Hey girl I want to tell you THANK YOU ! I started building my Shopify store 6 months ago ! I open my candles business 5 days ago and did $1,300 in sales !! I was so thankful and happy I was able to do this ! You guided me and help me with your videos
Just one quick point of clarification. If you are purchasing your shipping label at the USPS counter then you are paying what the USPS calls Retail Rates, which is more expensive than Commercial Rates. Shipping through any shipping system like Etsy, ShipStation, PirateShip, etc. gets you the Commercial Rates. Also, if you are purchasing your labels at the USPS counter then the maximum to ship First-Class Mail is 13 ounces and not 15.99 ounces. A lot of people get surprised when they get to the counter and the clerk tells them their 14 ounce package has to ship Priority Mail.
You are welcome. Glad to help. Love your videos. I wish there was such good beginner advice videos for candle makers like yours when I started my candle business.
You were made for this. You motivate, inspire and inform. Thank you so much for humbly sharing your passion and knowledge with us. You changed the candle making game for me. I was doing it all wrong before I found your videos. Thank You!
Hi! I have a question that’s kind of related to shipping. Do you use a PO Box as your return address? I mainly haven’t started anything serious with my business because you can’t use a PO Box to register an LLC and finding a good virtual address is trickier than I thought (some of them look like a scam). I’d rather not register my business with my home address. Would you be able to do a video about the legal side of starting up your business? A video where you give some basic info and tips about what you need to do to legally start your business and how to protect yourself and your business (like business insurance or anything else)? Thanks!! Your videos are such an amazing help!!
look into Virtual Mailboxes. Similar to a PO Box but way cheaper, you can get packages sent there too, and the address is a real address so it looks more professional to your customers. I use AnytimeMailbox.com
My question is when a customer puts in an order, how/when do you have the time to research the shipping costs so they can complete their order? Do you just say I'll get back to you on shipping? I imagine most websites have some sort of software that does this immediately while the customer is ordering, but if you need time to calculate all these different options, what is happening with the customers order? I hope that makes sense. Thank you for making this video, I think business related videos are more valuable than the product being sold because they are more difficult to figure out. Let's face it, you can make products all you like, but if you can't/don't understand how to run your business properly, you won't be in business for long. BLESSINGS-Kate
I was thinking this too. I plan on starting my own business soon and I dont know how to tell the customer what they will pay in shipping when I don’t even know yet. Do I give an estimate? What if I don’t charge them enough and I lose money?
I literally went to bed with a headache because I am coming down to learning the shipping and what platform I will be selling my candles on. Thank you so much for this.
Shipping has been a breeze for me 'cos I watched your previous videos on shipping before shipping my first candle. Your videos helped me factor shipping cost into my prices and offer free shipping 'cos I know upfront what it would cost to ship anything i sell even when purchased in multiple. Thank you, Erica!
Girl, You must be a mind reader because today I received my first order to be shipped and I needed this!!! As always, a lifesaver just in time. Thank You!!!
So with Pirate Ship, you say no fee's.....is that no fee's for using USPS or no fees for using Pirate Ship....I haven't even started shipping yet so don't want a monthly fee already...
I am about to start my small business and I made my website on big cartel. When it comes to shipping I need to insert the shipping prices onto the website but I’m not sure how to do that. I’m not sure which Postal Service to go with and what prices to put on my website
Thank you so much for all of your candle videos. I'm have a regular professional job, but find it very mentally taxing. I find being creative and making candles mentally restorative. With encouragement from friends and family, and from your videos I am working towards have a side hustle candle business.
This video is so informative! I've watched many videos trying to understand shipping and just was not understanding until I watched your videos. Thank you so much for your help 🤗🎉
Your hacks are everything! Just started my company in February, officially launching on Saturday, May 1st. Your videos have been essential to every choice I’ve made thus far. Thank you for being so friggin awesome!
@@BrayanCCG take your time to learn as much as you can about the science behind it. What fragrances & amounts of it goes with the particular wax you want to use. Market research, buy a lot of candles see what their doing (from cheap bath & body works to Diptyque). Most importantly free samples to people that will be objective with feedback about your product.
Thank you for actually explaining and not dancing around it or talking 100 miles a minute, lol. Im starting an etsy shop and going thru all the set up and figuring out the best shipping options, this video actually helped!
Can I ship flat rate with a box stuffed in the padded envelope using my purple colored padded envelope or do I have to use the priority envelope? I like my colored padded envelopes they look more professional?
Hello! If a customer goes online and pays for shipping, when I print out the label, do I pay for the shipping with my personal credit card? Like how does that transaction work?
I would love a tutorial on how you set up priority mail cubic on Shopify ! I only have the basic first class mail, priority mail flat rate box and envelope. The flat rates are getting a little expensive 😅
Yes I definitely need to show an example of priority mail cubic! 🤍 it’s nothing you can actually set up.. so I think this is why it’s hard to explain lol. I’ll do my best to show a visual example!
