Yes, It’s Another Shipping Q&A - Episode 48

https://linktr.ee/KarriKennedy

Yes, it’s another shipping Q&A. If you’re still having questions about how to do things like bundle and un bundle $9.21 and whatever there’s other episodes in the past.

#WhatnotShipping #Whatnot #KarriKennedy #Q&A #LiveSelling #Entrepreneur #WorkFromHome

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:29

Hey there guys. I hope everybody is doing really well and that you're enjoying your weekend. Today is March 14th, and uh this episode is gonna be another shipping QA. Why? Why? Because I've already done episodes on shipping. I've done the 921 episode, my proof of 921. I've done a bunch of series in the back in the very beginning. I've done like 45 episodes and lots of talk about this. But this one's gonna be pretty fast and quick. I'm gonna give you the question and then give you the answer. And I will say the majority of these questions have come straight from Facebook groups and people that have just asked me. And so I figured, hey, why not get it together? Why not have yet another show? And so that's what I'm doing. Um, let me get my notes. Okay, so here's uh the first question. Uh, let's keep it going here. Um, first one what size box can you use without changing shipping? I actually don't think I've answered this one before. That's why I started with it. Um, somebody actually in one of the messages said, Oh, the highest you can go is 12 by 12 by 12. And you know, I just at this point, I just roll my eyes because I'm like, that isn't true. So I mean, you know, it's like anything. People take bits and chunks and pieces and they wrap it up in their heads. But yes, you can definitely sell things that are more than 12 by 12 by 12. Um, so let's get into all that. Um, basically, the the way you guys need to think about this is it's not about the outside box as much as it is the weight and the cubic inches. Okay, really what not sticks to those things. And cubic inches are the amount of space, if you've forgotten your math, inside the box. So um, you know, if you did a 12 by 12 by 12, I think it's like 1728. Um, and so that's the number, you know, that that is the one that they go, okay, this is a good size, right? Stick with that. But if you go and change it, um, you could totally fit something really, really close to that. I will say, and I might have put this in my notes further, one of my favorite boxes is the 16, 12, 10 box. Um, I haven't, I didn't math that one, guys. Um, but I think it's like 1826 or something. When you do that, it's not enough to make it go over usually, unless it's like something really, really heavy and it's going really, really far. That one has worked really well for me, especially when you have longer items. Um, it's just a it's a great box. I'm sorry, it's my favorite box. What I'm not sorry, not sorry. Okay. Um, but whatnot's shipping is all designed about one cubic foot or smaller, which is cubic inches. Okay, guys. So you you're not supposed to um have a box longer than 22 inches. That's it. So the two numbers you guys really need to remember are 1728 for cubic inches and 22 for length inches, okay? If you go beyond those limits, you're gonna have to probably have an adjustment. Now, some people are like, wait, you can't do a 22 by 22 by 22. You're absolutely right. The second I start getting past really 14, 14, 14 and I get up to a 16 by 16 by 16 box, which yes, I have used those many a times. Um, they're big, huge honking boxes. Um, when you get to that level, you're definitely paying more. But usually it's because whatever's in the eye in the box weighs more. So, I mean, I guess if I put a bunch of helium balloons in that, it still would cost more, but not as much. Okay, guys, if that makes sense. So they're also factoring in your weight, okay? Um, if you go beyond 1728 and 22 inches, you're probably gonna have to make an adjustment, okay? Um, a lot of people think that size doesn't matter if the weight is right, but once you go over these, that's how it works, okay? So let's break down the 12 by 12 by 12. Okay, so basically, um, it's not the box you can use, it's volume, is the way we're gonna think about it, okay? So if you and I wish I had that, but I know an 18 by 12 by 8 is the same exact cubic inches inside as a 12 by 12 by 12. Okay, math it, guys. I'm not making this up. So you can get a 18 by 12 by 8 box, and it's if you multiply it, it's also 1728. Okay. So what I'm saying is they're different shapes, but they're the same volume. Y'all picking up what I'm laying down. Are you getting this? Some I I had no idea that any of this was like this when I started. I was like, what? Huh? So yes, the box does not have to be a cube, it could be something long, right? I could send tennis rackets or baseball bats or golf clubs or whatever, long skinny things. Okay. So then that was my actually next, my next question. Can you use a longer box? Yes, as long as what's my answer gonna be here, guys? As long as it stays under 22 inches and is close to the same, okay. I'm gonna say close because we don't really know what whatnots find behind the scenes it are. They keep a lot of proprietary information. I really just think that there's some numbers in the background we're just not seeing. But okay, let's just let's just pick some numbers, okay? If we do 22, long, that's huge, long, right? 