package to Texas and I ended up loosing on postage so I am trying to be a bit more careful. I try not to charge any more than a dollar over the actual cost but it is really difficult to do sometimes. If flat rate charges were not so expensive I would just use those but it is costly if the package isn't going very far.

I know Fred (spunky1) charges a flat shipping fee of $10 no matter how many are bought on named cultivars and on seedlings which are usually larger 4 or more fans shipping is $12 no matter how many bought in a 2 week (I think) period. He does this instead of giving a bonus plant.

That's a great idea.

Check pricing on Regional boxes, too. My company's shipping supervisor swears by them. At them, too, sometimes, but generally endorses them.

I've not heard of regional boxes. Is that UPS or USPS??

My order that I got in from Maryotts last week had the actual shipping cost on it. It was $35.25. Thats from California to Ne Mississippi. Yes, it was a big box. I had 14 df. Just a guess, I probably had 35 fans all together. He sent it Priority Mail. Looks like to me "Flat Rate" would have been best, but I'm sure Bill Maryotts knows what the best way to ship is. When his season is over, I may send out an email and ask why he doesn't use Flat Rate. It may have something to do with California's hard enviornmental laws and shipping plants. I have no idea. Nope, I'm not complaining about the cost at all. In fact, He lacked about $5 charging me enough for the shipping prices since I had combined my orders. I personally think he loses money on some of the orders. So, trust me, I'm not complaining, just wondering why??

Shipping cost to me, is one of those things that can eat a seller alive. If they charge too much, no one will buy from them. If they don't charge enough, then they can lose money. I;m just now starting to sell seeds. I just looked to see what most others were charging and I charged the same. I found the cheapest bubble wrap envelops, thanks to Michele. So, that's not much. I charge $3 for shipping. Today I mailed out some seeds that I had to pay for at the Post Office. A small bubble wrap envelop with 2 of my multiple win auctions cost $2.85. The envelops are about 15 cents. The cost to print out all the info for the wins,, I have no idea, but they don't give away paper and ink. The cost to carry the packages to the Post office, maybe $1. So, anyway you look at these, I probably lost a little bit of money on the shipping charges. I'm ok with this because the packages that I can print the label out from Paypals site, only cost $1.64 plus the other indirect costs and I figure with the two ways, I'll break even. Maybe.
When it comes to plants, that's hard. I'll get alot of lessons once I start this, but so far, I'm strictly doing seeds. The lady at the PO told me to really check into the Flat RAtes is I needed to send boxes.

Those large flat rate boxes (which are smaller than regular priority large boxes) wouldn't have held all those daylilies Mona :nodding:, he would of had to send 2 boxes. Yes it would have saved a little on his end, but that means that's an extra box to keep up with to make sure the order doesn't get messed up (IMHO). I know when I ordered from them fall 2010 they shipped UPS.
I just shipped out some large flat rate boxes with 23-25 fans (some SF,DF,and 3-5F clumps) in them and some of them were bulging at the seams.

Here's a difference of opinion on what to charge for shipping costs. Some people think of it as the actual shipping cost, but others see it as shipping and handling or shipping and processing. Think about all the things you see on tv to buy or wherever, you GET THE SECOND ONE FREE but you have to pay the S&H for the free one also. This is to help recoup any labor costs, advertising, and such.
Daylilies don't dig, divide, wash, and box up themselves so the extra shipping is kind of paying for your time doing this.

I have shipped plants from Ebay since 2004 and use Paypal shipping labels and have a digital postal scale. You can also use Click'n Ship to save money. It is always cheaper to print labels online. I also use both mideum and large flat fee boxes, depending on size of plants, or number of plants. To encourage more buying, I offer the boxes in my listings. I can fit 15 irises in the mideum flat fee box.

If you know the weight, you can calculate online the cost. A digital scale cost me $37 on Ebay, including shipping. It has paid itself back. No guessing. I could not ship without it. Now you can also pay with Paypal even if you don't print from Ebay.

Just sold all my Daylilies that were common and packed them smack full in the large flat fee box.

You can order shipping boxes online from the postal service free. They have all the different kinds. You don't even have to pay postage. They also have padded envelopes with bubble wrap.

I charge shipping with 50c extra. The economy is so bad, even on Ebay that too high cost prevents purchases sometimes. I don't have the amount printed on the label.

A way to think is...how badly do I want to sell it.

Michelle is correct about how I charge for shipping except when I sell in the fall for spring shipment, then everything someone buys form Sept to March 15 is only $10 shipping. If a person buys ten or twelve plants it may cost me $16-$20 to ship the order, but the next person may only buy one or two plants and it only cost $6 or $7 to ship the order. In the end we will break about even after shipping a couple hundred orders. I may raise my shipping to $12 this year, so don't be surprized as postal rates go up again.

Covering shipping costs (cheaply) wouldn't be bad if you are selling plants over $50! But selling plants at $12 would not be smart!!!

I got some boxes sent by mail USPS.

But the flat rate box I think was $14.70 the last I used one.

Make them bulge, huh? Good idea!!! That helps, especially when it is over the river!

I also charge $3 for seeds to USA & Canada and $3.50 all other countries. I look for bargains on bubble envelopes so that I can keep my postal rates down.

The large flat rate is $15.45 (plus .75 confirmation if adding it) or if done online $14.65 (free delivery confirmation)
Med flat rate is $11.35 (plus .75) or $10.85 (free confirmation) done online

If sending regular priority you can save anywhere from $1-3 using the online services which has saved me quite a few times on not actually losing money when I ship.

I forget what company it was, but someone (elsewhere) was talking about what one company charged for shipping so I went and looked at their site. It explained about their shipping and such, but I they said they ship ALL their plants with the soil (including daylilies) so this would explain why the shipping was very high.
I remember there was 3 different starting rates. One set of states were $17 plus more for each one added (can't remember the exact $$$ for added ones), then the next set of states were $19 plus more for each added, and then there were a third set of states that were $21 plus the added extra for more. So depending on where you ship from or to there could be at least 3 different rate prices, not just the one when crossing the river.

I had a lady in my state just buy a lot of plants from me. I told her flat shipping would be best for the amount she bought but in hindsight, I now know that I could have saved her about $5 if I had just shipped priority. Sometimes you learn the hard way.

Here you go, Cindy. USPS link with Regional Rate information. Regular Priority might be less expensive depending on weight and destination, but you can make the comparison from their internal links.

https://www.usps.com/ship/prio...

Thanks Debra, I will check it out.

Those post office Flate rate boxes are a good deal for anything going further away.