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Shipping charges


nutlady

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I know, its still early for me to be asking this....but I have looked at several coins for sale and there doesnt seem to be a general price on the shipping/handling.

I dont want to gyp anyone, and I dont want to loose money either. My first ( INSANE) idea was to just find out the postage and packing for each coin. YES! I AM NOW certifiably nuts. Thats how I do it with my nut sales anyway, cause 25 pounds going to Arizona is going to cost alot less then to say, Michigan.

I want to be fair, and make it clear when I get ready to quote prices here.

I have seen ranges from up to 4 coins for $1, and one coin for $2. To be honest, 4 coins for $1 wont get me anywhere near a post office. I will run out of gas at the first stop sign. I know, I know, but I will be taking 50 orders with me....fraction that in....did I mention I am really BAD with math?

What is an honest shipping/packaging rate that you all can deal with? And how do you handle oversea shipment?

Is there any general ruling here?

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I know, its still early for me to be asking this....but I have looked at several coins for sale and there doesnt seem to be a general price on the shipping/handling.

I dont want to gyp anyone, and I dont want to loose money either. My first ( INSANE) idea was to just find out the postage and packing for each coin. YES! I AM NOW certifiably nuts. Thats how I do it with my nut sales anyway, cause 25 pounds going to Arizona is going to cost alot less then to say, Michigan.

I want to be fair, and make it clear when I get ready to quote prices here.

I have seen ranges from up to 4 coins for $1, and one coin for $2. To be honest, 4 coins for $1 wont get me anywhere near a post office. I will run out of gas at the first stop sign. I know, I know, but I will be taking 50 orders with me....fraction that in....did I mention I am really BAD with math?

What is an honest shipping/packaging rate that you all can deal with? And how do you handle oversea shipment?

Is there any general ruling here?

 

I've now sent about 10 coins from up in Canada to the US and one coin to the UK.

The 10 to the US have cost me:

 

By ground, about $2 for postage for one coin, about $0.40 for a #000 padded mailer, about $0.50 for another envelope for inside the #000. Most coins I receive are just loose in the #000, I just prefer to do a little more to ensure that if the mailer gets opened some how, then there's less chance that the coin will fall out. But it's extra work and I'm only sending out 1 to 3 coins at a time so I'm willing to do that.

 

By Air, I've tried sending 3 coins by air to see if they get to Texas and Florida faster, they havn't arrived yet so I can't say if air saves time. Each coin was $5.50 by air, same cost for mailer, etc. I'm thinking, it's a waste of postage.

 

To the UK: By Air, really the only reasonable way of sending a coin in a timely manner. About $6 and the same for the mailers etc.

 

Remember these are Canuck bucks but our Loonie and your Greenback are a lot closer in value these days and the coins I get from the US seem to have 2 to 3 dollars in postage attached....

 

If your sending coins outside the country, you'll have to fill out a customs form for each package. Up here in Canada, there's no additional cost, (not sure about the US but I doubt there is a cost, check though) but even with out cost, it is time consuming. About 5 mins per form. Just to let you know. You may be able to pick up the customs form from the Post office before hand to fill out, but I'm not sure you can do that and there is usually 2 parts to it with one for the envelope and one to get stamped for you.

 

As far as adding costs for gas, time etc.... Not much help there.