22 by 9 by 8, that's under 1600, guys. That's 1584 cubic feet. I mean, not feet, inches, and that box is longer than a cube, but you're still gonna be fine, okay? So at the end of the day, what doesn't matter? Size, size, size doesn't matter until you get past 22 inches. Okay, that's that's really it. And I I've talked about this, the 70 pounds thing. Go listen to the 921 episode. Okay, so let's let's think about this. Um, a 16 by 12 by 10 box, the one that I like the best, you know, that I do the math, it's actually, I did write it here. I just see it. It's 1920. So technically it's slightly larger than the one cubic foot, right? Um, and but people can sometimes still get away with it as long as the weight is good. So you can try it. And you know, if you're stuck with one of these boxes, you can try different things, guys. I have many a times put something in like a 14 by 14 by 14 and got away with it because it wasn't that far and the shipping wasn't that high, or I was able to use an adjustment or whatever. Then there's been other times where the the amount of the weight in that 14 by 14 by 14 or 16 by 16 by 16 or whatever was so dang high. This happened to me last week. It was gonna be like 53 bucks. I kid you not. And I was like, uh uh-uh, nope, not happening. So the key here is don't print the label until you've tried different things. I took that out, I unbundled it, and I made it, you know, half of it go in one box and half of it go in another. And I can't remember for sure, but my guess is I ended up using 16 by 12 by 10 and 16 by 12 by 10 or something close to that, and taking that and splitting it up, okay? Um, so anyways, even though um the box can be bigger, you can still get away with it. It's gonna depend on where it's going and how heavy it is. I don't have the facts, don't think anybody has the facts. You just gotta play with it when you're talking about huge amounts of items or big giant items, you know? Um, and and that's one of the reasons that people get can really confused about the box size thing. Um, is the price doesn't always change if the weight stays in the same tier. Okay. So you're like, well, what's a tier? So let's talk about that. What actually determines your shipping price? Well, here's here's the rough, you know, estimate. I mean, well, let's do plain white envelopes. I think I have a note somewhere on that down below. But plain white envelopes are different, okay? It's 78 cents for zero to one ounce, and it has to stay really, really thin. I have a whole episode on it. That's different. But here's what the tiers are it's zero to four ounces, four to eight ounces, eight to twelve, twelve to sixteen. I'm using my fingers here. Then it goes to one to two, two to three, three to four, and four to five. And I think actually it might be four to six now. I think they changed it. I think it's four to six. So basically, if your package stays within that weight in that tier, the shipping will stay the same. So, what that means is I had this one client, because I do um consultations for people, and she was just really anal about this. And she was like, Oh, but I added an extra two ounces. I'm like, do not worry about it, do not stress about two ounces here or three ounces or four. As long as, you know, and you can actually play with it, guys, when you're doing the shipping. You know, I did this actually the other day. I had something that was really, really lightweight. Uh, I can't remember, it's like, you know, under that 11 ounces, it changes, right? Because once it gets to one pound and it was something like it was like 11 ounces, and I made it 13 or something to just play around and mess with it. You can just change that ounces. Boom, boom, boom. Will this work? Will this work? And yes, it takes a while, and yes, it takes time, but the more you do it, the better you'll get at it. Okay. Um, and so just as long as you pay attention to those tiers, okay. Um, okay, so why does a big light box sometimes cost more? This is somebody's question to