Avg. cost for 6 or 12 eggs shipped

[marie_martin]

I was wondering what you guys normally charge, I know it changes when you run specials, etc. But What do you normally charge for 6 egg or 12 eggs including or without shipping?

Ex.
(6) Black/Blue silkie eggs $10 plus actual shipping

Or

(12) salmon faverolle eggs $25 shipping included, you get the idea. You don't have to post it here if you would prefer to PM me. I am trying to get an idea of what is fair? Postage is more than I thought, and very expensive to some zones. Not to mention the shipping materials. Is is better to have a set price for the eggs and then charge actual shipping? In your opinion does it make a lot of difference.

Also, how do you do your shipping labels at home if you don't have a scale? How would you be able to put the weight in. Or do most of you have a scale?

Thanks for the info. I am just really getting into selling the eggs and want to do it right.

Marie

 

[blue90292]

the post office has flat rate boxes for priority mail so i know it'll either cost me $8.95 or $12.95 depending on the size of the box and i tack on $1 for delivery confirmation. i don't add anything for shipping material since i use recycled items.

the part i hate the most is when you realize your shipping costs more than what you sold the eggs for and you're paying to get the eggs to someone.

 

[ginasmarans]

I charge a flat rate that includes shipping. The actual cost of shipping varies. I look at it as so much for the eggs and the shipping is free. That works well for me.

 

[marie_martin]

Well, I have not used the flat rate boxes. I have been using the 7x7 box or the shoe box and it is usually less than the flat rate on most shipments. But I have been charging $15 for 6-7 eggs and that included shipping. Well, I have paid $7-$8 for shipping. I also try to use recycled materials but I do have to buy tape and bubble wrap and I have to feed the birds to get the eggs. So you have to make a little profit.

I don't show my birds so I am trying to stay reasonable until I work on the flock a bit longer and see how they do for others. But I did not realize shipping would be as much as it is to some places.

I was just wondering how others did it.

Thanks.

Marie

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

I use the 12x12x8 flat rate boxes. I can fit 15-24 chicken eggs in there & about 15 Muscovy eggs, individually wrapped. It costs $8.95 to mail it. I generally charge $12 for shipping because the post office is a 40 mile round trip for me & gas is $3.69/gallon here.

Oh & I have been getting $10 for 6 Muscovy eggs & when my brahmas start up again, I usually get about $15 for 12 of them.

Hope this helps?

 

[GracefulBantams]

I sell my eggs for:


Specific breed Bantams (pure): *
$10 for one-half dozen (6)


Assorted breed Bantams (pure): *
$8 for one-half dozen (6)
$10 for two-thirds dozen (8)
$14 for one full dozen (12)


Large Fowl (cross breed): **
$10 for one dozen (12)
$15 for two dozen (24)


Assorted Large Fowl Ducks (pure): **
$15 for one dozen (12)


Bantam Ducks (pure): *
$15 for one-half dozen



* $8 shipping & handling added to each order

** $10 shipping & handling added to each order

 

[GracefulBantams]

Oh, and I use the USPS #7 box for almost all orders. It has cost me anywhere from $4.60 - $12.50 to mail this sized box all over the 48 states.

 

[hinkjc]

I use the standard Priority box as well for the majority of my egg orders and track all of my shipments in Excel spreadsheets.

Overall average for an egg shipment from here so far this year is $10.34 per box. I do not find the small flat rate boxes provide enough room for egg packing and the larger ones are too expensive to use with the $12.95 price tag on them.

All of my supplies are purchased brand new, to reduce any risk of contamination from outside sources to your farm. I buy new egg cartons, bubble wrap, tape, etc and these things are factored into my prices.

Egg prices are often dependent on quality and breed type. Larger demand means higher prices. Some offer them cheaper because they just want to keep the eggs moving. I think there are many other variables as well. For instance, any money I make goes back into my flocks. There is no profit and I don't expect one. Just some thoughts.

Jody

 

[Crunchie]

Quote:
Yeah, that!

I have found the same thing--the large flat rate fits eggs nicely, but $12.95 is about twice what it would actually cost me to ship based on weight--and then materials haven't even been factored in. No thanks!

I use the #7 boxes. If you don't already know, you can order them for absolutely FREE in packs of 10 from the USPS web site. I have a source for recycled peanuts and other packing material (health food store--no bio security risk there) so I don't have to pay for everything I use to pack. I do buy bubble wrap and packing tape from Staples--and that stuff ain't cheap. I use a lot of bubble wrap and tape, as anyone who has had the task of unpacking any of my eggs knows!!

I have been charging a $17 flat rate for 6 (+ extras) eggs from my Polish. I started with what I thought was fair for the actual eggs, not including shipping and materials. I felt that $10 was fair, and what I would like to get for them. Then I factored in shipping. It's at least $5 for me to ship a box, usually around $6. So I felt that adding $7 to cover shipping was fair. I'm typically totally covered with that $7 for the actual shipping, and sometimes that leaves a buck or so to help me pay for materials. Now if I were shipping across the country, it would most likely cost me more than $7 to ship so sometimes I wouldn't actually get $10 for the eggs. But sometimes it does only cost me around $5. So I feel that it is both fair for whomever is buying and works out ok for me in the end. It seems like a weird number, $17....but I felt that $20 was asking too much and $15 wouldn't be enough to cover my costs. Now, depending on how my birds from my breeders turn out and if I am able to make it a few shows later this year (and the results of those shows) I may charge a little bit more in the future. But, like Jody, I don't expect to make any money--and, with the price of feeding and keeping my birds, I don't make a profit. I only started selling a few eggs to help out with the cost of keeping my birds, and because it's fun to share--I really love hearing from people who have my eggs in their incubator--it's like I got to hatch all of those eggs myself!

I'm hoping that from selling some hatching eggs I'll be better able to expand and work on the breeds I have now, as well as add some more breeds/varieties and start showing sometime soon.

 

[jimmy47]

When I sold eggs at auction, I charged a flat $13.00 for shipping because you had no idea where the winner lives until after the fact. I didn't like that because sometimes the shipping was more and sometimes it was less and wasn't fair to the buyer. When I sell directly, I ask the person for their zip and go on the USPS site and figure the postage and add for the confirmation and round up to the next dollar to cover tape etc. Makes your labor cheap though. One thing to be careful about is if the person lives in zone five or higher from you and your package is larger than 12 X 12" X 12' they slap on a surcharge for size in addition to weight. That happens if you are sending enough eggs to need to make a double box. Gives you heart failure when then postage comes to $29.00 and you were thinking $14.00. I have never been able to save money with the flat rate boxes. If the package has few enough eggs to fit in them, the cost is more than actual postage would come to. I think it's best to keep the price for your eggs at whatever you decide on and try to give them a break on the shipping without cheating yourself. Just my thoughts. What works for one doesn't always work for others but after you experiment awhile you will decide what works best for you.
After you mail a few eggs, you will know what a certain number of eggs is going to weigh with your style of packing. Like with me, a dozen usually weighs between 3 and 4 pounds so I figure the postage for a 4 pound package, etc. If you have a set of digital scales for weighing yourself, you can get weighed and then again holding your package of eggs and get a pretty acurate weight unless it would happen to be like an ounce of the next pound.
Jim