pipemakersforum.com

I was wondering what fellow pipe makers charge for shipping, and what they use to package their pipes?

I'm mostly interested in international shipping rates, thanks!!

I don't charge my customers for shipping. It usually comes out to be about $6 per pipe including delivery confirmation and insurance. You can get little boxes at Wally World for a buck a piece.

For international shipping just call the post office and ask. They can usually give you a pretty good estimate.

Todd

International shipping is difficult.

I sent any number of pipes to the UK with no problem - 9 bucks, airmail. BUt... no tracking, and little or no insurance. Went with it till a pipe just.... disappeared. Now what?

Unfortunately, tracking and proper insurance on packages out of Canada costs a lot - I needed 72 bucks to get a box to the phillipines, but I didn't want that sucker to go missing, with 500 bucks worth of pipes in it, so ... there it is.


I buy good boxes, use newspaper or peanuts, and usually wrap the pipe in a lot of bubble wrap. Pack 'em up tight, tape the shit out of them, and address them very clearly.

For domestic, I charge $6 and ship Priority Mail. Boxes are free from USPS.com. I use #4.

For International, I charge $45 and use those same boxes from USPS.com.

Packaging is bubble wrap and crumpled newspaper.

Rad

Nearly all my shipping is international. I charge $20. That gets airmail with tracking and a basic rate of insurance. Actual price I pay varies a lot country to country but $20 is a good approximation and there is enough leeway to cover fluctuations in exchange rate as well. As for boxes etc I am quite lucky, all the boxes I use are recycled, I obviously keep any suitable boxes that I get and the place where my mother works has a large IT department and they get loads of items delivered in suitable sized boxes as does the stationary department. She has spread the word and everyone there hangs onto useful boxes for me as they are glad to see them get used again rather than just trashed. Often get bubble wrap and peanuts passed onto to me as well, if I run out I use crumpled newspaper. I pack them tight so they don't rattle around and use lots of brown tape, the boxes don't look pretty but they are tough and secure. Labelling is done with printed labels (much quicker than hand writing and clearer as well), labels are always covered with a layer of clear tape to help keep them clean and dry and hold them extra securely. A return address lable is also very important. So far, touch wood, I havn't had too many problems with shipping.

OK, I know I'm from Africa, but what are the "peanuts' you guys are talking about? Real peanuts or is it some term for polystyrene bubbles or something?

Charl wrote:OK, I know I'm from Africa, but what are the "peanuts' you guys are talking about? Real peanuts or is it some term for polystyrene bubbles or something?

It's the little polystyrene chunks that vaguely resemble peanuts.

Rad

Aaah!
Thanks for the help!

hm', Okay. Well, now I charge $25 flat rate anywhere. Covers my shipping materials...

My pipes tend to be...long, and have delicate hinges and stuff. So I pack them with high density foam, like the stuff used in couch cushions. I cut out the shape of the pipe, and sandwich it. Then make a box around it with foam core board. And wrap it like crazy in tape. Ends up super light, but super strong. Maybe it's overkill, but I never worry about a package getting crushed or something along those lines....

There are plugins you can add to your website that calculates and charges shipping accordingly. I use ecwid for the business end of my website and am very pleased with how it performs. The only downside is that there is a monthly fee of $17 to use it.

wdteipen wrote:There are plugins you can add to your website that calculates and charges shipping accordingly. I use ecwid for the business end of my website and am very pleased with how it performs. The only downside is that there is a monthly fee of $17 to use it.

I think my loses per month on shipping calculated badly by me are less than the $17 it would cost to use that service

caskwith wrote:

wdteipen wrote:There are plugins you can add to your website that calculates and charges shipping accordingly. I use ecwid for the business end of my website and am very pleased with how it performs. The only downside is that there is a monthly fee of $17 to use it.

I think my loses per month on shipping calculated badly by me are less than the $17 it would cost to use that service

Yeah, no kidding. Is that a typo Wayne?

Heck, just make it a flat fee of $8 (or whatever your average cost is) and you'll have to sell a lot of pipes to have that off by more than $17/month.

Unfortunately it's not a typo but it does more than just shipping. It is the entire storefront for my website and handles everything from the picture gallery, shipping, cart, and inventory. I know it's pricey but man is it slick and it's worth it to me just in the hassles it prevents.

wdteipen wrote:Unfortunately it's not a typo but it does more than just shipping. It is the entire storefront for my website and handles everything from the picture gallery, shipping, cart, and inventory. I know it's pricey but man is it slick and it's worth it to me just in the hassles it prevents.

Ah...I misunderstood it to be for shipping only.

Tyler wrote:

wdteipen wrote:Unfortunately it's not a typo but it does more than just shipping. It is the entire storefront for my website and handles everything from the picture gallery, shipping, cart, and inventory. I know it's pricey but man is it slick and it's worth it to me just in the hassles it prevents.

Ah...I misunderstood it to be for shipping only.

Me too.