Trying to calculate shipping costs can make any eCommerce merchant delirious and feel like giving up. But it doesn’t need to be that way. If you need to know how much it’ll cost to ship a package internationally, or need to learn how to estimate shipping costs to send products to thousands of customers worldwide, then we’ve got good news.
It’s 2020, and that means there are multiple tools available for you to calculate your shipping costs in minutes.
In this post, we’ll share the basic information you’ll need to get a quote, additional services and requirements that may impact the price of your shipment, and provide a few useful tools that’ll help you learn how to calculate shipping costs in a just few clicks.
What Information Do You Need to Calculate Shipping Costs?
Calculating shipping costs can get complicated, with numerous factors potentially impacting the final cost. However, there are four primary pieces of information that you will need every time when trying to estimate shipping costs for a package. If you have this information, you’ll generally be able to get an accurate quote. Here are the four variables that you should always consider:
Shipping Point of Origin and Destination
How far a delivery travels from the point of origin to the shipping destination is a key factor in calculating the cost. In general, the further away, the higher the price. Couriers using shipping zones as a way to measure the distance a package travels from the point of origin to the final destination. In the United States there are currently eight shipping zones that are broken up by zip code.
Couriers like USPS, UPS, FedEx and DHL base their rates on the shipping zones which can be found on their respective websites.
As obvious as it might sound, you need to accurately understand where you are shipping from and the destination of the package before you can start to calculate the costs.
The Weight of the Package
The dead weight of a package is how heavy it is. Put it on a scale, get the weight. The heavier the package, the more it will cost to ship. However, there’s also dimensional weight. This gets more complicated, and will be based on the dimensions of the package that you are using to ship the goods.
Package Dimensions
The dimensions are the length, width, and height of the package used to ship the goods. Packages come in sorts of dimensions, so it’s important for eCommerce merchants to understand how this can impact the cost. Especially since couriers also charge by dimensional (or volumetric) weight. Basically, this is the amount of space that a package takes up on the delivery vehicle.
To determine the dimensional weight, couriers multiply the length, width, and height of your package, then divide this number by a cubic divisor of their choice.
It’s a good idea to learn more about dimensional weight and how to optimize your packaging to reduce shipping costs. These small steps can go a long way in reducing your shipping costs and get a better estimate, which will benefit the bottom line for your eCommerce business.
Delivery Times for Shipping
The delivery time is how fast a package or shipment will arrive at the destination. This can vary from overnight to over a month, with price points everywhere in between, depending on the distance the package is traveling.
If you want a package delivered overnight, it’s going to cost much more than using a standard 3-7 day ground service. Before you decide to estimate shipping costs, you will most certainly need to know how fast you want your packages to be delivered.
And more and more information need to be used for calculation…
But don’t worry! We have an automation system that can do anything. Our systems can estimate your costs in fastest speed and be approximate with your final cost. You can shop comfortably based on how much money you have and not afraid of shipping costs. It was truly a great shopping experience.