@@MemoryBoxCandleCo oh okay!! I need to set up regional shipping too, I think it'll be cheaper than flat rate in most cases for me. Thank you for all your help!! You are a life savor 💜
Thank you, this was a great video on mailing, best one I have seen so far. FYI, Pirate ship won't let you enter 4 x 4 x 4 because the USPS sets a limit on the size, one of the dimensions for cubic has to be a minimum of 6" so 4 x4x 6 will work. It has to do with their automated sorting. Spent 45 minutes on phone with USPS last week, that is what they told me. The info is buried deep in the USPS website. Also 9x6x3 called a "Scotty Stuffer" I believe is the largest box that fits in the priority mailer. I have a Munbyn printer, you may want to check it out on Amazon, it is significantly cheaper, and has more capability than Dymo. I easily print personalized labels and stickers from my Canva designs. It will print on the 4x6 free labels from UPS as well where I believe the Dymo has problems printing on other manufactured labels. Again thanks for the great content, hope this helps!
This completely depends on your specific candles and how much they weigh and what you will ship them in 💜 So let’s say that you can ship your candle inside a padded flat rate envelope, then you could factor $8 into the cost of your candle and offer free shipping
Thank You Erica! You inspire me! I’m slowly moving away from embroidery and possibly to making candles! You are strong, you are beautiful and you are brilliant ✨ Best Wishes Candle Queen 👑
Hi! Absolutely love your videos! Quick question...can I use a pretty padded envelope or do I have to use the ones from USPS? And also what size candles fit in the 4x4x6 box? Thank you!
"Everything you need to know about shipping". Mentioned various companies like FedEx, UPS, USPS. Spends the entire 24 min talking about USPS. Why not call this video "Shipping with USPS"? You didn't cover any other company. I was looking for a comparison between other companies.
Hi Erica ~ I’m so glad that I recently ran across one of your videos! Congratulations on your success and kudos to you for figuring all this out on your own. You’re very personable and I love your vibe! Quick question if you don’t mind; I’ve been trying to figure out creating and setting up my website (which I have no knowledge of and on top of that I am not tech savvy) 😩 but my question is, what is the best option to choose when setting up my shipping? Flat rate ~ Rate by weight? And honestly I don’t understand the whole free shipping option. I mean if you offer free shipping then we the seller have to cover that cost correct? TIA 🙂
i want to sell something that is heavy and will ship out in 5 seperate BOX sections , each one weighing aprox 22 pounds each box.. Am i going to be charged much more because of the 5 individual boxes as compared to just one large box ?
You will need to create a separate shipping label for all 5 boxes based on the weight and dimensions. You may want to see if it would be cheaper to ship in 3 boxes, but I wouldn’t recommend shipping in one very large box weighing over 100pounds. Anything over 50lbs gets an additional handling fee tacked on
Hello made my first candles this weekend.. still struggling with the math part 🤯.. is there something I can look up the can explain a little bit better I have the candle calculator app .. just learning that to lol..
Hi! This is the video where I explain how candle math works ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VhjipDG6avo.html But usually the apps are super quick simple and easy! Haha What jars and wax are you working with?
Hey! How do you handle broken or melted candles? Do you issue refunds and make a claim with USPS, or do you ship replacements and have the customer make the claim? Had a couple shipments break on me lately and it's been a headache trying to navigate the logistics of it all.
Hello thank you for this info. I do have a couple of question I hope you can answer. 1) with all the different options how do you choose the rate amount to apply to webpage for customer to see? 2) does pirate ship have a pickup option so you don't have to go to post office?
Hi! So to answer your first question, this can be difficult. I just took the average price that it would cost for shipping and applied it to my total price and offer free shipping. However if you (let’s say as an example) will mainly ship your candle in a padded flat rate envelope, then you can charge $8.15 to your customer. But when you are using a zone based service, that’s what can be challenging. 2. So you would have to contact usps to come and pick up the packages. Pirate ship is not its own shipping service, you are printing out usps labels so you would still have to contact usps separately to have them come pick up your packages. I’ve personally never had them come pick up my packages, I just have always taken them to the post office, but I just found this website and I hope it helps you! tools.usps.com/schedule-pickup-steps.htm ❤️❤️❤️
Thank you for this post. I'm struggling to understand how calculating shipments really affects the bottom line of my business. I haven't started selling anything yet, but just looking at shipment costs, the absolute minimum cost will be around $4.3 in shipping when i am planning to sell the product for $8. It just seems ridiculous to spend $4.3 on shipping for a $8 product. When i look at a calculator for pricing my product, obviously i dont know what labor costs will be exactly to produce it or what i've spent in marketing, but excluding those too items, if it costs me $1 in materials, I spend $4.3 in shipping(per calculators online), that means my margin is 50% excluding marketing & labor costs. Am I missing something here? Seems like adding in labor & marketing, the $2.65 from my margin is going to disappear quite quickly (marketing alone could eat that margin)
Hello thanks for such an informative video. I have a quick question… I went to make a pirate ship account and was wondering if you use your home address for return label or do you have a PO Box? I thought a PO Box might be nice so people done know where you live? Thanks!
