Delivery Charges
Sunday June 10, 2007
Have you ever hand-delivered items to a customer? Should there be delivery fees when bringing the products to someone or a shop in person? And if so, how much should you charge? Charging fees when delivering crafts depends entirely upon the situation. How far is the customer from you and how much are you making on the sale? If this is a one-time sale for under $25 and the delivery will be for more than a couple of miles, I would definitely charge a fee. Another thing to consider would be the size of the item you are selling. Crafters of large outdoor furniture would almost have to have a constant system set up to handle delivery. And that would include either a set price-per-mile and/or a minimum purchase to qualify for delivery.
Comments
For small items that are to be delivered I charge the customer the approximation of the cost of gas. I approximate this to around $3 per 20 miles (round trip). If they are really close by and I go that way anyway- it is free. The other time it is free is when they order a very large expensive piece such as the door that I am working on. I figure if they are paying hundreds of dollars it is just fine to deliver for free.
The other option is to let the post office make the trek over there. It does not cost that much for Priority Mail and it certainly saves your time. I go to their website and print out the postage label so all I have to do is drop it off at the post office nearby. I much prefer to do it this way as opposed to delivery. Though delivery allows you to see the look on their face when they get their custom order.