Brief Overview
Cheap international shipping — it’s not just about low cost per parcel. The actual cost consists of shipping price, volumetric weight, payment convenience, time costs, risk of loss, insurance, returns, and quality of support. This article explains how to properly evaluate cheap shipping so as not to overpay secretly.
Who this article is for
- For sellers looking to reduce costs on international shipping.
- For small e-commerce businesses that calculate the actual cost of each parcel.
- For those who want to understand why a cheap rate doesn’t always mean advantageous shipping.
Key Point
To choose truly cheap international shipping, you need to consider: the base cost of the parcel, delivery times, volumetric weight, exchange losses, processing time, risks of loss, insurance costs, return options, support speed, and accessibility of customs information and restrictions.
How to Find Truly Cheap International Shipping: Step by Step
- Don’t evaluate shipping only by the starting rate: consider the total cost.
- Compare delivery times: a cheap service shouldn’t mean critical delays.
- Check how weight is calculated: actual or volumetric, and according to which formula.
- Assess the convenience of payment: can you pay from your received funds without unnecessary conversions?
- Look at how the parcel is arranged: online or with unnecessary queues and manual operations.
- Check for losses and insurance: cheap shipping without protection might cost more in the long run.
- Clarify the possibility of returns: especially if you sell in the USA or Europe.
- Evaluate support and access to information: this is also part of the actual shipping cost.
What Forms the Actual Cost of Cheap International Shipping
| Component | What it Means | Why it Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Base Rate | Starting price for the shipment | Provides an estimate but does not show the full cost |
| Calculative Weight | Physical or volumetric weight, whichever is greater | Can significantly alter the final price |
| Payment | Whether there are losses due to currency conversion and fees | Affects the seller’s actual costs |
| Processing | Time and convenience of creating labels and paying | Saves or costs your time |
| Losses and Insurance | Risk of lost parcels and protection costs | Forms hidden shipping costs |
| Returns | Cost of returning goods from the customer | Especially important for e-commerce |
| Support | Response speed and contact availability | Reduces time and nerve losses |
| Information Support | Customs, prohibited items, restrictions | Helps avoid mistakes and unnecessary expenses |
Payment: easy and convenient
Next, the shipping cost also consists of the convenience of payment. This, among other things, means that if you have sold something on a Western auction or marketplace, you don’t need to pay commissions, transfer this money into cash in Ukraine, then somehow send it all to the postal operator, losing on commissions and currency conversions.
For example, Western Bid offers to pay you immediately from the funds received from your sales, so you do not lose on conversion and time.
Calculated package weight
Another factor that needs to be considered is the weight calculation of the goods, because commercial mail operates based on volumetric weight. The volumetric weight is either the volumetric or the physical weight—whichever is greater. And in this case, you need to determine which formula your postal operator applies. If they use the formula D x W x H / 5000, then the price is based on that, but if you divide by 4,000, as some operators do, then the price will be completely different. This is the formula for calculating volumetric weight. In the Western Bid calculator, for example, if you enter the parameters of your parcel, you will immediately see the calculated weight.
Packaging of the parcel
And here we move on to another important aspect – convenience of processing. For example, in Western Bid, if you send a parcel, you receive the label almost immediately. Even if you are not in Kyiv, and you need to send a parcel to our Kyiv center for further forwarding from Kyiv to your recipient, in your personal account you can also pay for the New Post shipping to our center in Kyiv, virtually without leaving your home, using the funds available in your account. This way, you will arrive at the New Post branch with a fully prepared parcel, and you won’t have to stand in line or process it directly at the branch.
Losses accounting during international shipping
In addition to convenience and cost calculation, you need to consider the reliability of the postal service, because if you do not take this factor into account, each lost parcel (even if only one or two out of several hundred parcels are lost) is still a loss. Eventually, these losses will occur to you, and therefore the cost of such a loss should be included in the shipping cost of each parcel.
Accordingly, two circumstances should be considered. First, whether the carrier offers insurance and how expensive it is. For example, Western Bid offers insurance for 1% of the declared value. And second – how many parcels, on average, the carrier loses. This can be easily determined from reviews on social networks about any carrier. For example, you can read about Western Bid in a public group on Facebook. Unlike other carriers, we do not restrict access to customer groups, nor do we make them private for such groups.
Return of goods
Another component of the price is the possibility for your customers to return the goods. Returns happen, and if customers refuse the product, they will demand a certain amount from you for returning the parcel back to you. This is all part of your cost. It is very important to determine how you will accept the goods back and what your expenses will be in this process.
For example, Western Bid offers a return center in Miami. Accordingly, it will be much cheaper (and for you as well, of course) to send the goods to Miami for resale to another seller or to return it to you in Ukraine.
Time is the most valuable
Thus, we have already reached the most important point: the cost of shipping is the cost of your time. And here too, it is very important, when choosing a carrier, to understand that if you call your carrier for hours and wait days for responses to your emails, of course, this will add to the initial cost of shipping.
At Western Bid, there is support available by phone during working hours, and the chat on the website and in the personal account also operates daily. Additionally, you can contact us via email, Viber, we have groups on Telegram, Facebook, and you can even write on Twitter. We strive to provide our clients with communication tools so that they do not have to wait long for responses to their letters and requests.
Access to forwarding information
And another point – it is very important to receive information about delays in a timely manner and to be aware of certain restrictions during shipment. If you find out about this only after you’ve arranged your parcel, you could lose money. Therefore, we recommend that you inquire in advance about customs procedures, allowed items for shipping, and so on. Accordingly, the choice of carrier also depends on how informative the carrier is in this regard, how fully and promptly you can obtain this information.
For example, the Western Bid website has a search feature, available in both the Ukrainian and Russian versions, where you can enter a query about the information you are interested in, such as prohibited goods, product codes, or IOSS, and thus avoid trying to find this information elsewhere online, instead getting it all in one place.
Articles on the Western Bid site are written in such a way that, after reading one, you can find links to the second and third. A live chat with operators is also available on the site, and if you cannot find any information, the operator will immediately suggest where to find the relevant materials. In other words, all the services you expect from a courier company are also included in the cost of the shipment. You save money, you save your time, so when sending a parcel and relying on inexpensive shipping, you should also consider these factors.
The most affordable international shipping is not the one with the lowest rate on the calculator, but the one where you do not lose money on currency conversion, time, errors in processing, lack of support, lost packages, and expensive returns.
Want to calculate truly cost-effective international shipping?
Evaluate not only the initial cost of the parcel, but also the weight, insurance, payment convenience, returns, and support speed. This way, cheap shipping doesn’t turn into an expensive headache.
