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Yaay! My first sale! Now for some questions...
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thecomicnut



Posts: 4

PostPosted: Sun Jul 30, 2006 7:09 am    Post subject: Yaay! My first sale! Now for some questions... Reply with quote

I just sold three books (actually to a redirected ebayer who missed the end of my auction, but I'll take it). Of course, now I have some questions.
I guess it's out of the question to be able to edit your invoice to reflect combined shipping, but it sure would be nice.
When you sell something with a max qty set to 1, shouldn't it be removed from your inventory? I had to take each book out manually, even after my order was marked as paid.
Also, I don't see a place to set up an automatic email response for your customer, or even a link off their email address, I guess I just have to cut and paste the address into outlook and keep a notepad file for my reply template?
Thanks in advance, I'm off to celebrate!
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coolpostcards



Posts: 4

PostPosted: Sun Jul 30, 2006 7:21 am    Post subject: congrats Reply with quote

congrats on the first sale. I'm a newbie here so cant offer any advice on your questions.
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poopsheet



Posts: 4865

PostPosted: Sun Jul 30, 2006 8:02 pm    Post subject: Re: Yaay! My first sale! Now for some questions... Reply with quote

thecomicnut wrote:
I guess it's out of the question to be able to edit your invoice to reflect combined shipping, but it sure would be nice.


Invoice? If you use the Shipping Matrix then multiple items should already combine..

Quote:
When you sell something with a max qty set to 1, shouldn't it be removed from your inventory? I had to take each book out manually, even after my order was marked as paid.


Yeah, there's not any kind of inventory control here yet. The purpose of the Max Quantity field is so keep buyers from ordering more copies of a particular item than you actually have in stock. So if you put "1" in that field they can't put a number higher than 1 in the cart.

Congrats on your sale!
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radarplus



Posts: 38

PostPosted: Sun Jul 30, 2006 8:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Congrats
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BlueByrdCollectibles



Posts: 94

PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 12:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
Invoice? If you use the Shipping Matrix then multiple items should already combine..


I'm not sure that is true. I think that the shipping cost will be totaled together and applied to the invoice. So, I think that the only thing that can be done is a manual adjustment.

For example I sell jewelry items. Up to 250 grams the cost for shipping is one cost. One jewelry item doesn't usually wiegh 250grams unless it is an exceptionally heavy piece. So, if I have someone come to my store and purchase say 3 items, I don't want to charge the same shipping for each item as they will all likely ship in the same package for the cost to ship just one package.

Just my thought
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urbanmash



Posts: 86

PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 1:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

tftp wrote:

I'm not sure that is true. I think that the shipping cost will be totaled together and applied to the invoice. So, I think that the only thing that can be done is a manual adjustment.


That is correct if you are using flat rate shipping in your listings; however, if you use the shipping matrix, the cart will base the shipping on the combined weight of everything that is added to the cart.

I sell clothing and ship domestically via Priority Mail. The minimum charge for this method of shipment is based on a weight of 1 pound. A summer shirt weighs about 5 ounces (on average). If someone were to purchase 2 of these shirts, the weight would still be less than a pound (even with packaging). I enter my weights using decimals; for example, 5 ounces = 0.31 . If someone purchases 2 shirts at this weight, it still adds up to less than "1" in the shopping cart and the shipping remains the same. I've tested this in my own cart and it works.

Merchants who are selling products with extreme differences in weight will inevitably find the shipping matrix limited; however, those stores that carry relatively similar items can set up the matrix in various creative ways to get the shipping closer to the real cost.

I didn't like the fact that the first tier jumped up by intervals of 2. That would have meant that someone ordering between 2-3 pounds of merchandise, would be billed for 4 pounds. Instead, I use the second tier where the intervals are 10, 20, 30, and so on. I simply move the decimal one place to the right for all my weights (if 1.0 =10, then .31 = 3.1) . This allows me to set up my matrix for 1 pound intervals. You can set any of the scales to represent just about any weight that you want.
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nonsport



Posts: 27

PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 3:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My store is still on hold so I can't check anything and I'm having a heck of a time with the shipping matrix Sad

I thought I could put different charges under each of the "weights" then use that weight number to enter the correct amount. This will work very well for me EXCEPT when a customer purchases more than one item, if the invoice will add the weights together (ie. 2 + 3) it will list the charge I have under 5 which is NOT correct ('cuz it's not 5 pounds or the amount I charge to ship the two items.)

The majority of the items I sell are under 13 oz each or Media Mail which has it's own USPO schedule all together...priced by the pound but not charged by the pound under Parcel Post rates.

