Delivery prices (UK based shop)

I run an online shop in the UK (www.pace-models.com) and I am looking into
the delivery prices that I am currently charging. The current prices don't
cover my costs for packaging and delivery and I was wondering if anyone had
any experience of using delivery companies other than Royal Mail.

Looking at the weights of my products which average at about 1250g including
packaging I would need to be charging £6.50 for UK delivery, £13.75 for EU
and £17.07 for US.

Thanks
Dave Henson.

Dave Henson wrote:

 > I run an online shop in the UK (www.pace-models.com) and I am looking into
 > the delivery prices that I am currently charging. The current prices don't
 > cover my costs for packaging and delivery and I was wondering if anyone had
 > any experience of using delivery companies other than Royal Mail.
 >
 > Looking at the weights of my products which average at about 1250g including
 > packaging I would need to be charging £6.50 for UK delivery, £13.75 for EU
 > and £17.07 for US.
 >
 > Thanks
 > Dave Henson.

I would recommend that you add an additional cost during checkout time to
reflect the cost to you for shipping. This is a very common practice. In
addition, many delivery companies offer a web service that allows you to compute
shipping costs based on weight, delivery origin and destination. These rates
are usually fairly close and an help you determine what you should be charging
on a per shipment basis. The other alternative is to take an average of your
delivery rates and charge a flat fee for shipping and handling. This is
probably the easiest (and therefore quickest) way to add this to your online
store. Finally, the other alternative is to increase your prices on your
products to cover the cost of shipping the product. This gives you the
advantage of being able to claim that shipping is free but anyone that shops
around will see that your prices are higher than your competitors.

HTH.

-=} Randall {=-<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->