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My expirience with selling my first coin was really fun. I enjoyed getting the emails and coin orders and to tell you the truth, packaging and shipping as well. I mean I am now known at the post office and have even helped to motivate a postmaster there to get into geocaching. They all ask questions about the sport and all want to give it a try. That aside, My coin is 2 inches and heavey and it costs (honestly now) .87 cents pretty much anywhere in the USA to ship. Multiple coins can get up into the 2 to 3 dollar range depending on the number of coins. Now, when you ship outside the USA, it gets much more complicated. There is Customs that you have to deal with, which means a form to fill out for each package being sent over seas. Oh and here is a tip for you. If you do choose to send over seas, when you do fill out the CN22 form, (ask them for extras of these to take home with you. They are more than willing to give them to you so you dont hold up the line filling them out at the post office lol.) make sure not to use the word coin in your description. Call it a Game Token and it makes things so much easier. Some kind of custom regulations about sending coins that require alot more money. You will also have to make a choice which really wasnt a choice for me. You can send it airmail which takes like maybe 7 to 10 day for them to get it, or some other way that I forgot but it takes 4 to 6 weeks to get to buyers overseas. Anyway I always chose the airmail letter post I think it was called that took the 7 to 10 days but expect to get charged anywhere from 3 to 7 dollars to do this dependent upon where your sending it and how heavy it is. One good thing to remember, is sending to Canada airmail was really cheap. Like under a dollar if I remember right. Now, with this in mind, why do you see people charging 2.00 or more for shipping inside the USA? To try and make more money to cover the costs of the Mailers (I used bubble mailers #000 that were 4 inches by 7 inches that worked pretty good.) Also, the extra shipping costs would cover listing fees, Paypal fees, gas fees, and every other kind of fee you can think of that are for real. Personally, I think a $2.00 with a $1.00 each additional item shipping fee is reasonable. When I see shipping fees, especially on eBay for 3 or even as high as $6.00, I refuse to even place a bid on that coin. On the flip side, I really dont know how people that charge $1.00 for shipping can recover their costs for the making, selling and shipping of a coin when all the costs are added up. For awhile I chose to only ship within the USA and to Canada. But after many requests, and with gaining knowledge on just how to fill the form out, I then opened up sales to outside the USA but did charge $5.00 dollars to do so. Honestly, sometimes I made a little extra money with that chage, other times I lost money with that charge but it seems to even out in the end. Anyway, Thats what I have to say about that for now B) .

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We're in the middle of shipping the 2006 Alaska geocoins and below is what we learned about shipping costs.

 

Basis: 1.5" coins are ~1 ounce, #0 padded mailer with standard business liner envelope is 1 ounce, so shipping minimum is two ounces. #0 padded mailers can be bought in bulk (boxes of 25) at a variety of stores for less than 25 cents each. PayPal rate is flat $0.30 plus 2.9%.

 

Per USPS First Class Rate tables, 1st ounce is 39 cents, each full or fractional ounce is 24 cents.

 

US orders over 13 ounces are cheaper to send in the Priority Mail Flat Rate envelope for $4.05. (I know, the math doesn't work out that way, but the postage table takes a jump at that point.)

 

Foreign (Canada, Mexico, other locations) are cheapest sent Air Letter Post which starts at $0.90 for two ounces to North American locations and $1.70 overseas. Anything over five ounces is cheapest sent in a Global Priority Mail Flat Rate envelope for $4.25 to Canada/Mexico and $5.25 to Europe/Australia/New Zealand. Definitely do not mess with surface/parcel post...it takes WEEKS and can cost more.

 

We added the second ounce postage and 2.9% PayPal fee to the price of each coin. Then, we calculated $1.50 flat rate for packaging and handling whether a person ordered $10 or $200 of merchandise to cover the cost of the first postage ounce, the mailer, liner envelop, mailing labels, flat rate portion of the PayPal fee, printer ink, and other miscellaneous costs.

 

Addressing: We download the PayPal history directly into an Excel spreadsheet every day or so. We then use the MSWord Mail Merge function to create the mailing labels directly from the Excel spreadsheet. This saves on writer's cramp and allows you to print a second label for foreign shipments to shorten the time required to fill out the customs forms.

 

Re customs forms: You can pick them up from the post office ahead of time. You can save time filling them out by using a return address label for the top portion and printing a second copy of the mailing label for the bottom part of the form. That reduces the form completion time from five minutes to less than two minutes.

