THE REAL DEAL ON SHIPPING
So I am seeing a lot of comments/questions/flat out anger about shipping:
Why does it cost so much?
Why does it take so long?
Why do they print labels but product not shipped?
From a vendors perspective I would like to try and answer a few questions so you can see it from our side....
So first of all, shipping costs are determined primarily by two factors...weight and the amount of products that you ship. So for instance if you ship a box to a customer that weighs 3 lbs, if you ship 10 of those a month, your shipping costs will be much higher than the cost for another vendor who is shipping 100 per month. On top of that, if you are still pretty small and you are shipping the products yourself, you then have to buy the boxes and all of the shipping supplies. Yes, you can get some supplies from USPS/UPS/FedEx for free, but these supplies do not cover all of your needs.
For those that are a little larger, you can then start shipping from a Fulfillment Center. This helps in a few ways. 1. You don't have to take your time to pack and ship all the orders. 2. You may be able to benefit from using the fulfillment center's shipping account as opposed to your own. Since they have many other customers besides you, they ship a lot more orders than you ever will on your own, so you get better shipping rates. 3. They generally take care of the shipping supplies. Finally, if you are big enough, you can set up your own shipping operation....DRAMA....
However, nothing is free, so of course you have to pay them as well. You also have to deal with their schedule. BF/CM are the busiest shipping days of the year, and it becomes more complicated because your warehouse is shipping not only your orders but others as well so they are crazy busy. The best you can do is not over promise to your customers and weather the storm.
Another factor that will effect the cost is where the fulfillment center is located. So for instance, if your warehouse is located in LA, then shipping to NY or down south is going to be more expensive, even for one small item. If you are centrally located, say in Chicago, then it balances a little, bit, but it is still more expensive to ship way out East or West. And let's not even talk international. It should go without saying that if I am shipping something from Chicago to London, it is going to be expensive. Also, please don't be surprised if you have to pay VAT (Value Added Tax) and maybe even some customs clearance fees once it gets there.
Ideally, a vendor will be using a fulfillment center that has multiple warehouses strategically located across the US and abroad. Now, you can place inventory in each warehouse and it will be located close to your customers reducing the shipping cost. Problem is that is not as easy as it sounds, because you have to now stock a number of warehouses. The more products you sell, the harder it is to do this. For those of us vendors who are still relatively small, the logistics are not too hard, it just amounts to timing and finance to get all of your products to each warehouse. For vendors with large product portfolios...not so easy.
So as far as the weight is concerned....anything 1 pound or less ships at the lowest rate. However, it could weigh 1/4 pound or pound and the cost is the same. Then obviously it goes up from there....nobody (USPS/FedEx/UPS) is pricing this stuff in 1/10th of a pound increments....so sometimes a small sample size item might cost the same to ship as one 8oz item. (This is why we don't sell individual sample sizes anymore...only packs of three). And lets not even talk about shipping 16oz and larger items....costs will rise for heavier shipments...
Shipping Time - First and foremost please know that if you choose to ship via FedEx Home Delivery, or UPS Sure Post they are not delivering the package directly to your shipping address...FedEx and UPS are shipping these packages to your local Post Office and then the Postal Service is shipping to your address. Secondly, once again BF/CM is busy for anyone in the shipping business. You certainly should not be waiting 3-4 weeks to get an order, but it is going to take longer than any other time of the year so adjust your expectations.
Shipping Labels printed but product not shipped - Happens all the time....if you received a "Your package has shipped!!" notification and its Sunday.....well, lets just say its a pretty solid possibility that you package has not shipped...also most likely the vendor cannot control this if they are using a fulfillment center. Also know that the smaller vendors who are shipping themselves are likely working a regular day job also, so they get things packed on nights and weekends to drop off or be picked up the next day. The notices you receive are automatically generated once that label is printed....
And I haven't even gotten into Handling charges....even though you may not see it because nobody itemizes this...but if a vendor uses a fulfillment center you are charged handling for each item picked for an order....so it costs more to ship a 2+ item order than a 1 item order because of handling...this is independent of weight...some vendors include at least a portion of this in the shipping cost....
Ok, so this post was too long about 3 or 4 paragraphs ago and I could probably write a few more but I couldn't resist because we are living this every single day trying to service our customers. Hope this sheds a little light behind the scenes as to what is really going on....
Thanks....B
Inahsi Naturals
Good - Received my Locsoc's this past Monday. Not sure how I'm going to use them, but I'm happy they arrived.
Bad - Have not received my Hairveda products yet. I know her website states that it takes longer to receive products during sells, but I'm excited and want my products. 
Ugly - I haven't seen hide nor hair about my Hydroquench order. Normally I get an email confirmation, or at the very least I can see where I've ordered on her website, but I'm getting nothing. The only proof of my order is through Paypal. I sent the company an email on Monday and they claim to have a 48 hr response turn around, however I haven't received a response yet!
And haven't even got the 1st Sale taken care of.
Oh and info on the Amazon Rain December sale.
. # nonewvendorsforme
