I am having a mammoth sort out of all my items and trying to update all the postage costs and add overseas postage.
Not quite sure what to do about “additional items” bit though. Never sure how to work this out as it would all depend on what the additional items were. Does anyone have a simple formula/method for working this out or is it just guesswork?!
For overseas items, where cost is still generally based on weight, I usually weigh the item and calculate what the maximum impact would be of adding it to the package. Usually it’s the cost of moving up a weight band for each region, but if it’s a heavy item, it could be 2 weight bands.
For the UK, it’s a bit trickier, as it depends on size, shape and weight. I try to make sure I’ll be covering my costs. It’s easy enough to refund if it’s significantly over.
I use the cost of sending one item abroad and then find out what it would cost for 2 of them and then add the difference as the additional item charge - simple, really.
As for the UK, I usually add 10p (or 50p for heavier item)s and then refund the difference as it’s possible for someone to order 8-9 items from me and still be within the 93p postage band.
Liz
x
Thanks for answers so far!
Does the additional items postage only relate to items in the same listing, i.e… two or more of the same item? If so then things are fairly easy but I always thought it referred to additional items from the same shop in which case it depends what additional item is added as to how much to add. Several small (large letter) items may still be covered by large letter (adding nothing) but put a few of my larger (small parcel) items together and it could jump into the medium parcel bracket (adding £2+)
I assume if additional items refers to different items in the same shop then Folksy automatically takes the one with the highest shipping cost as the main item and then adds the rest but I don’t know if this is the case.
Does anyone know?
Roz @Rozcraftz you are correct.
Folksy will charge the highest shipping rate and then add the additional charge for other items.
But I am not sure which additional charge it uses - the one attached to the additional item being bought
Or the one attached to the item with the highest shipping.
All my additional items are free shipping. I reckon it encourages customers to buy more than one item and I don’t lose out much because less packaging and less trips to the post office. Sometimes I don’t lose anything at all.
Shirley x
The additional item rate charged is the one on the item that is additional, not the one with the highest shipping rate, have I made sense? I’m not quite with it today 
So a heavy thing will have a high ‘additional item’ rate. It does get awkward with UK shipping if adding something means a parcel will jump from large letter to small parcel, no easy way to do it really.
@HelenSmith I am now very confused …
If you were to have 2 items one with postage of 80p and one with postage of £2.80 and you set the additional postage cost on both to say 25p, does it make a difference what order they are put in the basket then?
If the item with 80p postage was added first the total postage would be £1.05 but if the item with £2.80 postage was added first the total postage would be £3.05? That doesn’t sound right but maybe I’ve misunderstood what you said.
Roz
It makes no difference what order they’re put in to the basket.
The customer would pay £3.05 in your example @Rozcraftz . The main postage charge is the highest one. The additional charge is used for any other items included in the order.
Like @WhimsyWooDesigns I also offer free additional postage on all my items. So if a customer of mine orders multiple items they pay postage on the item with the highest postage charge and everything else goes free. If all items are the same charge then they pay that charge once and everything else is free.
There’s a lot of leeway with weight in RMs small parcel service as it goes up to 750g or something I think. If a parcel gets big enough to take it into the medium parcel category then I use Hermes to courier it as it is far cheaper than medium parcel rates and also offers up to £50 compensation as opposed to RMs £20 … and tracking too … win win.
Even international works with weight bands so, for smaller items anyway, I often don’t have to pay any more when a customer orders multiple items. If they order enough to take their parcel to the next weight band it’s usually only a shift of £2 or £3 which is covered by the purchase of multiple items. It’s kind of like giving someone a small percentage discount for buying lots at once.
Also, it is less of a headache for me when it comes to working things out … 
Sorry, I knew I wouldn’t explain right… my head is befuddled! It doesn’t matter which order they go into the basket. The postage charge is the highest one. Then the additional charges come from the other items. So:
item 1 postage £1.90 additional item £0.25
item 2 postage £4.30 additional item £0.00
item 3 postage £2.25 additional item £0.75
Postage would be £4.30 (because it is highest although not first) plus 25p plus 75p for the other 2 items.
These are examples from one of my shops, it doesn’t work out perfectly because ideally I would have a maximum charge of £4.30. But, the other 2 are large letters and I need to have additional postage on them because buying just items 1 and 3, or multiples of them, might tip them into the next weight bracket. But as others have said, if the shipping charges escalate because of a weird combination of items I can refund the extra, better that way round than to be out of pocket.
Thanks the fog is clearing - think I get it now!