On the other hand, if I enter the shipping charge on every listing they'll all add up together and I'll never sell anything when a customer sees the charge.

DIMITRI, Any chance there's a shipping calculator in our future or perhaps a matrix where we can figure shipping by ounces instead of pounds?

Any suggestions from anyone on how to proceed? I'm sure I'm not the only one who sells and ships light weight items.

M
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thecomicnut



Posts: 4

PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 6:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the info, great posts! I looked at the shipping matrix when I set up the store but it looked too confusing so I just went with the flat rate to get the store open. I'll look at it again and see if I can figure it out. Most of my stuff, paperbacks, comics and cds, are similar in weight, some of the books are a bit heavy though.
Thanks again, you guys have a great community here!
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poopsheet



Posts: 4865

PostPosted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 8:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's true, the Shipping Matrix doesn't combine in the sense that it applies any kind of discount. What it does is charge whatever cost you've assigned to any given weight.

It's more accurate than the fixed rate for combined orders but not always exact.

Quote:
This will work very well for me EXCEPT when a customer purchases more than one item, if the invoice will add the weights together (ie. 2 + 3) it will list the charge I have under 5 which is NOT correct ('cuz it's not 5 pounds or the amount I charge to ship the two items.)


But this is actually how it works. It just takes some playing around to fine-tune it. You might also search the forums for "shipping matrix" as there are some pretty clever alternative ways to use it in some other threads.
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wnorris



Posts: 19

PostPosted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 9:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The shipping matrix gives me fits. I think it is the biggest weakness of eCrater.

Most of the items I sell qualify for media mail shipping. From selling on other sites, the buyers usually select media mail 80% of the time when they have a choice. However, about 25% of my inventory can't be shipped media mail.

This means I would have to ship Priority Mail on those items. Since I can't setup both shipping methods, I have to settle on Priority Mail, even though I know that means some of my cheaper media mail type items will probably never sell. My only other option would be two stores (one media mail items, the other regular items). However, then I loose out because potential buyers may find one store, but not the other (and I can't html link them on eCrater).

The shipping matrix is fine if you ship media mail (since it isn't zone dependent), but it isn't much use for anything else because USPS, UPS, Fed Ex, etc all use shipping zones to determine cost.

eCrater's shipping calculation system is pretty low end.
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wnorris



Posts: 19

PostPosted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 2:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, it took me an hour and a half, but I think I finally figured out a system that will allow me to use the shipping matrix and still give my customers a fair shake on shipping.

Basically I wanted to be able to ship some item media mail and some item priority mail (because they don't qualify for media). So, I entered the media rates + a small packaging fee (to cover the cost of the box) in the shipping matrix.

Then I did an analysis of the cost of priority mail shipping for a variey of weights and shipping zones. For my location, Zone 5 is the median rate (it should be either 5 or 6 everywhere except Alaska or Hawaii). Using this info, I came up with weight multipliers (media is a 1X multiplier) for the different types of non-media items and packaging that I have. Most items range from a 4-6X weight multiplier.

Then I went back through and changed the weight of all the non-media items in my store. I just have to keep the lookup table handy when I'm listing new items and I may have to come up with some new numbers when I get around to listing different merchandise.

It seems to work fairly well. Customers interested in buying 1 or 2 media items get a lower shipping cost and priority items seem to be coming out close, even when buying multiples (it gets a little out of whack if you buy 20-30 of an item, but not too much).

The only catch is that all this is based off the median shipping cost for priority mail. This means if someone close to me (Zone 1,2,3) orders something, they will pay a buck or two more for shipping than what it really costs. However, folks from Zone 8 will pay a buck or two less than what it actually costs. Looking at my past sales in other outlets, only 25% were in Zone 1,2,3. 50% were in Zone 4,5,6 and the other 25% in 7 and 8. This means everything should just about average out and I won't loose money on shipping.

Now that I think I've figured out something that works for me, I'm sure eCrater will throw out the shipping matrix, which will force me to change the weight back on a couple hundred items. Razz
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nonsport



Posts: 27

PostPosted: Wed Aug 02, 2006 10:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

wnorris,

In another post I tried to explain what I have been doing with the matrix and it works VERY well for one item:

In the matrix, I ignore that the columns are for weight. Instead I consider them shipping variables.
In the #1 column I entered my lowest Media Mail rate which I use for 45s.
In the #2 column I entered my higher Media Mail rate which I use for LPs.
In my #4 column I entered my typical 1st Class rate which I use for Card Sets.
In my #6 column I entered my typical 1st Class rate which I use for smaller Card Sets.

