Cyber Monday Tip #5: Shipping Rates & Policy Check

Posted on November 17th, 2009 by Matt Sampson - Colorado Web Solutions

Part 5 of our month long Cyber Monday Prep Tips Series. Every day, we have been giving you one small piece of advice to check, fix or confirm within your Yahoo! Store in preparation for Cyber Monday 2009. View Past Yahoo! Store Tips.

Cyber Monday Yahoo! Store Preparation Tip #5: Double Check your Shipping Rates and Rules

Today we are going to be examining your Shipping Rates and Policies. Should be simple, but it’s always good to look at everything at least once a year to re-evaluate.

First things first. Your shipping rates. Are they the right price based on your expenses? Can you lower them? Do you need to raise them? If you offer free shipping, is your threshold still at the right level to qualify? Can it be lowered? Should it be raised? Start with those questions and then move on.

Once you’ve answered those questions, head to the shipping policy section of your website and look at it from a customers point of view. Are your prices correct as they are listed? Is it easy to understand the options and rates? If not, how can you make it easier? Do you let customers know where you ship from so they can check delivery times? Are you clear about rules for oversize items, extra delivery charges, shipping delays, etc? If you ship internationally do you clearly lay out who is responsible for customs fees? If you drop ship, do you let your customers know that their items could be coming from multiple locations? Have you received any phone calls with shipping questions recently that could be answered on your website and create less questions?

Take a look at all of those things, re-read your shipping pages and make sure to update anything that wasn’t quite up to par.

These are all important things to think about, examine and keep up to date!

Now that your shipping is up to date, tomorrow we’ll take a look at your Return Policies. See you then.