Got a Shop on Etsy? Handcrafted or Vintage Items to Ship? Here's How Order Fulfillment and Warehousing Services Help Lessen Your Costs (and Headaches!)
Vintage and handmade pieces are your passion, so when your business on Etsy starts to take off it can be a magical thing!
It can also be a little overwhelming. Especially when you realize that your days spent hand-picking objects and crafting items with care will now be spent thinking about the logistics of shipping your Etsy product to waiting customers at an affordable price—not to mention where you’ll keep all your product as demand starts to grow!
That’s where an order fulfillment and fulfillment warehousing service can help your Etsy business immensely.
What is an Order Fulfillment and Warehousing Service?
Think of it as an extension of your business working behind the scenes to do all the stuff that—let’s face it—you’d rather not deal with. This means your fulfillment service handles every aspect of getting your product from point A to point B affordably leaving your hands free to focus on handcrafting items and picking great vintage finds.
Individualized Fulfillment:
It’s important that your order fulfillment and warehousing service and your Etsy shop are in sync. Maybe you want to include a personalized letter with every package, or your Etsy shop materials adhere to an environmentally friendly code. Perhaps you’d like to pack everything in a certain color or you’d like the materials inside presented in a certain order—these are all things that a professional order fulfillment service will do! During your consultation, you’ll find out how fulfillment services can be individualized to fit your needs!
Fulfillment Warehousing:
You might find yourself either overwhelmed or limited by the amount of space you have to work with. Rather than fill up your apartment, your basement, your workshop etc. with your Etsy shop stock and packing materials, a fulfillment warehousing service will store all of your items in an orderly, clean environment and keep all necessary packing materials on hand. Furthermore, a warehousing service will keep an accurate, consistent inventory of your product flow and can deliver you reports daily, weekly, or monthly based on your needs.
Order Fulfillment:
When those mail orders start rolling in, rather than handle them yourself, your order fulfillment service will process the data, pack your item or items neatly to your specifications, and ship them out the very same day! This means your orders are in mail circulation within hours of being made. The best part? Because order fulfillment services deal in bulk, they can get you better discounts on mailing Etsy products of all shapes and sizes (see below to compare CITYMAIL prices to USPS prices).
Logistics:
Perhaps shipping internationally has seemed out of your reach, or your customers on the East Coast are unsatisfied with the time it takes for your packages to arrive from the West Coast. A mail order fulfillment service will be able to handle the logistics of getting your package to the UK, Canada, the East Coast and beyond with ease. Order fulfillment services have access to bulk discounts and an expert knowledge of international shipping standards. This helps you avoid complications with customs, decrease international shipping costs, and reduce long shipping times.
Returns Processing:
Unsatisfied customer? This can be a bummer, but don’t sweat it. An order fulfillment service will process all of your returns, but leave the personal communication up to you. One less thing to worry about.
How Do Our Prices Compare?
The majority of packages mailed on Etsy are classified as Irregular Lightweight Parcels.
When you compare CITYMAIL prices to USPS prices for mailing out these types of packages, the daily difference may not look like much at first glance. However, CITYMAIL could save you over $1,000+ per year on mailing alone! That’s money right back in your pocket with less effort.
For example: we do a daily mailing in a 5 day work week for a small, local maker that involves sending out a varying number of total pieces per day. The average they send out per day is about 18 pieces at weights ranging from 3oz-16oz.
Here is the daily total price for this example client to use CITYMAIL vs. the USPS:
Does your business need fulfillment services? Let CITYMAIL help you set up a profitable workflow with fulfillment, warehousing, and distribution services.
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*And that’s a 5 day work week; 291 days of mailing a year
Doesn’t seem like much of a difference at first, right? That is, until you see how your postage savings add up over time!
Still Have Questions?
It never hurts to ask! Find out if fulfillment and warehousing services are right for your Etsy shop by speaking to an expert at CITYMAIL! Big business or small operation—we’re always happy to answer any questions you may have and we’re not shy about talking out the best solution with you rather than pushing our services.