Why was my Etsy customer charged a different amount for shipping than they should have been?
Typically, the amount that you charge your customer for shipping in your store is identical to the amount that you’re charged in Printify. However, due to an Etsy technical limitation, there are 2 situations in which the customer won’t be charged the same amount for shipping.
This article provides information about our recommended solutions that will minimize the effect this has on your bottom line.
Your Etsy customer will be charged a different amount for shipping in the following situations:
If an order contains multiple products that don’t share the same shipping profile (this includes products from different Print Providers)
If the ordered product has multiple product variants that have a different shipping rate (due to size/weight differences)
Your Etsy shop currency is not USD
Orders consisting of multiple products that don’t share the same shipping profile
Typically, when an order contains products that are of the same product type, and are also printed by the same Print Provider, the total shipping cost will be as follows: full shipping fee for the first item and reduced shipping fee for any additional item.
Conversely, if an order consists of products that are not of the same product type and/or are printed by different Print Providers – the full shipping fee will be applied to each of the products, since they will be shipped in separate packages.
However, due to a technical limitation on the Etsy side, the reduced Additional item rate will automatically be used in all Etsy orders of multiple products, even if the products are not the same product type and/or are fulfilled by different Print Providers.
As a consequence, if an order consists of multiple different products, then in some cases the Etsy customer is charged a lower shipping fee than we'll charge you.
Example
- You publish two T-shirts, one fulfilled by Monster Digital and the other by SwiftPOD
- A customer places an order for both T-shirts
- Etsy charges the customer $4.75 First item price + $2.40 Additional item price
- The order is imported to Printify, since the order is sent to two Print Providers the Additional item rate doesn't apply
- Printify charges you $4.75 First item price + $4.75 First item price
- Your customer was undercharged for shipping
Recommended solutions
Use one of the following workaround strategies to avoid affecting your profit margin:
Create a custom shipping profile in Etsy using Printify's profile as reference, and manually increase the “Additional item” shipping fee (we recommend increasing it by 50% of the difference between the regular shipping fee and the reduced shipping fee, for each shipping region).
Raise your product retail prices slightly, so that any shipping discrepancies can be absorbed.
Products with different sizes, each with a different shipping rate
Products such as mugs, posters and canvases sometimes have a different shipping rate for each product size, due to differences in weight. Or, in the case of postcards, different shipping rates depending on the number of postcards (a single postcard or a package of 10).
Unfortunately, due to a technical limitation on Etsy, only one shipping rate can be assigned to a Printify product at the time of publishing, even if the product has multiple product variants with different shipping rates.
Our system will automatically calculate the average shipping rate and assign that to all variants of the product. This means that your Etsy customers will be either slightly overcharged or undercharged for shipping when purchasing these products.
Example
- You publish a Matte Vertical Poster by Printify Choice in sizes 8x10" and 24x36"
- Size 8x10" has a U.S. Domestic shipping rate of $6.99, size 24x36" has a shipping rate of $10.89
- Due to Etsy limitations, the shipping profile for the listing on Etsy is created with the average rate of both variants – $8.94
- If the customer orders a 8x10" poster:
- They are charged $8.94 for shipping in Etsy
- Printify charges you $6.99 for shipping
- Your customer was slightly overcharged
- If the customer orders a 24x36" poster:
- They are charged $8.94 for shipping in Etsy
- Printify charges you $10.89 for shipping
- Your customer was slightly undercharged
Recommended solutions
Use one of the following workaround strategies to avoid affecting your profit margin:
Increase/decrease the price of different product variants accordingly, so that the customer ends up paying closer to the actual price in total.
Consider creating separate product listings for variants with different shipping prices (this would be especially useful for postcards). For example, one product listing for a single postcard (the customer will still be able to select their preferred quantity) and one listing for the package of 10 postcards.
Your Etsy shop currency is not USD
If your Etsy shop currency is not set to USD, shipping rates will be published incorrectly. This is because Printify shipping rates are sent to Etsy as numerical USD values and are not converted automatically. For example, if the shipping rate is $4.75 USD and your Etsy shop currency is GBP, the shipping rate will be published as £4.75 instead. As a result, your customer may be overcharged or undercharged for shipping.
To avoid this, we strongly recommend setting your Etsy shop currency to USD. You can do this in Etsy by going to Shop Manager → Finances → Payment settings → Currency tab → expand "Looking to change your shop currency?" → select USD → click Change Shop Currency.
Learn more about Etsy shop currency settings here
If you prefer to keep your Etsy shop in another currency, you’ll need to create and maintain your shipping profiles manually in Etsy.