Entering Item Weight

HOMEBODIES · Posts: 142

Hi. Was entering weight (flat rate) for a bottle of Mist. Could not figure out how to put in 13 oz. Kept getting error message. So I put in 1 as in a pound and it went through. Is this right or can you enter oz?

zickit · Posts: 21857

You can enter ounces ONLY if you convert them to a decimal first

To convert ounces to pounds in decimal units, divide the number of ounces by 16. There are 16 ounces in a pound. so 13 oz is .8125

HOMEBODIES · Posts: 142

Thanks. Wonder why we have to enter the weight on listing page even when we choose flat rate and enter a price?

thelivesandlovesofmaggiethecat · Posts: 10159

zickit · Posts: 21857

thelivesandlovesofmaggiethecat · Posts: 10159

I enter 0 in probably 50% of my items. All hankies, jewelry, doilies, and such are under 13 ounces and get listed as 0. I think you just have to enter something.

ShellysSweetFinds · Posts: 5

I'm trying to understand if the above comments on weight also would apply to my free shipping?

I've already entered 30'something products and have entered the wrong figure for weight.....need to go back and revise them all but want to make sure I'm doing it right. Divide the ounces by 16 and for anything 1-lb. and up, just round to the whole number?

MoonwishesStore · moderator Posts: 17389

Things are different now than when this topic got started. With the last postal increase, first class mail now goes upt to 15.9 ounces. At 16 ounces = 1 pound the item becomes Priority Mail (unless it is a parcel or media mail) . 1-3 ounces are one price, then 4-8 is another, 9-15.9 ounces goes up each ounce by small incriments. So in essense you only need the shipping cost for 3 ounces, 8 ounces, then round up the difference of the 9-15.9 you may want them to be one price as on my postage program the change between them is only 35 cents and you don't even want absolutely perfect even postage as there are other expenses to shipping. So you only need at most 4 prices for first class shipping.

I use the matrix for shipping and never use the calculated and rarely the flat rate so I don't know about freeshipping or how you might want to change your shipping per pound. One thing to remember is if you are open to the UK & AUS stores, plus other international countries, the postage is extreme and each ounce makes a difference.

SheilaDeesPostcards · moderator Posts: 4620

Are you planning to use Free Shipping for everything in your store? If yes, then the only thing you need to enter for weight is 0. If you want to use Calculated Shipping, then enter the weight as 0 for all free shipping and the actual weight (in decimal fractions) for every thing else. If someone orders something that weighs 1 lb 3 ozs and something else that weighs 1 lb 14 oz then the system will total the weight and know that the total is over 3 lbs and will auto round up to the shipping for 4 pounds.

NOTE: if you use Calculated Shipping, the eCRATER system pulls the shipping information from USPS and it is charged at the retail rate. The retail rate for light weights is First Class for 0 up to 13 oz. and Priority Mail for anything over 13 oz. Commercial rate allows for First Class up to 15.99 oz. BUT we have no way to charge that amount when using Calculated shipping.

Note: there is a chart on page one (scroll down) of this topic here in the community forum that shows the amount to enter for shipping based on weight.
http://community.ecrater.com/viewtopic.php?t=2461

ShellysSweetFinds · Posts: 5

Thank you for the responses....still confused as heck.

THOUGHT I understood it, and went back to all my 1st class items and did the math to post how many ounces those weighed.

BUT, I normally do FREE domestic shipping and calculated international.....right now I'm set up to ship to Canada, UK and Australia other than the US.

From your replies, I'm clueless as to how to set my shipping up.

MoonwishesStore · moderator Posts: 17389

From what you say you want to do, you need to click on the free shipping to US AND fill out the shipping weight in the weight line so that your international shipping will be calculated correctly. In this instance I would probably kick the weight up a bit to be sure that you are getting the correct shipping amount. I'm at my computer without my shipping program on it so I can't double check international shipping prices.

I'm from the old school that charges for postage plus shipping supplies. I got a feedback the other day from a woman in France that while she gave good feedback, mentioned that shipping was a little expensive. It was exactly what shipping cost to France for the item! I sell mostly sewing patterns and at time have to take hits on international shipping for patterns that weigh a bit more than average rather than charge the price for those and turn off other buyers. e weight doesn't make any difference with US shipping, but it sure does with international. I did send the lady a polite little note explaining what is going on with US international postage and that I did like it any better than she did.

