The one thing that's scaring me off

[magician13134]

How do I handle shipping? Do I ship once a week or something? Would I be expected to ship daily if I sold kits? I remember maybe seeing some commercials about mailmen picking up packages, but would they mind taking several dozen? How does this work? Thanks

[westfw]

Speaking as a customer, I think a small kit manufacturer could get away with shipping weekly IF AND ONLY IF they announce loudly and clearly to the world (their customers) that this is what they do. The default expectation these days is that goods will arrive in less than a week...

From a package pickup point of view, the more packages, the better. You pay your fees "per package" (perhaps as part of the postage, perhaps explicitly), but the costs to the shipping company are "per trip." Consider the degenerate case where your kit is tiny and goes out in a normal 1st class envelope with a standard stamp...

[mtbf0]

I remember maybe seeing some commercials about mailmen picking up packages, but would they mind taking several dozen? How does this work?

well, speaking as a letter carrier, if your carrier has a vehicle it shouldn't be a problem.

if not, you can call the po's 800 number and request a pickup.

and though they're getting harder to find, there are still collection boxes around. just make sure you know the time of the last pickup. or look around for one with a late pickup. the time on the box will be the earliest time it will be picked up. the collection driver has to scan a barcode in the box and early pickups are, uh, discouraged.

also, if you use the po website to print your labels and postage you get free delivery confirmation. this is admittedly different from tracking, but i've got a package coming from modern device co, (sorry ladyada), that's showing a lot more scans than i'm used to.

[magician13134]

Ok, and when you say "with a standard stamp", that's up to one ounce, right? The kits I have in mind to start with are indeed small, but with packaging and a bubble mailer, it will probably weigh more, I may need two stamps. Oh, or I could get custom 2-ounce stamps, that way they could be personalized, that's always fun

[darus67]

The size and shape of the package has an effect on postage also.

The US Postal Service website has all the details available, if you're patient
enough to dig for them.

[magician13134]

Alright, thank you. Now it's time to check MY mail for the PCBs I ordered... They'd better be here today

[macegr]

First Class Parcel is really cheap, you can mail a box up to 13 ounces and less than 108 inches combined L+W+D. On average costs about $2-$3 and gets anywhere in the U.S. within 3 days. If you can't go to the post office, you would need a machine to weigh the parcel and print postage, or a postal scale and a library of appropriate stamp values. Another option I like to use is the Automated Postal Center, you walk up and it can weigh packages and print postage.

So that's a nice option if you want to offer customers a few dollars savings. If you prefer to have a really easy shipping method, use Priority Mail. You should have a scale for this as well. You can type in the addresses on the USPS website and print off labels. Slap the label on the box, drop in collection bin, done. Alternately, with Priority Mail you can even schedule Carrier Pickup, which typically happens the next day and is free. They just grab the package when they stop by on their normal mail route. Voila, you shipped packages the next day and never had to leave home. Priority Mail will cost about $5 per package, unless it's more than a pound or so.

I currently offer First Class Parcel as a shipping option, but it is kind of a pain compared to Priority. I might disable First Class if it ends up costing a lot of time.

[magician13134]

I didn't want to start a new thread, but this is a little off topic. Anyway, how do you manage credit card payments? I have a Paypal account and would prefer to be paid in that way, but obviously, not everyone has that, and I'm a bit apprehensive about dealing with credit cards. Thanks

[Hazard]

I didn't want to start a new thread, but this is a little off topic. Anyway, how do you manage credit card payments? I have a Paypal account and would prefer to be paid in that way, but obviously, not everyone has that, and I'm a bit apprehensive about dealing with credit cards. Thanks

I think paypal has a service, that handles credit cards for you.
When I bought my Fonera, I paid through paypal without an account. It just asked my credit card # and information.

[macegr]

Correct, you can handle it through PayPal. Alternately, consider Google Checkout. Neither solution deals well with multiple purchases unless you use a third party application. But for single purchases, it's pretty simple...you can paste HTML into your page and end up with a Buy Now button and then everything is taken care of, you get your money and an email with all the shipping information.

[magician13134]

Ok, sounds good. I've been getting very good news from OurPCB (free tooling, tiling is Ok, free black soldermask, etc.), and I've made out a price sheet for my first attempt. I think I'm going to try it, but now I need some way of getting people to my site...

[Hazard]

May I asked what kits are you offering?

[adafruit]

when i started i shipped once or twice a week and it was fine. even if you make it clear that packages are not shipped more often you'll get complainers so it doesn't really matter

you can request free package pickup from www.usps.gov as long as you have at least one priority mail. in the request you can note how many packages you have to ship and how heavy it is and they'll send out a truck its its a lot. you can print postage for free using click-n-ship on usps.gov altho eventually you may opt for something like endicia and a postage label printer. either way, you'll want a scale so you can weigh at home

[magician13134]

Thanks for all the responses and feedback, everyone. I'm setting up a ZenCart so I can be just like Ladyada
It's a bit complicated to get all the PayPal stuff set up with it, but I think it'll be Ok.

@Hazard-For now I have my Perceptual Chronometer project that's really just turned more into a customizable AVR message scrolling/displaying thing, I'm working on getting the MintyMIRT together (once it's been tested of course) and it also works as a TV-B-Gone and a TV remote jammer. That's all I have for now, but as I come up with more, I'd like to be able to sell them

[mtbf0]

I'm working on getting the MintyMIRT together (once it's been tested of course) and it also works as a TV-B-Gone and a TV remote jammer.

i'd be careful how you advertise that, unless you've got 10 grand you can spare and want to take a year off before going to college.