Holy smokes. These videos are like breadcrumbs. One right after the other in areas I am looking for. Shipping is seriously my next hurdle and I don't even have a shipping lable printer (yet)... Idek how to use one of those, yet. I love the envelope trick. It's like a cloaking device on price lol. So many things!!! 😲😲😲😲
Great information!! Thank you! So I use Godaddy and I put in weight and dimensions for each product. If the customer buys several items, does USPS, Pirate ship, ship engine...... calculate at the items together for a final price. Shipping is my least favorite part about owning a business. Thank you
I will like to say thank you very much for sharing you knowledge, I've been trying to collect all the knowledge I can about shipping to get my business started so I very much appreciate you👍
So last video I watched I thought i was set. I ordered the same boxes from uline and I made an account with pirateship. And now your saying play around with it and like by putting it in an envelope. That makes alot of sense but how the heck do I put these options on my website? I was going to package and weigh and measure every variety of candles and melts then input that info. Now I'm confused again ahhh. I wanna hire someone to do this part for me lol
Yes haha, I’ve been to the post office more times than I can count! You can also schedule them to pick up your packages at your house too. We don’t do that because we are in an apartment and I would feel bad with how many times they would have to come to our place
Hi how can I get that mailer packaging where I can fit a box? Can I get those from ups online too? as free supplies? or I have to buy it in front? Thanks if you could help me as i am so confused with shipping and I want to launch my business so soon.
I really love your videos but when u live in Europe there is some much we can not do and find. They don’t ship to Europe and for example in the Netherlands are candle making suppliers hard to find. Its so frustrating...:(
That was a great video. But I would like to say that it would be better if you actually went thru it step by step on video... showing the actual process of different types of ways of shipping. I am terrified of shipping! lol its so confusing and I dont want to mistakenly ship something and end up costing me or my client more money or time. I really need shipping 101 demo class.
I’m a lash extensions supplier new to shipping and I found your video very helpful on this stressful journey. I wanted to know for the smaller products would flat rate priority mail be better? My products can fit perfectly in a padded envelope. I’m concerned about shipping costs with zones included which may get more expensive bc I don’t know consumers location. .&&’ I don’t want to have to come out of pocket.
@@IamKaylaRose not always! This is why shipping can be so confusing, there’s really no one size fits all approach. Check out this video it may help you! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-2JZUO9Zyvds.htmlsi=YHCjLrh5Rhr5SBj2 I also break down pricing and shipping methods way more in my shipping course!
@@MemoryBoxCandleCo is it possible to switch between the shipping options for what best fit what you shipping? okay I will do! Thanks so much for responding.
I am VERY new to shipping aka barely have shipped anything even on a personal level. Could you do a video from the moment a customer orders, where to go to print the label, printing the label, packaging and taking them to the post office and what to say to the person or how to drop them off? I have some social anxiety and thats probably what Im dreading most to start shipping
Thank you thank you thank you!! I’m new to the resale business and have been stumbling along with my shipping 😅. This is so clear and specific it answers all my questions! I’m so grateful thank you!!
This happened to me recently, I took a box with a priority mail cubic label and the person at USPS was asking where I got it and how, because they only do it based on zones and weight. Lol I thought I was doing something wrong for a second
Love the videos I keep watching and I’m still watching the video of you explaining the math part I just have to keep watching it but hopefully I’ll get it .. lol..
Thank you so much!! I actually have just one photography light on and then my blinds to my sliding glass door are open! (I’m using a 50mm camera lens with a low aperture which allows more light to come into the lens and it looks like it’s a lot more lit than it actually is ☺️💜)
I just shipped out some of my first items today. I got a bit of sticker shock, and I came straight to your videos for reference. Thanks for all your helpful advice!
Hi thanks for your help. I have a question. I was thinking to put a 4x4x4 box in a flat rate padded envelope but I don't know if it save for the candle and how to avoid that the envelope turns downway because my candles don't have kids. Any advice?? Thanks
If you secure/protect your candle inside the 4x4x4 box, I would definitely put it into a padded flat rate envelope! I would also put bubble wrap in the padded envelope to ensure extra protection. If you are worried, ship it to a friend/family member and ask them for feedback upon arrival!
I mainly use the white 6x6x4, 8x6x4 & 8x8x6 boxes with priority mail cubic shipping, regional rate A boxes, padded flat rate envelopes and sometimes medium flat rate boxes if I’m shipping out a lot of candles! ❤️
Hello! Love your vids!! Had a non related question though.. I know you sell from cali as well and was wondering how you go about filing your taxes on CDTFA.. I find it a bit confusing as I thought etsy remits sales taxes and pays them on your behalf.. I sell to all 50 states and had a couple sales to the UK, Canada and India.
Hi, thank you! I use Quickbooks and I am able to pay my quarterly taxes through them through the EFTPS. Etsy collects sales tax for you, but you still have to pay taxes to the IRS on your profit 💜
