Are you just getting started selling online and want to know what shipping system options are available and how to determine which is best for you?

A popular first question is “Hey, I’m going to need to ship this stuff so what should I do UPS?”  The answer is that there are generally two solutions that work well for eTailers; UPS Internet Shipping and UPS WorldShip.  If you’re shipping 25 or fewer packages a week, then UPS Internet Shipping is the perfect way to automate your shipping process and reduce paperwork. To prepare, send, track and pay for shipping (including LTL and air freight shipments) online, all you need to do is register at My UPS and have a credit card or UPS Account. Included in UPS Internet Shipping is a reusable address book to help ensure correct shipping information, and shipping histories and e-mail notifications to give you better shipping insight. You can also use the shipment time and cost feature to compare service options and estimate the time and cost of your shipment, so you pay for exactly the kind of service you need.  You don’t need to download software. And if you need to tailor UPS Internet Shipping capabilities to fit your business needs, you can set your personal preferences and customize your profile, saving time.

If you’re shipping 26 or more packages a week from one location then you would probably benefit by choosing UPS WorldShip, the most popular shipping system.

UPS WorldShip is a free Microsoft Windows-based software that uses your company’s existing customer data to generate shipping labels and forms. It captures your client billing information, making accounting a breeze. And, of course, it allows you to access the complete range of UPS services, such as Quantum View® e-mail notifications that let you and your customers know where shipments are – and when they will arrive.

Not only can WorldShip generate UPS shipping labels featuring your company’s reference codes, barcodes or your company logo, but it also saves your frequently used addresses and can even assign profiles to consignees in your address book for future reference and faster shipment processing. To get started with WorldShip, you’ll need to use a UPS account number to either download the software or request it on a CD.

If you would like to see a very straightforward demo on either of these systems they can go to www.UPS.com/worldshipdemo .  For the WorldShip demo or to www.UPS.com/shippingdemo for the Internet Shipping demo.

FREE Webinar Details:

Tonight, July 9 at 9 PM EST - Register Here

Click on the image button to see all the webinars in this series

 

 

 

Sourcing for Independence:
Getting Started Selling Online

Colette Marshall, President of WorldwideBrands.com discusses getting started selling online and will address some of the questions you need answers to right away. This webinar is open to anyone that is just getting started to experienced sellers. Submit any question you like, if it isn’t answered in this webinar, we’ll answer it in another one or we may add to the webinar series by inviting even more experts based on the questions received.

Here are a few of the questions that have been submitted already that I’ll be discussing:

Stan W - What’s the profit margin general percentage?  How much are some Worldwide Brands folks making?
How’s it possible to find niche when Worldwide Brands has so many customers?

Melissa H - How can I know that a product will sell?

David N -  Finding like-minded people locally to network with - people working or worked full-time jobs while bootstrapping an online business

Debi D. -  Where is the best place to begin?

Robert P. - What reasonable investment should someone expect to invest in starting an online business?

See you tonight!

Colette Marshall
President
WorldwideBrands.com
www.Twitter.com/ColetteMarshall

Here are tips provided by Benita Matthews of The UPS Store.  These packing tips are for shipping your products to your customers safely, economically and on time.

Select the Right Box
Start by selecting the right box for the ‘item to be shipped.’  The UPS Store does not recommend that you pack in used boxes.  Each time a box is shipped or used. it looses integrity and can break down in transit.  Likewise we don’t recommend that you use old ‘moving boxes’ or those free gift boxes you get from department stores.

Be careful of old shipping labels that may still be stuck to the used box.  These can cause delay-time in transit to the destination.  You will find the proper weight limit and allowed box strength at the bottom of your box.  This helps you choose the best box for your shipment.

Handling Heavy/Fragile Packages
Heavy and extremely fragile packages definitely require Double Width box.  When you compare the DW lined vs. SW (single width) lined boxes you soon see that more walls of cardboard provide more crush resistance especially for trips down miles and miles of conveyor belts. 

Double Boxing
Depending on how fragile is your item it could be necessary to have it double boxed..

This fragile vase requires Double Boxing to arrive safely at its destination.   First pack it in one box with 2 inches of loose fill, as shown here, and bubble wrapped with ½” bubble at least 2” thick.  Carefully place it in the center of the first box.  Place that box in a second strong box with 2 inches of loose fill surrounding it in the 2nd box.  Now tape closed using the H taping method to ensure proper packing. 

