Saturday 8 November 2014

Postage Costs

I am very happy to say that over the last three months I have had more interest in my website which has resulted in two commissions and a couple of sales.  As a result I going to be adding some items which I did have in my Etsy shop.  I have decided not to use my Etsy shop  at the momentas it was getting too expensive to list, pay a fee etc and sell nothing.  I had lots of enquiries which went nowhere.
However I have just been to the Post Office to send off my latest order and I had a bit of a shock.
A parcel weighing 0.260g "Small Parcel" to be signed for cost me £4.30!
On my website I have a flat rate of £2.00.  Now I am wondering if my flat rate postage of £2.00 will attract customers or if I am going to lose out seriously.  
I personally hate being ripped off with the postage both as a seller but also as a customer, so I am in a bit of a dilemma.
Hubby sent it for  me ( as I was at a nail salon with Sophie and two of her friends as a birthday treat for her) and he thinks that the signed for bit added to the cost.
So should I leave my flat rate of £2.00 (at least until the New Year) or should I increase it?
I am loathed to increase it really as every time you turn round the cost of things have gone up.  We like to spoil our friends (or ourselves) but a bitter taste of high postage costs does rather spoil the feeling, doesn't it?
I was going to sleep on it and I have decided whilst writing this that I shall leave the postage the same until January and think again.
What does everyone else think?
My website is not my main income (yet, but I hope it might be) but it is meant to be self financing.  For the past three years I have sold practically nothing yet the Inland Revenue have managed to get me to pay £35.00+ in Tax despite the fact that I have not made a profit at all.  My website costs £40.00 a year whether I use it or not.  Perhaps that is not very much but it is for a website linked to a hobby.
Does anyone else have a website?  How do you deal with this?
Feel free to leave a comment or email me as I am sure that costings is a top subject. Take Car boot sales as another example - the cost of a pitch has more than tripled over the last few years.  I seen it as high as £15.00!  You have to sell a heck of a lot to cover your pitch money when most people will only go with the change in their pockets, not their bank card.
Well I hope the deliveries are prompt and safe and it is not any ones fault although I do feel that the Post Office is out of touch.  Just think that if they made their costs cheaper we would probably use them more as they are losing custom to companies who offer low or free delivery when in the past they might have used the GPO insteaqd of other delivery services.
OK, time to get off my soap box now and have a cup of tea.
I must say that having some activity on my Website did give me a boost as I had such high hopes for a little fun with it and to "meet" customers along the way then 2008 came along.
I intend on using more online shops this year, espccially Etsy UK sellers as I think we need to stick together otherwise the individual creativity crafters could start to slip away.
I shall blog about the orders once I know that they have arrived safely and I shall also be adding some more items.  
Have a lovely weekend, it has finally stopped raining here.  What a difference in the weather compared to a couple of weeks ago.
xx 

1 comment:

Ali said...

Oh isn't postage a killer. Like you say it adds up if you use Etsy. I know a fellow blogger who uses about 4 sites to sell her things and from what I can gather it works well for her. But obviously this could be time consuming. Hope you enjoyed your cuppa when you climbed down from you soap box. We all need a good rant from time to time (I had mine this morning, he he)
Ali xx

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