me. Here's the way it works: um, carriers like U UPS and the postal service use dimensional weight, they're not using the same weight as whatnot. And I've had another episode in the past on shipping where I talked about UPS, being dad, and um whatnot being mom and how they both see things very differently. I probably talked about this in that episode. Um, but basically it means the shipping cost is based on how much space the package takes up in the in the truck, right? Not just how heavy it is, because they're like playing like Jenga and Tetris in these trucks, trying to make sure it all works. So it might be that huge 16 by 16 by 16 box, but that is taking up space, even if it is filled up with helium balloons. Okay. So that is why I'm saying you're like, wait a minute, it's so lightweight, it shouldn't be that much. Yeah, but they've got to have room in there. And let me just say, don't put helium balloons in a box, it would totally get destroyed. I don't know how you could even do that because boxes get moved around all the time. Boxes that weigh 25 or 50 or up to 70 pounds could like land on it and crush it. I I don't know if anybody, this is actually a good question. I don't know. Has anybody ever mailed helium balloons? I would guess that they have to have some kind of metal box or something so that it doesn't get crushed, or I don't know. I just don't know. Things that make you go hmm. Anyways, okay, here's the next question. Now we're talking about shipping adjustments. So somebody said, What if you pack the item and the weight or the box size is wrong? Now what happens, right? So I've I've said this before again, once again, everybody is coming in new. I'm gonna probably do multiple episodes, but here it is. You can fix it with an adjustment, okay? Now, if you didn't pay for it before, you might have to pay for it. If you if it's it's bigger or you realize, uh, here's a perfect example. If you put six ounces and it's really six pounds before because you forgot to change it from ounces to pounds, uh, yeah, you're gonna have to go in and make a new label. You can do that, okay? So basically what you're going to do is you're going into your seller hub. Obviously, you're in shippings, click on the order, then um click on the little button that looks like a like a pen or whatever, edit the shipping details, generate new label. And if it's gonna cost more money after you've gone up there and put in all the weight and dimensions and stuff, then it's gonna ask you before it prints it up. It's gonna say, are you okay paying three dollars and three cents? And you say yes, and then it'll print it up. It's not going to charge you if you have your five adjustments for three dollars. I and once again, proprietary information. We don't know specifically. I think I actually have a question on that. But, anyways, if you go in, you update the weights, you update the dimensions, it'll say the weight is 15 pounds four ounces, and now you realize after packing it and putting everything in, and oh yeah, you forgot about that item. Now it's 18 pounds five ounces. You know, maybe you're dyslexic, or maybe you didn't weigh it right, or maybe you forgot all the shipping material, whatever. You go in and you change it, then you review it, make sure, and save it. And like I said, it's going to charge you and it'll tell you before it charges you. Um, also, whatnot tells you how many adjustments you get, but it doesn't tell you the dollar value limit for those adjustments. I do not know that information. If somebody does and you want to message me and you got some insider information, by all means let me know. I know I've done things$7 here,$8 here. I mean, I think I've done$13 here. Here's my guess. This is totally a guess. Don't anybody quote me on this. This is a guess. G-U-E-S-S. My guess is that it has something to do with the dollar value of your show. So, like if you sell, you know,$3,000 worth of something, they're gonna give you a higher allowance for your shipping. I'm guessing. I don't know, guys. I truly don't. Um, okay. When did the five shipping adjustments reset? This is good information and something for you all to think about. The adjustment allowance, you know, where you get these five adjustments, they're Eastern time. I don't know where they are Eastern time. I used to know this, but they're Eastern time. And it's Sunday at 7 p.m. Sunday night at 7 p.m. Eastern time, it all resets. So I remember in the beginning, I was like, do they just roll over? Like if I don't use those five, will it just roll over and then I'll have 10? Yeah, dream on buttercup. No, uh-uh. They they zone out. So you don't get to save them, you don't get to use them