 

To save more time, buy a small postage or food scale and a bunch of 87 (3 ounces), 63 (2 ounces) and 24 cent (each additional ounce) stamps for the domestic orders. We can slap the right amount of postage on an envelop much faster than a postal clerk or the automatic postage machine can.

 

Your choice on delivery confirmation and insurance as they are extra steps requiring more time at the post office. We offer insurance at cost plus PayPal fees for those who want it (<5% of orders for the 2006 coins). In over 900 transactions covering the 2005 & 2006 Alaska coins and personal trades, we have never lost an envelope through the mail. We did receive ONE slit envelope without its coins.

Edited by Ladybug Kids
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I used the 000 padded envelopes as well. Sold my coin for around $6.50 and that included S&H. I took care of international shipping myself. It was too complicated to figure out who to charge what. I figure the international people get abused enough with extra S&H so they paid no more than domestic folks. As far as shipping, in the US I used First Class Mail and international was air mail. I also packaged the coins in furniture wrap that was saved from buying bedroom furniture.

 

As far as keeping up with labels etc, I created an Microsoft Database file and imported labels to Word. It worked out great. There is one site out there that will track your addresses and allow you to download the database (cost depends on the number of coins you list). I'd be glad to tell you that by PM or Email as I'm not sure I'm allowed to link it here.

 

It was definitely fun to see where all my coins were going. I mailed stuff to just about every state in the United States (including Hawaii and Alaska). I also had ALOT of international mail - especially Canada and the Netherlands. I agree with what the person up there said - it was fun to correspond with traders too.

 

Overall pleased with my coin experience! Good luck with yours, and if I can answer any questions, please email. Many on these boards were helpful to me!

 

B)

Edited by The Blind Acorn
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nutlady, there is a pinned thread at the top of the forums with all kinds of links and information, put together by the coin collectors in here. It's called: The Minting, Coin Reference, Shipping, Activating, Adopting, Shopping, Courtesy, Do's & Don't Guide To Geocoins & FAQs!

One stop shopping - read here first! Here's the link: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=116800

At first we had so many pinned threads you had to scroll way down to see what topics were new, so everything you need is consolidated into one thread.

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Anything over five ounces is cheapest sent in a Global Priority Mail Flat Rate envelope for $4.25 to Canada/Mexico and $5.25 to Europe/Australia/New Zealand. Definitely do not mess with surface/parcel post...it takes WEEKS and can cost more..

 

All the orders/trades etc I have received so far from the US (up to three coins at a time) have cost no more than $3.75 postage sent USPS Airmail. This does not include packaging or other "costs."

 

I am not selling coins at present, but all my trades/exchanges I have sent in recycled packaging.

 

Thanks Ladybug Kids for the heads-up on PayPal. Hadn't considered that.

 

Andrew

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Postal shipping is by weight, and if you're in the US or Canada, it's easy to look up the postal rates to anywhere in the world. I use the weight of the coins plus 20 grams for a #1 padded envelope + tape +etc. to calculate the postal rate, then add 50 cents for the cost of the padded envelope and that's what I charge people.

 

I've seen people charge truly stupid amounts for shipping, and I've taken to forwarding people the price breakdown as posted on the web to avoid ludicrous shipping charges.

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I've seen people charge truly stupid amounts for shipping, and I've taken to forwarding people the price breakdown as posted on the web to avoid ludicrous shipping charges.

 

Have to agree. USAGeocoins is one such outfit. They charge a flat rate of US$7.95 for up to five coins. Bad luck if you only want one or two which costs around $4.00 to post, sometimes less depending on packaging.

 

Regards

Andrew

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It depends. My personal coin weighed almost 2 ounces ... that's a monster compared to a lot of other coins out there. What you can do is get a sample and then figure out shipping based on weight (and packaging supplies). Some coins made are pretty light and you could ship several for very cheap.

 

I used First-class mail for my coin and it worked out great (I utilized the Paypal interface and paid

the extra 14 cents for Delivery confirmation).

 

Good luck!

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