I think either flat rate or calculated shipping is imperative. Much online shopping today is an impulse buy. Shoppers want to see the total cost to purchase and if they like it, they want to buy immediately. Most do not want to wait for emails and invoice adjustments.

Be aware of the fact that, if you’re signed up for Google Shopping advertising, your calculated shipping charges will show up as hugely inflated in their listings.

I had all of my listings using calculated shipping, since I believe that gives buyers the most confidence that the seller is not inflating shipping charges.

After going back and forth with Bonanza Support on this, and realizing that the issue was on Google’s side – not Bonanza’s – I went in and changed all of my listings to free shipping, adjusting the cost of the products accordingly.

The [URL removed] whereas my sales had been virtually non-existent before the change, I’ve seen a steady growth since then – primarily from Google Shopping.

Previously many of my items were showing on Google with shipping literally in the hundreds of dollars.

Better to charge slightly more and have no issues with how Google calculates shipping, [URL removed]

EDIT***

If you haven’t opted in to Google Advertising, then you’re not participating in it.

It’s a good thing to do, if you can afford it. You pay for it only if the product sells – Bonanza “fronts” the money in exchange for your paying a higher final value fee if it sells (you choose the percentage you want to pay).

If you ever want to do [URL removed]

Go to Add/Edit, click on the link at the top of the page that says “Advertising”, choose your percentage, and opt in.

Welcome to Bonanza!

Thanks for all the advice, suggestions & warm welcomes. Y’all are a lot nicer than another site. ;-)

I’ll try a combination of flat-rate & calculated shipping to start out with. If I’m not successful then I’ll try free shipping.

@ToysandTreasures – The reason I haven’t ever used calculated shipping is because I can’t figure out to add insurance to the total.

@lowerwholesale – I’m not using Google Shopping advertising or at least I don’t think I am. How do I know if I am or not?

@Abbysantiques – Thanks for the kudos. I would hate to have to edit 1800+ listings individually. I got an email from Bonanza that Google’s webcrawler found one of my listings. :-)

Welcome, humfreybear. Using a high shipping amount might scare off some potential buyers, and then you have to go through the hassle of refunding partial amounts. Is there a reason you don’t want to use calculated shipping?

A couple of thoughts.
Most buyers, as Texas says, want instant total costs & check out right away. I use flat rate & have also started to include postage in prices (free shipping) with mostly rates for the flat rate boxes or first class parcel. (You have to figure if you are willing to pay fees based on the total that includes the shipping.)

I used to put the price in my descriptions but now that rates have gone up, I have had to go into each listing and take them out. With 1800+ listings this is taking a while. If they are not in your description, you can use the batch edit to update.

Your booth looks nice. Google picks up the first 250 characters (someone update if this isn’t correct) (title & description) so take advantage & include more important words in your first part of the description in addition to the title. Also the chat window is a good place to add info.

Welcome!

My own solution has been either to include shipping in the price, or else include SOME of the shipping in the price, and then show a small flat amount (say, $3) for shipping.

I do both. Free shipping and flat rate. The “O” site sellers use 2.95 as the flat rate s/h, however, since the PO often goes up in rates, I use a range of 2.95 to 4.95 flat rate. The lower the s/h the more the buyer is attracted to the item. Free shipping always is an attraction. You just have to factor it into your revenue.

However — after a while you can just about guess if an item is less than 1 lb. (first class), or 2-3 lbs. (priority mail-parcel post) If you have “light weight” items, like caps and scarves, that’s a first class item, and you should estimate around $2. You’ll figure it out in time.