Thinking of Setting Up Shop on Squarespace? Great idea! But have you looked into your shipping options?

In Squarespace you can set up shop to sell any product, be it a digital download, service products or physical items. Setting up for digital and service products is easy-peasy. Lately though, we’ve had a few clients setting up shop for physical products. This is a whole new ball of wax.

Don’t get me wrong - Squarespace is great for physical products, for a small to small-medium sized shop (yes please see Shopify for anything larger). It’s just that most folks don’t think about their shipping options before they start their enterprise. If you need a little guidance here, I did some research for you:

Regarding My Cred

I don’t own or have run an eCommerce business. I own and run a website design business. In other words, I am no shipping expert! But when you start looking into it all, it’s pretty straight forward. There’s just a lot to learn.

Say you’re a small business with a few products

Here’s a few things to think about - maybe grab a pen a paper and jot some notes:

Do you want to use your own mailing envelopes and not a box or a tube?
Do you want to keep your shipping costs as low as possible?
How big is your parcel size? How much will they weigh?
Do you want parcel pick up?
How much of your product cost will be shipping?
Will you be shipping out a large volume of items?
Where will you be shipping to? Nationally? Internationally?
What are the tax laws in those areas? Do you need to charge tax on shipping?

Once you’ve answered these questions you can figure out the best option for your mail provider.

Regular Mail

Doesn’t require shipping labels - you would make your own mailing labels instead
You would use your local post office and stamps
Is very inexpensive but,
doesn’t include anything extra like package pick up, item tracking and shipping labels.

Basically, without using a courier you are simply putting something in the mail. That’s why it’s so cheap (around 3x less than a courier). Unfortunately this won't provide you with all of the extras.

We had a recent client who wanted to use this option because she was a one-product shop and a non-profit and this kept her costs way down. Also she wanted to use her own mailers because they were eco-friendly and biodegradable. Nice idea! But you can’t do this with couriers. Generally they want you to use their boxes because they have them pre-weighed.

Small Biz Using Snail Mail with Squarespace?

My suggested process for you:

When an order comes in, mark as Pending in your shop.
Print your orders right from your store: In Squarespace you can print order invoices to include as slips in order packages. Each order prints on its own page. You can print up to 100 orders at a time.
Export your orders in a CSV file and import into something like Microsoft Excel. Then use Microsoft Word to create the labels and import addresses from Excel.
Print your mailing labels at home. In Word you can even add in your logo to your label template. Note: another option is to have your labels made by Vistaprint or similar.
Package up your items and take to the Post Office once a week - or you set up a good schedule for yourself that works for you.
Buy postage there and put in the mail.
Mark your order Fulfilled in your shop. Squarespace takes care of tracking your inventory for you.

This shipping process is common for small businesses just starting out who are shipping from their home. It’s called “Self Order Fulfillment”. Without using a courier, this is the way I’d do it. It’s just setting up a schedule for yourself, setting up your label templates and then getting in the flow of it as orders come in.

Some Helpful Links

Here’s more on that Self Fulfillment

Here’s how to print orders Squarespace - Printing Orders

Here’s how to export orders Squarespace - Exporting Orders

Here’s a little YouTube on how to create mailing labels using Excel and Word Create Your Own mailing Labels

Here’s how to fulfill orders in your shop

Couriers

If you want more bells and whistles and are willing to pay for it - and really, if your business is anything larger that a few products - you’ll want to use couriers.

Note: the shipping label that you see regularly with the weight and barcode etc is a “courier shipping label” as opposed to a simple mailing label. The barcode is for tracking. You have to purchase these from your courier.

If you decide to use a courier to get tracking etc, I'd definitely recommend using Canada Post for Business. With their Snap Ship program you can create, print and pay for your shipping labels and book in to have your items picked up from you on a regular basis. Super convenient.

If your operation is larger then you’ll want to look at using an integration with your Squarespace site like EasyShip. This is one tool to manage and automate all your shipping needs. Compare shipping quotes, generate labels, schedule pickups, and monitor finances through their intuitive cloud-based shipping software. EasyShip connects to a massive courier network. If you’re in Canada, EasyShip connects with Canada Post.

But again, this is another big engine that you’ll need to train yourself how to use! Just one of the many areas in your new biz that will need your study and attention. It’s your baby. Have fun with it!

And remember - when in doubt, Google is your friend!

A QUICK word about taxes

Will you charge PST? Will you charge GST? Do you have to charge tax on sales outside the country? These are all very important questions and best answered by your bookkeeper or accountant. A note of caution: do not set your online store up to collect tax if you don’t yet have a tax number (this is actually fraud).

To get you started, here are some useful links:

BC Government Website FAQ On PST

Canadian Government Website Defining GST

Happy shipping!

Shipping is a B%#!!: Sharing My eCommerce Learning Curve