Shipping – and international shipping in particular – is one of the absolute suckfests of running an e-commerce business.
I won’t bore you with the list of grievances, which ranges from minor, daily annoyances to egregious business practices that light up my ADHD-heightened justice sensitivity. Suffice to say, I hit a breaking point recently, and moved over to a new shipping platform.
What This Means For You (EVERYONE)
I’ve removed flat rate shipping in favor of letting you select the option you want. Prefer shipping via USPS? You can select it. Need an order fast? You can opt for one of the pricier options.
So far, the rates also seem to be a good deal lower through EasyShip. Orders that would have been $8-10 to ship on the old platform are typically coming in around $5-7.
What This Means For You (INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMERS)
International orders are also moving to the select-your-own model instead of flat rate shipping.
This has two major downstream effects:
- Cheaper shipping options. The cheapest options tend to be significantly cheaper. Not always, but often.
- Pre- and post-paid duty options
I hate international shipping fees just as much as you. As a business owner, it’s a gut punch every time a customer is hit with extra fees that weren’t disclosed at the time of purchase. Super annoying.
But I can’t get rid of duties. I don’t run countries or set tariff rates. But I can do my best to make them easier to swallow.
The major reason I went with EasyShip is that they are far, far superior in how they handle the duty situation.
First, they disclose estimated duties*. Duties still suck, yeah, but at least it’s known suckage, not a surprise gotcha at the end.
Second, they provide pre-paid duty shipping options. These are more expensive up-front than the post-paid options, but they are options.
*So it turns out EasyShip discloses estimated fees on the backend during label selection and purchase – I’m working on how to surface that info in the checkout process. In the meantime if you have questions, don’t hesitate to reach out.
