We sell custom apparel (right now, mostly to Toronto Firefighters). Our merchandise includes larger items, such as jackets and hoodies. But we also sell smaller items, such as challenge coins and patches.
Currently, I have a flat rate set for all shipping (set at $10.95). However, when a customer orders only a challenge coin or two, or a challenge coin and a patch, I can get these items into a small bubble envelope and it costs me less to ship it out. I don't want to charge my customers $10.95 to ship out a bubble envelope.
I first considered offering a $6.00 coupon that could be applied to any cart that contained a coin purchase, to help offset the shipping cost. But one problem with that is if someone purchases a coin and a jacket at the same time, now they are only paying $4.95 for shipping and I am likely paying 4-5 times that amount to ship the coin and the jacket to them. As well, I haven't yet figured out the best way to offer the coupons to someone who is already visiting the site and shopping. I guess I could create a coupons page and place the links on that page? Or is there a more efficient way to accomplish this?
Then I considered setting up a custom shipping profile that charges about $2.50 per coin purchased. That would work great if only one coin was being purchased but the problem would get exponentially worse, the more coins that are purchased. Two coins would be $5.00, four coins would be $10.00, six coins would be $15.00, and so on. Anything over four coins would end up costing more than the current $10.95 flat shipping rate. The other issue again, is if someone buys a coin and a jacket. It would charge $10.95 on the global flat rate for the jacket but then add another $2.50 to that to stick a coin in with it...
It would be ideal if I could charge a flat rate of say $4.95 for up to 5 coins, if they are the only item being purchased for that order - but I have no idea how or if that can be done with the current software.
It's too bad that the Premium Plan is such a big jump from $30/month to $85/month to get the Real Time Shipping option. Seems like an incredible jump in monthly cost to add this functionality (I know it also offers other options as well - but I don't see me needing those). Perhaps Square should consider offering it as an a la carte option to add to any existing plan for $10-$15 a month.
Has anyone run into similar issues? Does anyone have any solutions or suggestions on how to set up shipping rates for the problems described above?
Thanks!
