Anyone from Europe has good suggestions to ship to US?

[BellaPippin]

Just trying to help a good friend. She currently lives in Italy and has this deco stuff biz, handmade (she's quite the artist) C R A S H T A (@crashta.puglia) • Instagram photos and videos (not promoting, I just want you to see what kind of stuff needs to be shipped). They are made from cement so I'm guessing they are on the heavy side...

I saw her last story and I was like aaahhhh I wanna buy coasters!!!. But she can't figure out how to make shipping not too expensive? I told her I feel she's leaving money on the table by not making an Etsy to sell over here -she's not super computer savvy tbh, I made her website for her paintings long time ago- but she said the shipping cost is limiting her.

Any knowledgeable ones have any suggestions? Will be very appreciated.

 

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[StrikingViper69]

First thought is to let people pay for shipping... people are used to having to pay for stuff shipped.

I once had my website set up wrong and someone paid £15 just in shipping... for a CD. Oops.

"shipping is too expensive" is a block that is in her head.

 

[broswoodwork]

Just trying to help a good friend. She currently lives in Italy and has this deco stuff biz, handmade (she's quite the artist) C R A S H T A (@crashta.puglia) • Instagram photos and videos (not promoting, I just want you to see what kind of stuff needs to be shipped). They are made from cement so I'm guessing they are on the heavy side...

I saw her last story and I was like aaahhhh I wanna buy coasters!!!. But she can't figure out how to make shipping not too expensive? I told her I feel she's leaving money on the table by not making an Etsy to sell over here -she's not super computer savvy tbh, I made her website for her paintings long time ago- but she said the shipping cost is limiting her.

Any knowledgeable ones have any suggestions? Will be very appreciated.

Etsy is getting weird...

Has she explored Amazon Handmade? Alot of the Etsy folk, over in the Etsy forum, have been making the switch, or diversifying over to, Amazon.

I'm no expert on shipping, it's actually my Achilles heel, but it seems like getting ones stuff to Amazon's distribution centers and letting their space age system handle the rest may take some of the cost and headache out of the international shipping process.

 

[BellaPippin]

First thought is to let people pay for shipping... people are used to having to pay for stuff shipped.

I once had my website set up wrong and someone paid £15 just in shipping... for a CD. Oops.

"shipping is too expensive" is a block that is in her head.

Thanks I'll tell her to reconsider. She said it's expensive but she didn't say HOW expensive. Maybe it's not as expensive as she thinks. And I mean I'm on a budget but for someone who likes high end stuff, this pretty deco "made in Italy", they might not care for some shipping.

Etsy is getting weird...

Has she explored Amazon Handmade? Alot of the Etsy folk, over in the Etsy forum, have been making the switch, or diversifying over to, Amazon.

I'm no expert on shipping, it's actually my Achilles heel, but it seems like getting ones stuff to Amazon's distribution centers and letting their space age system handle the rest may take some of the cost and headache out of the international shipping process.

Didn't know that existed, I will tell her to look into that!! Thank you so much.

 

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[1step]

We ship to Europe and Australia often. Our average order value is $120 and we often have customers paying $70-80 in shipping on top of that. Some think it's too expensive and others don't. Some people think our products are too expensive (at $120) and others don't. I don't know how much competition she would have and at what price but her stuff is nice looking, I definitely know there are buyers for them. She should let the customers decide if the shipping is too much, instead of deciding for them.

Etsy is getting weird...

Etsy is weird but its still a good marketplace. We will 2x sales on etsy this year, it's no where near our amazon numbers but its still five figures a month so nothing to sneeze at.

Thanks I'll tell her to reconsider. She said it's expensive but she didn't say HOW expensive.

Maybe you can just buy from her. My idea is, you setup the etsy store and take the minimal risk, negotiate some kind of price per product with her and then when you get an order on etsy order from her in a dropship relationship. Outside of the initial few hours of setting up it would be no work on your end. Probably not a long term business but maybe worth it just to help your friend and show her what she could do