Time to call it a day. Good night. ECF
Time to call it a day. Good night. ECF
For a multitude of reasons, I have decided to change our current shipping policy.
Our currently policy was we offered free USPS shipping on all orders, but we required a $20 minimum purchase.
There are two major factors that are driving this change.
I had a lot of "abandoned shopping carts" for very small orders. Maybe an single 808 battery or an Epower switch. I felt bad for these people (especially those looking for Epower parts) as there are very few vendors selling these and those that do sell them are out of stock a lot of the time.
I have been getting a lot of orders in the $20 to $35 range that were killing me from a cost perspective. In reality, looking at materials and labor, it costs almost as much to ship a $20 order as it does to ship a $100 order. The actual mailing cost will be a bit more for the higher priced orders due to weight but that is actually offset a bit with the packing materials that the USPS provides for free for some Priority Mail.
I did not want to raise prices across the board so that I would be able to cover my shipping costs on smaller orders. I cringe when I see the prices some vendors are charging for the same things I sell. So I did an overall analysis of all of the orders that I received over the three months I've been open, as well as those small orders that were abandoned because they didn't meet the minimum purchase requirements and determined the following policy would allow me to:
Keep prices low to give my customers the best value I can and help keep the market prices low
Allow a customer to purchase a small single item that they might desperately need
Reward the customers that are making larger purchases
So, to that end, moving forward, we are implementing the following policy:
All orders $35 and over will continue to ship for free. Packages under 13 ounces will be shipped USPS First Class. Packages over 13 ounces will be shipped USPS Priority Mail. I considered providing optional Priority Mail for the smaller packages at an upcharge but when analyzing the delivery times I found that First Class arrives as fast as Priority mail 95% of the time
Orders under $35 will incur a a flat $3.49 shipping charge. This will allow folks to order single small items that they need (albeit at an upcharge). The same determination as above will be made for First Class vrs. Priority Mail
I do want to thank everyone that has supported Tropical Vapors. We've only been open a little over three months now and this has been an incredibly exciting and rewarding experience. The best part is that I have had the privilege to interact with a lot of great people. The vaping community is one of the most diverse and interesting groups I've had the pleasure to work with. And the best part is that they are almost always willing to help out their fellow vapers.
Thanks again for the business and support
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