How much should I charge for shipping handmade items?

Charge what it genuinely costs, which means postage plus the box, the filler, the tape, the label and the minutes you spend packing. For a single small item posted domestically that is often twice the postage figure alone. Work it out once for a typical order, then decide whether to show it as a shipping line or build it into the price.

Should I build shipping into my prices or charge it separately?

Building it in usually wins online, because marketplace search favours free delivery, buyers compare item prices, and a postage line at checkout loses sales that were already won. It only works if you actually added the cost to the price first. Charging separately makes more sense for heavy items, wildly varying destinations, and anything where the postage would distort the item price beyond recognition.

What is a good free shipping threshold?

A little above your average order value, so that reaching it means genuinely adding something rather than rounding up. If most orders come in around $35, a $50 threshold works harder than a $40 one. Check the threshold covers your postage on the smallest order that qualifies, or you will be paying for delivery on baskets that only just squeaked over.

Should I count packing time as labour?

Yes, and in exactly one place. Either add the minutes to the hours you enter for the batch, or price them into your shipping cost, but never both. Ten minutes an order at a realistic hourly rate is several dollars, which is far too much to leave out and enough to distort your price if it is counted twice.

How do I handle broken items in transit?

Price for it rather than hoping. Work out roughly how often a parcel arrives damaged, and add that share to your shipping cost — one in fifty is two percent. Replacing a broken order without argument is usually cheaper than the review you get for arguing, and it stops being painful once the price already covers it.

Is international shipping worth it for a small maker?

It can be, but price it separately rather than treating it as domestic postage with more stamps. Count the longer packing, the customs paperwork, the parcels that get refused at the border and returned at your cost, and the messages you answer about delays. Be explicit in the listing that any import duty is the buyer's to pay.

What to charge for shipping

Postage is the part of shipping everyone counts and the smallest part of what it costs. Boxes, filler, tape and twelve minutes at the kitchen table are all real money, and a flat rate picked to look competitive can quietly turn a good order into a bad one.

Updated August 31, 2026

Postage is the smallest part of it

Ask a maker what shipping costs and you get the postage. It is the only line with a receipt, so it is the only one that feels like a cost. Everything else came out of a bulk pack of boxes bought in March and does not feel like anything at all.

One candle posted domestically, counted honestly

PostageTracked, insured to a modest value	$6.20
Box and void fillDivided out of the bulk packs you bought	$0.85
Tape, label and a thank-you cardSmall, and paid on every single order	$0.35
Ten minutes packingAt $29 an hour, which is what your making time is worth	$4.83
What it costs to post one order	$12.23

Twelve dollars twenty-three against the $6 flat rate on the listing. That is a six dollar hole in every order, dug by the two lines nobody counts, and it does not show up anywhere except in the vague sense that a busy month did not feel as good as it should have.

Watch out. Count your packing time in one place only. If it is already inside the hours you gave the calculator for the batch, do not add it again here — double counting inflates your price just as surely as missing it deflates it.

Free shipping is shipping in the price

Free shipping is not a discount and it is not generosity. It is the same money collected in a different box, and the only question that matters is whether it genuinely went into the item price or quietly went nowhere.

There are good reasons to do it. Marketplace search tends to favour listings with free delivery, buyers compare item prices rather than order totals, and a postage line appearing at checkout is one of the most reliable ways to lose a sale that was already won. On Etsy in particular you pay fees on the shipping either way, so charging it separately buys you nothing.

Work out what posting one order really costs you, the whole table above rather than the postage line.
Add it to the item cost before you apply your multiplier, so the shipping is marked up along with everything else.
Check the resulting price against what similar items sell for, and decide whether it still lands.
If it does not, keep shipping as a separate charge rather than absorbing it out of your own margin.

That third step is where people flinch, and it is worth sitting with. An item that cannot carry its own postage inside a competitive price is telling you something true about either the item or the postage, and hiding the shortfall in your margin does not answer it.

Flat rate, calculated, or a threshold

Three approaches, all defensible, each with a different thing it does badly. Most sellers eventually run a combination rather than picking one.

