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Postage suggestion

Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2017 9:28 pm
by pmpfr
Seems to be a great product so far.  But potential customers can be quite irrational when it comes to postage charges, getting used to "free" postage from amazon/ebay etc - of course it is always included in the price.  Overnight courier is always going to be on the expensive side.

It may be that the worms wouldn't tolerate being in the post longer - but it feels like they'd be perfectly happy in their bag full of the bedding they're used to for a few more days.  Anyway, I think you should either add a cheaper slower option (if the worms agree) or say in your FAQ that this is a bad idea.

RE: Postage suggestion

Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2017 1:59 pm
by wormcity
Thank you for your comments
There is no such thing as free delivery. The cost is always incorporated into the product.
Unfortunately companies like Amazon and other big retailers can negotiate rock bottom prices because their sales volume is so high.
Because we are such a small company (like 2 of us) we can't command the same prices. In fact we are probably subsidising the bigger companies.

Free postage often makes the customer pay more.
For example if we sold everything with free postage, the 'postage' will be incorporated into the price  so instead of a wormery costing £72 plus £7 delivery. it will be advertised as £79 with free delivery.
sometimes customers buy 2 which at present would cost £151
with 'free' postage it would cost them £158
Buying multiple items on Ebay can push the customer costs up massively  

Also customers in Scottish Islands / Highlands / Northern Ireland / Io Man/ Wight etc are all subject to surcharge. This is set by the courier companies so we have no option but to pass it on.

I accept that the worms are generally fine on longer durations (not mid summer though) but we have a problem because we sell perishable items.
There are only 3 delivery companies in the UK that will accept perishable goods.
Royal Mail, Parcelforce and APC

If we used Royal Mail / Parcelforce then their terms dictate a 24 hour overnight service must be used.
APC only have the one option. Overnight. This is the company we use (We used Parcelforce for about 6 years and they are now very expensive)

Also most customers want their goods yesterday. We sometimes get emails from people who buy Saturday night and expect it to be delivered Sunday.  We are not Amazon prime!

Considering our £7 postage charge is subject to 20% VAT we actually only get back £5.33 which doesn't come close to covering the cost of postage and packaging.

In conclusion, we couldn't charge less for postage, we could charge more for 'expedited' delivery and 'pretend' that the extra cost would get the product to the customer quicker and the lower cost would mean a slower service.
But this would be a lie because all our perishable items (before 2pm - Mon- Thurs) go out same day on an overnight courier because it's the only option available to us and we are amazing at what we do ;)

Ronnie