Perhaps the most crucial aspect of dropshipping is shipping. It’s the second-to-last step that guarantees your customers get the stuff they ordered from you.
Therefore, it is crucial to have a well-defined shipping policy for dropshipping that explains to customers what to expect when their orders are being processed.
Here, we’ll address some of the most frequently asked questions (and concerns) about developing a shipping policy for your dropshipping business.
Do you wish to acquire further information? Relax and keep reading.
What is a Shipping Policy For Dropshipping?
A dropshipping shipping policy is a document that details your procedures for handling customer inquiries and complaints related to shipping.
It includes things like:
Fastness with which purchases are made and delivered
Methods (like mail or couriers) used to transport purchased items to their final destinations.
Logistics expenses
It’s important to note that your dropshipping suppliers will handle all of the fulfillment for you. Therefore, it is important that the shipping policies stated on your online store’s website coincide with those of your suppliers.
Why Do You Need a Shipping Policy?
Informing customers of what to expect after placing an order is much easier if you have a shipping policy in place for dropshipping.
The customer will then be able to make an informed decision about whether or not to make a purchase based on their assessment of the shipping costs, shipping times, and shipping methods presented to them.
Customers are less likely to be dissatisfied with your service or feel misled if they have a clear idea of what to expect from you.
What Should a Good Shipping Policy For Dropshipping Entail?
Informing customers of what to expect after placing an order is much easier if you have a shipping policy in place for dropshipping.
The customer will then be able to make an informed decision about whether or not to make a purchase based on their assessment of the shipping costs, shipping times, and shipping methods presented to them.
Customers are less likely to be dissatisfied with your service or feel misled if they have a clear idea of what to expect from you.
Shipping Destinations
It’s crucial that customers know if you deliver to their area before they make a purchase from your online store.
In an ideal world, your dropshipping provider would also provide international shipping options. It is important to inform customers of the range of your fulfillment radius if they only cover a limited area or if you prefer a specific geographical market.
Shipping Options
There is certainly no shortage of shipping options, from Epacket to well-known couriers. However, you should tell your customers that each dropshipping provider has their own list of shipping options.
It’s important to remember that some couriers and shipping methods are only practical for certain areas or packages of a certain size. Customers need to be made aware of these details in order to make an informed decision, so be sure to draw attention to them.
Shipping Costs
Courier service, package dimensions, and final destination all affect shipping costs. As a result, it might be useful to depict this in a straightforward chart that customers can use to calculate potential shipping costs.
Don’t forget to include a p for expedited shipping if your dropshipping provider offers it. Those who need items quickly are willing to pay a premium to have them delivered overnight or in half the usual time frame.
It would be helpful to specify situations in which customs duties would be imposed. Disclosing this to your customers in advance is only fair, as it is an additional cost they will have to pay.
Shipping Durations
Most customers will decide whether or not to buy from you based solely on the estimated shipping time. Furthermore, when you take into account the fact that fulfillment centers like Amazon provide extremely fast shipping times.
However, please be sure to only give honest estimates for how long each delivery will take. Do not forget to include order processing time and regional delivery estimates in your tagging.
If the order takes two days to process and three days to ship, the customer should be informed. It’s also a good idea to let them know if shipping delays are likely due to holidays or weekends.
You should talk to your dropshipping vendors about faster shipping options if you’re concerned that they’re using inefficient delivery channels.
Shipping Restrictions
Orders that you (via your dropshipping suppliers) are unable to fulfill due to shipping constraints. Possible justifications for imposing such limits include:
Legal hoops to jump through: you can’t ship an order to a customer if the product they ordered is illegal in their country.
Some items, including lithium batteries, perfume, and many others, cannot be shipped via air due to safety regulations.
Your dropshipping provider may not be able to deliver packages to a Post Office box or a military base.
‘Lost in Transit’ Incidents
There are times when packages get lost in transit. These occurrences could be the result of theft or simple human error. Whatever the case may be, being prepared with a plan for how to proceed is always a good idea.
Reassure your customers that they can contact you about any delays they experience, and explain what you’ll do to fix the problem.
Return and Refund Procedures
If a customer receives an order that falls short of their expectations, they may opt to return it. While refund requests are included with some product returns, replacement requests are included with others.