Flat rate. One price whatever the destination. Simple to quote and easy for buyers, but local orders overpay and distant ones lose money, so it only works if your average holds.
Calculated at checkout. The platform prices the parcel by weight and destination. Nobody subsidises anybody, but the number appears late and heavy items can produce a figure that kills the sale.
Free over a threshold. Postage charged on small orders, free above a set value. The one that actively earns money, because it pushes order sizes up.

The threshold is the one worth setting deliberately. Put it a little above your average order value — if most people spend around $35, set free shipping at $50 rather than $40. Low enough to be reachable, high enough that reaching it means adding something real to the basket.

Tip. A flat rate is only as good as its average. If a quarter of your orders go to the far side of the country and cost double, work the average out across a real month of orders rather than a typical one.

Where the money actually leaks

Once shipping is priced, the losses that remain come from a handful of specific places. None of them is dramatic and all of them are avoidable once you know to look.

Oversized boxes. Carriers charge on volume as well as weight, and a candle rattling around in a large box can cost more to send than two candles in the right one.
The parcel that just crosses a weight band. Ten grams of extra tissue paper can move an order into a dearer bracket than the item's own margin covers.
Breakages. If one in fifty arrives broken, that is a real cost of shipping, and it belongs in the price rather than in a bad afternoon.
Lost parcels and refunds on untracked postage, which you almost always end up covering yourself.
The drive to the post office, which is fuel and half an hour, and is the reason posting twice a week beats posting daily.

Breakage is the one worth pricing rather than absorbing. If you replace one order in fifty, add two percent to your shipping cost and it is covered. That way a smashed jar is an expected line in a spreadsheet rather than an unpleasant surprise that comes out of the month.

Sending things abroad

International orders are flattering and frequently unprofitable. The postage is the obvious part and rarely the problem. The parts that catch people are the ones that arrive weeks later.

Customs duties and import taxes, usually paid by the buyer on arrival, and a common reason a parcel is refused and returned to you at your expense.
Restrictions on what you can send at all. Anything flammable, alcohol-based or perishable has rules, and candles, soaps and fragrance oils all bump into them.
Tracking that stops at the border, which turns a lost parcel into your problem with no evidence either way.
Long delivery times that generate anxious messages, all of which cost you time you are not being paid for.

None of that is a reason not to sell abroad. It is a reason to price it as its own thing rather than as domestic postage with a bigger stamp, and to be plain in the listing about who pays any duty. A buyer who was warned pays it. A buyer who was not leaves a review about it.

Questions makers ask

How much should I charge for shipping handmade items?: Charge what it genuinely costs, which means postage plus the box, the filler, the tape, the label and the minutes you spend packing. For a single small item posted domestically that is often twice the postage figure alone. Work it out once for a typical order, then decide whether to show it as a shipping line or build it into the price.
Should I build shipping into my prices or charge it separately?: Building it in usually wins online, because marketplace search favours free delivery, buyers compare item prices, and a postage line at checkout loses sales that were already won. It only works if you actually added the cost to the price first. Charging separately makes more sense for heavy items, wildly varying destinations, and anything where the postage would distort the item price beyond recognition.
What is a good free shipping threshold?: A little above your average order value, so that reaching it means genuinely adding something rather than rounding up. If most orders come in around $35, a $50 threshold works harder than a $40 one. Check the threshold covers your postage on the smallest order that qualifies, or you will be paying for delivery on baskets that only just squeaked over.
Should I count packing time as labour?: Yes, and in exactly one place. Either add the minutes to the hours you enter for the batch, or price them into your shipping cost, but never both. Ten minutes an order at a realistic hourly rate is several dollars, which is far too much to leave out and enough to distort your price if it is counted twice.
How do I handle broken items in transit?: Price for it rather than hoping. Work out roughly how often a parcel arrives damaged, and add that share to your shipping cost — one in fifty is two percent. Replacing a broken order without argument is usually cheaper than the review you get for arguing, and it stops being painful once the price already covers it.
Is international shipping worth it for a small maker?: It can be, but price it separately rather than treating it as domestic postage with more stamps. Count the longer packing, the customs paperwork, the parcels that get refused at the border and returned at your cost, and the messages you answer about delays. Be explicit in the listing that any import duty is the buyer's to pay.

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