for the future, none of that. So that's another reason, honestly, to think about how many shows you're having. Because if you have one show and maybe two, then maybe you can get five resets out of that. You know, if you're doing you know, eight shows a week and you're coming on morning and night and morning and night, you're most likely um gonna have more opportunity. Well, you are, you are having more opportunity to need more adjustments that are not covered by the payments that they're willing to make. Does that make sense? So seven o'clock on Sunday night, it'll shift over. So I guess I mean you could think about it. If you wanted to do a pop-up show at eight o'clock, you know, Eastern time, you get what I'm saying. That's you're in the new week. Okay. Um, let's talk about combined shipping here, real quick. So the next question, where is it? Okay, why does shipping sometimes increase? Hmm, what is her question? When buyers purchase multiple items. Okay, wait, wait, wait. What is she asking? I think this is a bundling question. She said, Why does shipping sometimes increase when buyers purchase multiple items? Oh, this is okay, obviously. Yeah, we all know the answer. Whatnot automatically bundles orders together, right? But combined package weight moves into that next tier. We just talked about it. Let me remind you, I'm gonna go back. Um, it's you know, zero to four, four to eight, eight to twelve, twelve to sixteen, and then one to two, two to three, three to four, and then four to five. Actually, I think that last one is four to six. I'd have to go double check it. Um, but basically, so the second it goes into that next tier, it's going to change it, right? So shipping is calculated based on the final weight of that person's package, not each and every single item. Does that make sense? So uh, you know, she's coming in and you've got it on flat rate 921, you're paying the rest. Once it gets past 921, you're incurring all of the cost because it's based on what you said it for, right? And so it's always, always going to bundle. People, newbies come in all the time and they ask this, is it gonna bundle? Is it gonna bundle? Yes, just give it a second. It starts off over with the higher amount from where you're shipping. I'm in Houston. If I ship to Dallas, it's way closer than if I ship to Maine. So it's calculating it based on the weight and how far it's going, but it's going to make sure it has enough money to get that first item from said location to said location. And they don't know how big your item is. You're not putting unless you've made a custom shipping, you know, deal. It's just guessing. The computer, the algorithm, it's just taking a ballpark. It's like, oh, you know, Susie sells clothes and you know, Susie sells t-shirts, and Susie has a bunch of 11 ounces, eight to 11 ounces, and she's running another one, and she's running another one. That's why people in certain clothing shows have it where you, you know, you buy four or you buy seven or whatever, and then once it gets to a certain price, boom, they charge you more money. I kind of think that's ridiculous because you can get a lot more t-shirts than you know, four into a flat rate box. So personally, I think you can get seven to eleven at least t-shirts into a flat rate box. So personally, I don't think you should do that at four, but whatever. I think it's just covering them covering their butts. I don't think as many shoppers want to go there when they know that down the road, you know what I mean by down the road, in another store, they're willing to do that. So, I mean, something to think about. Okay. Um, this is a big one that I did not know before I started whatnot, but it is a very important one. Okay. I I did not know this. Okay, here it is. Do not put tape on top of your barcode. Um, it actually, the glossy tape, it, you know, it it creates a glare. And so all these things are going on, conveyor belts, and they're they've got all these scanners looking for the barcode. There's actually people in the post office and they're flattening them up. They're, you know, if it was tilted on the side or whatever, and they're making it where the barcode can scan it. Think of it as this is such a good analogy, going under the HOV, right? When you go in the HOV and you or are have your little tag, it's up a tiny little code. Think about this, guys. Tiny little code on your car. And if you're like me, you're going 80 miles per hour, boom, it picks it up. So there's people that straighten it up so that when it goes under there, it can pick it up. If it hits tape or if your label's not flat, that can cause problems. And I'll just say I talked to I I didn't talk to, I visited. I