Question:
Can you give me some guidance on how to determine a flat rate for international shipping?
Answer:
As you may be shipping to a variety of countries it is best to find an average to make sure you are covering your costs to ship. But you will find that using USPS to ship internationaly, the rates are remarkably consistent all over the world.
What I would suggest is to find an average weight of your products. You can look at the PRODUCT REPORT in store manager and export the list of all your products and average all the weights.. Set the date range back a few years to get all your products and then use the "Export to Excel" button to get a complete list and then average the weight column.
Most times you will be shipping more than one item so I would figure on at least 2 as an average, if you find you are routinely sending more items, you can use 3 or 4 as the average.
SO if your average weight is 1lbs and your average shipment is 2 items your average weight per package is 2.
Then go to USPS.com and make some test shipments to various countries ( just plug in the country and the weight (2lbs) and it should tell you the amount.)
Add the country
And the Weight
And you will get some options.
You can do this for a few of your most frequent countries Then find an average of different rates and use that as the guide to your flat rate.
Date Created: 07/01/2013