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Shipping items under 1kg from Ghana is $35. How should we charge for shipping for a marketplace with multiple vendors shipping various items directly to the customer?

My online marketplace (womarketplace.com) allows vendors to sell their handmade in Africa items on our site, then ship directly to the customer. An item under 1kg is about $35 when shipping from Ghana through DHL (currently the cheapest) to the States or Europe. I'm having difficulty figuring out how to price the shipping on the site. Customers pay $30 for a product, then have to pay an additional $35 for shipping?! When customers are buying multiple items from vendors, they are spending about $35 per item under 1Kg items. There's gotta be a better way to go about this! What am I missing or doing wrong?

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Hi Whitney!! I am no expert in logistics but it seems that you are looking for some kind of consolidation service. Is there any way you could gather together all shipments in a week in Ghana and then send them together to USA/Europe? That should lower youshipment costs. Contact DHL and ask them for consolidation and distribution services. They should have a solution for that.

Report Uriel Alejandro's answer

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Hmmm well now that might be hard because the items are coming from all over Ghana and nigeria and are going to different places in the UK and Europe. I don't know is that even possible? I know you are looking for a mentor here as well, but I would LOVE to have you as my mentor

Report Whitney 's answer

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Whitney you can start to identify the most commun places from Ghana and Nigeria where the products comes and then see if a strategie to consolidate your shipments on one spefic day of the week can lower the cost. Also companies like DHL always manage a consolidation packages that depends on the frecuency and volume of the cargo the cost that they can offer you the service, and that can help you to lower your freight costs. Also you can offer to your customers and option of urgent shipment in case that they can´t or do not want to wait a long period to have their purchases where you can charge the current $35.

And other possible way that you can explore is to negotiate with your supplier to take a part of the cost of the shipment in order to reduce the cost for their costumers too.

Report David Alejandro's answer

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have you talked to FedEx? also check our handbook for more useful sources of info http://mystartuphandbook.com/portada.php

Report Luis 's answer

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