When I'm typing my ads, I enter 1, 2, 4 or 6 in the weight column and the correct shipping rates are automatically entered.

My problem is with multiple orders. If someone purchases 2 items, even though all ads say "write for combined shipping on multiple orders" experience tells me people don't read and will see 2 times the matrix column rate and abandon the cart. Someone willing to pay $3.80 shipping for one item WILL NOT be willing to pay $7.60 for two! not to mention two items will probably cause the rate to change from 1st Class to Parcel Post 'cuz they will total over 13 oz, in turn causing shipping charges to be based on USPS zones.

Yes, I will have all this spelled out in my FAQ, however, I see myself refunding and re invoicing way too many times.

Another problem I have is with insurance. Though I mention all orders over $25.00 must be insured, there is no way of adding it to the cart, or even a way to offer insurance on other items. This has stopped me from listing some of my better selling and higher priced items.

So you see, I've figured out shipping for one item, it's multiple item purchases and insurance charges that have me flamboozled Wink

EDITED TO ADD: I just found a huge flaw in my calculations above Crying or Very sad

If a customer orders an item with column 2 charges and another item with column 4, the cart will add up the weights (remember, the matrix thinks the charges are for weights) and convert the shipping charge to the rate I have under column 6.

This will NEVER work 'cuz my charge under column 6 is less than either column 2 or 4.

ALSO, my column 1 and 2 charges are for Media Mail. If combined with anything else they must be mailed 1st Class or Parcel Post. The USPS is very particular about what is allowed in a Media Mail package and if found to contain anything not allowed they will charge your customer postage due to the highest allowable USPS rate.

M < my head hurts
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wnorris



Posts: 19

PostPosted: Wed Aug 02, 2006 8:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My system seems to be working out very well. The only real sacrifice I have had to make is that I had to remove the international shipping rates I had included.

The cost/weight ratios and shipping multipliers I developed don't work for countries other than the US. I can do something close for Canada, but it gets to far out of whack after you pass 4 pounds, so it had to go. There are other countries where it works for a few ranges on the scale, but is too far off on others.

I just created a FAQ item that says I do ship internationally and to contact me for a quote before purchasing. I also included a similar statement in my terms section. Historically, I've sold less than 1% of my merchandise outside the US, so it isn't too big a sacrifice.
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BlueByrdCollectibles



Posts: 94

PostPosted: Fri Aug 04, 2006 5:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

M - I am having the same problem as you. I sell vintage jewelry mostly which is light. I have my matrix set up something like yours but had to abandon it because of multiple item shipping and insurance. I have also included in my terms that there will be a charge for insurance but have found no way to have it included on the invoice.

I went to a flat rate and advertised that I will combine shippin on multiple orders, but I also have had the experience that peeps do not read and cart abandonment is a concern. The matrix will add the items together and provide shipping costs at 2 X the amount or will add the weight together and provide a different column which likely works great for large items.

I have been through every thread in the forums and still have not found a way to make this work for me. Currently I am just charging a flat rate for the US and Canada and International for some reason only shows that I do have international shipping.

If you think of anything else - I would be happy to hear it.

Cheers
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urbanmash



Posts: 86

PostPosted: Fri Aug 04, 2006 12:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi BlueByrd!

Currently, I'm seeing a lot of your listings stating $0 shipping to US and Canada. Combined shipping on $0 is still $0, so it might look like a "bait and switch" when you ask for more money than what appeared in the cart.

According to your terms, you use the same method of shipping for each location you ship to, so using the shipping matrix should work for you. Simply adapt each column to represent the weight unit that works best for you and add a $2 handling fee (for your insurance charge) to the price of shipping that you enter.

I'm not sure what base weight unit you may need to use from Canada, but using the ounce as an example, just put in the amount you would charge for 1 ounce, 2 ounces, etc., instead of 1 pound, 2 pounds, etc. Then fill in the weights of your items as ounces instead of pounds.

I prefer to use the "medium" weight scale, so the increments can be adjusted to increase by one instead of two. If 10=1 ounce, and you are shipping something that weighs 3 ounces, enter the weight as 30.

Are your prices listed in US $ or Canadian $, because I am wondering if the cart knows the difference when sending the order to PayPal. I'm in Phoenix, so I never gave it much thought before now, but if the cart thinks it's working with US $, PayPal is going to be charging your customers a different amount than you intended. Do you know if this is the case?

Leesha Dawn
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