went into a show today, and the girl was like, There's packages are taking so long, they're taking so long. I think that is one of the reasons because if the scanner can't pick it up, they have somebody actually manually has to, a human being has to interject and go in and check and make sure and scan. So you have to make sure that we had to do this just the other day. We were working with my new helper, and and one of the packages right there where the barcode is got janky and we scanned it, and sure enough, it worked. But we were about to take it off because I didn't want to mess with it. So don't put tape on it and definitely uh make sure that it's flat, right? Um, another thing is you cannot, and I I repeat, I will tell you this this has happened to people I know. Um, is that if you get an old box, let's say you got boxes from Walmart or Target or whatever afterwards, and they have old barcodes on it, you have to take a permanent marker, like a big that uh thick uh what do you call it, sharpie marker and scratch it out real good, guys, so that um it will not be picked up by the machine because then it hello, we're talking about a computer again, it gets confused, and then you're back to stage one and it's gotta go back in human intervention. So your best bet is to make sure that number one, it's packed well with the H method. I've told you guys this before, but the H method means you're doing one piece of tape down the top and a piece of tape on the right and a piece of tape on the left. That means you're covering all edges on the top and the bottom. It's called the H method, okay? You're making an H with your tape and you're making sure that it's all covered. Then you make sure that your label's on secure and that there's no creases and don't put tape on it. Okay, I think I I covered that. Okay. Um, also, you know, you can take if you don't want to sharpie those out because it can look bad, take it off and make sure that you kind of use your fingers to get any of the sticky residue off because I know these machines can be persnickety, but also things can get stuck to it and people, once again, interaction. So you want to just make sure that it's clean is basically where we're going because the machines just, you know, they're machines. Okay. Um, the the label, somebody asked, where should the label go? Which I think is a funny question. But obviously, if you're on a flat rate or priority, there's an actual little spot there. And it's literally the size for your thermal printer. If you don't have a thermal printer, get one. I'm telling you. I went for a year without one, guys. I think it was one of my life's biggest mistakes. I mean, it was so dumb of me. It's like 55 bucks. Get a damn thermal printer. Anyways, it just sticks on there. Thermal printers work with heat instead of ink. So you're not paying for the ink, you're not paying as much for the paper. It's the time, the energy, it's just amazing. Um, so it tells you where it goes and try to put it in there so that you're even on small boxes, you're trying to make sure that the um, what is that part? The uh I'm trying to say QR code, not that, the barcode, the barcode. You don't want half of it going down the edge of the box. Does that make sense? So let's say you have a four by four by four, which is a rough one. I'm gonna say, when you fold that piece of the label, try to get as much of the barcode on one spot as possible. So when that human comes in to interact, it's it's gonna the scanner's gonna pick it up. Okay, just think of that car going down the the deal. Okay. Can you reuse shipping boxes? The answer is absolutely 100% yes, you can. However, my caveat on this is don't use janky crap boxes. I have received boxes like that and it's it's sketch. I mean, it's bad. And I have received boxes where it's not really tightly filled with paper and they've got crushed and things have fallen out of it. So you have to make sure its integrity is there. Do not, and I repeat, do not blinking lights, neon, just really bright, guys. Do not use the cheap Walmart brand boxes, the ones that have like no um folds in the edge of it. They will not make it. I guarantee you, I promise you. I tried this in the very beginning to take it from here to Minnesota. It did not work. I learned the hard way. Don't do it. Okay. So, but yes, can you use a cracker box from Walmart to put t-shirts in? Absolutely, you can. Does it look a little bit more Sanford and Sun? If you guys are too old, just go look up Sanford and Sun. Okay, so, anyways, I think that is all of my questions. If you guys have questions, you can literally not even talk to me or tell me who you are or anything. You can just message me your questions at my phone number, 832-607-1526. Message me your questions and I will add them to the list for the next time I do one of these. But in a nutshell, guys, it really isn't that hard. Everybody wants to, you know, kind of, you know, panties in a wad, tizzy tizzy, the sky is falling, the sky is falling. It's not that complicated. It's really not that bad. Just remember, okay, the the the three biggest numbers: 1728 cubic inches. You're trying to get close to that, okay? Under for sure works, no problem. Little over, yeah, it just kind of depends. 