Calculating shipping prices?

thathighherpguy

New Member
Messages
26
Location
Los Angeles, CA
I noticed most breeders that ship reptiles have a flat shipping rate of $40-50.

1.) I was curious how you come up with that average? Cross country shipping has to cost way more than shipping, say, one state away.

2.) Does the cost of every animal partially include some shipping costs already, or do you make up for the cost of long shipments in other ways?

3.) For someone not breeding on a large scale is it more beneficial to calculate shipping per transaction rather than having a flat shipping rate?

4.) What are some of your unique methods for figuring out shipping costs?
 

DrCarrotTail

Moderator
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3,590
Location
Ridgewood, NJ

Robyn@SYR

New Member
Messages
91
Location
Denver, CO
You can get a free quote at ShipYourReptiles.com based on your package size and the from and to zip codes.

Use the smallest box that you can safely use, as the larger the box, the more it will cost to ship. Run a quote for a 2 pound box at 7x7x6 and a 2 pound box at 15x11x7 for example, and see the vast difference. This is because of dimensional weight.

The rate at SYR starts at 20% off the FedEx retail rate. We can offer a deeper discount according to your volume and need. There are also a number of 40% off coupon codes out there from various gecko breeders, you can redeem one 40% code per user.

As for flat rates-

As Pro Exotics Reptiles, breeding snakes and lizards, we would offer a flat $55 ship rate because it had an appeal to our customers. It was also quick and easy to quote, $55.

If you have fewer customers, you may want to do individual quotes. The $55 flat rate was subsidized by "the cost of doing business". Most of the time it was $10-$15 more than that. And we would eat the difference. If the package wasn't going far, it might be less. But it was usually more. We included that expense in the evaluated cost of our animals, and wrote off some as the cost of doing business. I think it attracted more customers, having a flat rate that we could quick quote, and it was a positive choice in the long run.

But we also averaged $200 per animal sold. If you are selling single geckos for $35-$50 each, it is quite difficult to absorb a $15 hit on shipping cost in order to appeal to your customers.

Feel free to contact me directly, I would be happy to help you maximize your shipping expense and execution to make it best work for you. [email protected]
 

thathighherpguy

New Member
Messages
26
Location
Los Angeles, CA
Thank you Robyn! Definitely just the information I needed. I wont have anything to ship for a couple months but when I do I'll be sure to send an email your way =]

Sent from my SCH-R720 using Tapatalk 2
 

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