If a customer wants to return an item they received through dropshipping, they must send it back to you or your dropshipping supplier for a refund.
Your shipping policy should explain to customers which shipping methods you prefer and how you’ll handle the associated fees.
How Do You Write a Shipping Policy for Dropshipping?
One advantage of formulating a shipping policy is that there is no single, prescribed approach. You can either use a pre-made template from a service like Shopify or research your competitors’ sites to figure out what works and what doesn’t.
The main objective is to convey the necessary information to your customers, and the best way to do that is to use a format consistent with the rest of your dropshipping online shop. In addition, you can dedicate an entire page to your shipping policy on the majority of e-commerce platforms.
Seek to organize your shipping policies in a way that:
Shipping policy specifics should be informative while still being succinct and easy to understand.
Simple to modify as shipping contexts evolve and new regulations become necessary. For example, the Covid-19 pandemic severely impacted supply chains, forcing most companies to make adjustments to their shipping practices.
As we have shown, a shipping policy addresses many different aspects, and it is important that these be spelled out in detail. When you break them down into clear sections, it’s much simpler for customers to find and understand the data they need.
Shipping charts, a currency converter, and a shipping calculator are just a few examples of the helpful tools that could be included to help customers determine how much their order will cost to ship.
How Often Should You Review Your Shipping Policy for Dropshipping?
Your shipping policy’s terms and conditions are subject to a number of potential shifts over time, including:
Shifts in shipping costs
Shipping delays caused by bad weather or other unforeseeable events
Shifts in the number of locations where you drop off packages
Whenever any of these or other shipping particulars change, it is best to update your shipping policy accordingly. Draw your customers’ attention to the most recent updates wherever possible.
While it’s understandable that shipping policies may need to shift occasionally, it’s in your best interest to keep things as consistent as possible for your customers. Some buyers may be put off by the appearance of unreliability suggested by consistent price changes.
Where Should You Place Your Shipping Policy?
Customers give preference to e-commerce platforms that are easy to navigate and seem to understand their needs. Customers’ time spent shopping or browsing is streamlined as a result.
Applying this strategy to deciding where to put your shipping policy on your e-commerce platform is a smart move.
As an alternative to burying your shipping policy in a single location, you could try putting links to it or excerpts that are relevant to various parts of your site in places like:
It’s possible that it will be referred to by customers.
It has the potential to attract new business.
The typical location where customers might look for it
Let’s dig deeper into these prime placement ps.
Shipping policies are typically located in the footer menus of all e-commerce sites. It’s a good idea to take advantage of it because it’s likely to be one of the first places potential customers look. In addition, it usually has less competition than the header menus.
A plus is that you can use the footer menu in conjunction with other strategies. For instance, the shipping policy for Trendy Goods, an online dropshipping store, can be accessed via the footer menu.
Website Banner
A banner on your website is a great place to draw attention to a new shipping address, a reduction in shipping costs, or any other shipping-related news. It stands out without making users go to a different website.
As will become clear below, however, this strategy only really shines when communicating in succinct bursts. A banner that tries to do too much can be annoying.
The FAQ Section
You should definitely add shipping information to your frequently asked questions page. Although it may be unrealistic to include your entire shipping policy, even a few well-written paragraphs explaining key points could be extremely helpful to customers.
Following the lead of the p, you should focus on frequently asked questions like the areas you service, the length of time it takes to process orders, and how to obtain shipping rates.
The placement of Notebook Therapy is exemplary of this strategy. The shop not only offers clear explanations to shipping-related questions, but also handy shipping-information charts.
Product Pages
Although it may be inconvenient to include shipping information on each product page, your site visitors will likely appreciate the effort. Without leaving the page, they could quickly and easily see what products could be shipped to their location.
However, with this method as well, you’d only report on the most vital shipping information. If customers are interested in reading the full shipping policy, you can provide a link to it at the conclusion of the highlights.
One of the best examples of this strategy in action is Bluecrate, the most popular gift store on Shopify. To learn more about their shipping policies, there is a link provided.
Wrapping It Up
Because it establishes standards for how you will interact with your clients, a shipping policy is essential for dropshipping businesses.
In addition, it could save you time and prevent legal trouble by eliminating the need to individually provide shipping information to each customer.