22 inches is the longest it can go. So, I mean, I guess you're not sending flagpoles, right? I don't know how big a flag pole is, but or really big, huge artwork or whatever. And then you got five adjustments per week. Okay. So that really honestly explains most things. If you're having questions still and that you're trying to wrap your head around it and you need, I've got some that really use a lot of analogies, like I said, with you know, whatnot being mom and and you know, I try and you know, uh dad sitting on the couch. I I tried to make it where you guys could really wrap your heads around it. So you just have to go back and listen to some episodes. And and personally, I've seen a lot of people just jump on the platform without looking at this or thinking about this or anything. There was one girl and she got on uh social media or somewhere, she was like, gosh, I had a show, I sold 20 items. Now what do I do? She was completely clueless. She didn't she didn't have her packing materials, she just she didn't think it through, guys. So I if you're listening to this, if you've listened to any of these, I am really proud of you because it makes sense to educate yourself, to think about these things, to plan, to prepare, to get your shipping materials, et cetera, et cetera. My store is always going to be at the top of these emails. Um, emails, I mean notes. And um, yeah, we're not to emails yet. To my notes. And so you guys can easily get a hold of me if you need me for anything. Like I just told you my phone number. Um, my name, I feel like it's a uh I'm giving my number off a rolling rink uh bathroom or something. Um it's not 8675309. Um, but my name is K-A-R-R-I, last name Kennedy K-E-N-N-E-D-Y. I am on whatnot. You guys can come to my shows. I've got a lot of new merchandise because um I went sourcing today. I went to Richmond, I went to Sugarland, I went to estate sales, I've been to Houston, I have got so much stuff, and my husband's like, oh, where are we gonna put all this? And I'm like, it's gonna be okay. We're gonna sell it all. Don't worry. But yeah, I am kind of uh inundated with merchandise. I feel like I could use a whole store, but where the heck would I put that? We have a third car, we have a three-car um garage, and multiple times I've thought, hey, if I could just have that third bay and organize it and air condition it and whatever, I could be out of the house. They wouldn't have to hear me shows and all that, but I don't know what we're doing. Lots of personal stuff going on, so we'll see what happens there. But anyways, all that to be said, if you guys want to come to my show, I would appreciate it. If you want to give me a five-star rating, I would appreciate it. If you want to be my BFF, I think what I'm gonna do is do an awesome giveaway. Like I'm gonna pull a name out of a hat. If your name is a whatnot person or you put an actual name in there in one of my upcoming shows, if you give me a review. Yes, sweetening the pot, need more reviews. Um, I think it says I have like 12 ratings, but like five. It depends on what platform you're on. But wherever you are, please go and do it. It would really, really make uh my day, honestly. It would make my day if you would give me a good review. Um, make the world a better place. Anyways, um, like I said, I do not get paid here. So you're also welcome to come give me a tip or boost my show. Um, and yeah, come in and say that you heard me and I will say hi to you. And if you follow me, I will follow you. And yeah, if you need me, I can also do consultations. It's$20 for 30 minutes. It's the cheapest you're ever gonna get, and I'm never gonna raise that price. At least I don't ever plan to. I I keep it cheap on purpose uh so that you guys can afford it. We're all in the money making business, and I want to be able to help you guys. So, that being said, I hope you guys have a great day. I feel like we should raid into another show. Gosh, you can tell I've been doing a lot of shows lately. Let's go raid somebody. Okay, okay, back to reality. All right, you guys have a great day, and we will talk to you later. Bye bye.