Dispatch /shipping times - what works best on Folksy

Shop Talk
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Hiya all, welcome your thoughts on dispatch (and shipping) times, and whether they affect customer decision to buy once they have found your item.

Personally as a buyer, I usually prefer quicker dispatch and postage times as I often buy late, and am happy to pay a bit more, and that sometimes means I don’t buy. But is that typical of most people who shop on Folksy?

I am currently overhauling my shop, and changing the focus of the things I make and sell. So now would be a good time to make changes, and it would be good to get your thoughts on what you find works best.

For context, my items range in value from £3 to £30, and are a mix of things to buy for yourself and to give as a gift. And I’ve been on Folksy for years - not a “best seller” but I have small number of sales regularly through the year, that peak towards Xmas.

Dispatch times
My standard dispatch time is 3 days, as I have a lot of other commitments and don’t want to be stressed having to ship in 24 hours. It also allows me to keep my shop open even when I go away for a couple of nights, as I can easily post on my return. However I do change it to 1 day (24 hours) near Xmas period to catch the “late buyers” like myself.

But this is a huge admin burdern as I need to change each one manually (despite me asking admin many times, there still isn’t a bulk edit for shipping dates :frowning:)

So I’m thinking of sucking it up and just making all my listings 24 hour dispatch.

Shipping times
On Folksy, the shipping time is less clear to customer at time of order as the only place to mention it is in shop announcement, so may not affect buying decisions in quite the same way. But to an experienced shopper, the value of the postage cost may suggest “slow” or “fast-track” services?

I am currently posting T48 to keep postage costs low, but I used to post T24. I would like to offer both, and let the customer decide.

I have tried having optional faster postage via a separate listing, but no one used it (did they even see it?).

So I’m thinking of adding postage options to each of my listings instead.

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As a customer I always check dispatch / shipping times, because I want to know where I stand before I buy (on some sites, long shipping times very often indicate the item is not in UK). Unless it is something personalised or a made to order, I do expect the dispatch time to be reasonable (within 3 days that is for me), unless I know the shop is busy and turnaround takes longer, which I am perfectly fine with. There is usually an announcement on the sites about that, and the announcement field is where I would expect a Folksy shop to include similar info. Price does not suggest the service to me, as very often shops keep their prices ridiculously low with extremely high postage (we all know why, don’t we? :rofl: ). Flat rates is what I come across more as a customer.

As a seller, I have 1 working day dispatch, as all my items are made and ready to go. Shipping is with RM Tracked 48, which I do mention in my descriptions so the customer doesn’t play a guess game while looking to buy. If it is a custom order, then dispatch time and shipping method/cost are all agreed beforehand and included clearly in the listing. This works alright at the moment for me.

Option to upgrade As a customer, I do use it when need it. As a seller, I offer it elsewhere and has been used. If I remember correctly, in one of the webinars back when Camilla was hosting them, a seller had asked about this feature to be added on Folksy and it wasn’t in the plans. Not sure if that has changed or will change at some point. Personally, I find the workaround of adding a separate listing or even variations about the postage, very complicated and confusing to a customer who is not a seller on Folksy. The postage charges could turn really ugly very fast if someone buys numerous items and starts selecting the upgrade variation on each item… another thing to consider is that when you have it as a variation, then you pay commission on that amount, so you need to make sure you are really covered. To me, the upgrade should be offered at the checkout, customers shouldn’t be expected to know the workarounds of a platform (which in my opinion is falling behind). I don’t use extra listings or variations of that sort as a customer either, I want things to be clear and easy, anything that requires me to “investigate” or “figure out” will not have my money.

Not sure if I helped at all, hope whatever you decide will work out well x

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Thanks Mina, very helpful. I hadn’t thought about postal upgrades being added for multiple items, yes that could get very messy!

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As a customer, I tend to window shop all the time for the very few people I have left in my life to buy for, so I’m usually able to be relaxed about timings. Not to say I don’t ever shop last minute and then it would certainly affect whether I buy or not, although if it was something I liked, I’d probably bookmark it for another occassion. Wonder if a lot of people who buy handmade are like that? If I want something tomorrow, I kind of accept that’s an Amazon buy and it won’t be handmade! :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

Personally, almost all my pieces are made to order and take anywhere between 3 and 10 days, depending on what it is. I’ve always done that because I tend to have lots of people who like to customise things and / or really like that something was made just for them.

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Thanks Debbie @thecrimsonrabbit I do some custom orders and also personalised items, those definitely have longer lead times (some are actually 28 days :laughing: I’m just wondering if by not offering next day shipping on the things that are ready to go, might be putting people off.

I would prefer to stick with 3 days, but I’m just frustrated by having to manually change each listing if I want to flex my lead times to catch the late Xmas shoppers (I get a lot, especially for stockings and small filler gifts). it seems so daft that Folksy have sorted bulk editing for postage costs, but seem unwilling to do it for shipping times.

Think I’m going to try 1 day, as I’m getting so few sales at the moment it won’t be too stressfull. And It’s certainly going to be easier to change them now while my shop is pretty empty, rather than doing them all at Xmas after I’ve filled it up again.

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I tend not to mind longer shipping times when I buy from Folksy, we’re not Amazon, we’re hand made, very often not doing this as a full time job so I don’t expect super fast shipping, it’s nice when someone does dispatch quickly but it would t put me off buying handmade.

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