@Sheila, is calculated where you need the back up matrix?

ShellysSweetFinds · Posts: 5

thank you, @moonwishesstore....

Yes, I've been selling on Ebay for 4+ yrs., so familiar w/shipping prices and making sure I weigh properly.

I have been checking the FREE ship on my E-crater listings and also adding the weight in there because I knew it had to be there in order for international shipping costs to be figured in, should I get an international buyer.

Now I am just lost as to how to do the calculated shipping for international AND, does that mean I have to check TWO boxes on the listing form? If so, what other box besides Free shipping?

Thanks so much for all of the help thus far!

Shelly

MoonwishesStore · moderator Posts: 17389

SheilaDeesPostcards · moderator Posts: 4620

@Moon, you asked, "is calculated where you need the back up matrix?" The answer is YES!.

@Shelly, Based on what you've said, I've made a couple of assumption. My answer is based on the assumption that you will ALWAYS want to use FREE shipping for ALL items in the USA. You also want to ship to Canada, UK and AU using Calculated Shipping.

On each item page you need to check the box for Free Shipping for the USA and add the correct packaged weight for each item.

In your admin, scroll down to Account: and click on Options. On the Options page, scroll down to "Enable USPS Calculated Shipping Instead" and check to the box. LEAVE the Domestic Shipping BLANK! Scroll down and select all the options you want to allow your international customers to select. You MUST make sure that every item in your store can ship via that method because customers are going to be offered every option you select unless the item weighs too much for an option. After you select all your international options, be sure to click UPDATE to save your changes.

One really big difference in eCrater and eBay is the shipping. On eBay all shipping is based on the individual item and the shipping is selected for each item. In eCrater, once you select USPS Calculated shipping, it is applied to every item in your store. It is called USPS calculated shipping because the eCrater Checkout system calls for the shipping from the USPS website at the time the customer checks out. If the USPS website is slow and the call times out, the system falls back on the system you create as a backup. If the Calculated shipping isn't available the checkout system look 1)First to the item page for shipping information. If there is no information there, the checkout system looks 2) Second to the shipping matrix. This flow is critical information to understand how to get the system to do what you want done.

You want all items to show Free Shipping for all USA locations. Second, you want customers in Canada, UK and AU to purchase using Calculated shipping. When you don't add any method of Domestic Shipping and the customer is from the USA, the checkout system is going to look to the item page where it will see Free Shipping to the USA. On the item page, in your USA store, the customer will see "Shipping: US-Mainland: free (more destinations) ". If they click on the more destinations link and choose their country, they will see the shipping for that item to their country based on the calculated shipping based on the weight you entered on the item page.

Now, back to the first start of this reply about backup. Once in a while, the call to the USPS site will time out. This happens VERY rarely, but it does happen, especially if the USPS is making changes to their site or with holiday shipping. When this happens, the eCrater checkout system is going to look for a back up for your international shipping. An eCrater Seller has two options, you can either add a shipping cost to each item page for each country, OR you can fill out the shipping matrix. The advantage of using the shipping matrix comes when the USPS changes their shipping charges. With the shipping matrix, you only have to change the matrix instead of every item. The disadvantage is you have a little less control over the shipping charge. The problem comes when you make the choice to have "Free Shipping to the USA" on an item. You can only choose one, Free Shipping, weight matrix or flat rate shipping to:. If you want the item page to show "Free Shipping", then you are going to have to use the matrix as a backup for your international shipping.

I hope I didn't cause more confusion. The system has a lot of options which can make it appear confusing, but you just have to decide what is most important to you.

ShellysSweetFinds · Posts: 5

Thank you so much!!

You really went into great detail and I appreciate it so much. I believe I understand everything up until the scenario where a "backup" method has to be in place.

I sell on Ebay, as I said before and have over 500 items in my store that I imported over. Revising each one individually is something I can only work on a bit at a time......a few each evening and then some on the weekends.

So, I will try to go in this week and set up the international shipping....I HAVE been putting weight on every listing that I've done so far (50...lol....I have such a LONG way to go!)

Again, I really appreciate the help from this thread....I was about ready to pull my hair out!