Also tape the bubble wrap with brown packing tape so the recipient will know how to unwrap the gift/item properly.

H-taping Method
You should use the H style for taping a box closed safely and securely.

Do not use Duct Tape or Masking tape as these products could loose their adhesive qualities due to extreme temperatures packages are exposed to en route. Also, do not wrap packages in brown paper and tie up with string. These items can get snagged on conveyor belts or machines while in transit.  Remember UPS guidelines  recommend that neither newspaper, nor bath towels are a proper cushioning for products.

Customized Boxing
The UPS Store carries quantities of different size boxes.  If you ever have a package with an awkward shape or size, the staff at the UPS Store can custom build your box if  The UPS Store does not carry a corresponding box.

Look at this fishing pole.  It requires a Custom Box.  First we use commercial glue for affixing a 2nd box to the 1st box so no shifting or movement will take place.  Then we bubble wrap the pole, insert our loose fill, and tape it up with the H style of taping.

Shipping Products with Batteries
When shipping a toy or electronic item that requires batteries, please remove the batteries first.  If sound or movement occurs, it could possibly be stopped for inspection by UPS and in turn be held up during transit.

Use Shipping Labels
It’s always important to put a shipping label inside of the box in the event the label is removed by a machine during transit. This way, UPS could open the package and would still know where the package is to be delivered.

If you want to learn more you can get all of this information by going to UPS.com and searching dimensional weight.

AAA Discount
If you are a Member of AAA remember to show your AAA card to The UPS Store associate for 5% off UPS Shipping and 15% off the cost of the box; and packaging materials.

Large/Heavy Packages
If your item exceeds UPS length, width, height and/or the 150 lb maximum weight, please contact the nearest location of The UPS Store for a UPS Freight quote and/or shipping needs.

“Brown” Promotes ‘Green’
And for those “green” customers, should you have any foam packaging peanuts or bubble wrap just hanging around cluttering your home or business, please feel to drop it off at participating locations of The UPS Store for recycling.

Pack and Ship Promise
Participating locations of The UPS Store offer the Pack and Ship Promise. Our promise to YOU is if in the unlikely event an item packed by our associates and shipped via UPS is damaged or lost, you’ll be reimbursed for the item’s value (subject to the lesser of actual value, replacement or repair cost), the full retail price of packaging materials and services, and shipping charges (excluding declared value charges). Restrictions apply. 

WHY do it your self?
You can save time and have one less thing to worry about by having the professionals at The UPS Store Pack and Ship your gift/item.

UPS has ALL the Supplies
If you want to pack your goods yourself, keep in mind that The UPS Store carries all the supplies needed to pack those items.

The UPS Store thanks you for your time and should you have any additional questions, please visit www.theupsstore.com to find the location nearest you.

Happy 4th of July!

When you ask a genuine wholesale supplier for an account with credit terms, the wholesaler typically asks you for Trade References.  When supplying a Trade Reference your provide a telephone (fax or email address) that allows the new wholesale supplier to contact people your have purchased from in the past to determine your payment history and credit worthiness. 

A new business will not have any prior credit history.  You will have to pay up front or using your credit card until you have built up a good credit history with your wholesale supplier.  That wholesale supplier then becomes a Trade Reference for you (provided you have a good payment history with that wholesale supplier.)

A genuine wholesale supplier might use the term: At Cost.  Do your research carefully on this before you go ahead and buy at cost.  When a wholesale supplier sells ‘at cost,’ it means they are making no profit on the sale since they are selling at the same as it cost them to buy from the manufacturer.

Also, if the wholesale supplier’s customers are NOT buying the product, you may want to check out the demand using your Worldwidebrands.com Product Sourcing Tool before you place any orders.  Unless people want to buy, you may be the next person selling ‘at cost’ or probably much ‘below cost.’

Click to review more of Chris Malta’s “Wholesale Tips”

When you deal with genuine wholesale suppliers, you will frequently hear the term: SKU.   A SKU is the unique number a wholesaler assigns to a product type.  It may be a model number or a product number.  If a wholesaler carries 8,000 unique products, in the industry they talk of the wholesale supplier carrying 8,000 SKU’s.

A model with three colors is likely to have three SKUs to identify the product, one SKU for each color.  Note this is not a number that is unique to each product (like your Social Security Number).  It is a number that is unique to each product description.

It’s as simple as that.

Click to review more of Chris Malta’s “Wholesale Tips”

What is RA?  You need to know the wholesale term, RA or RMA.  Either refers to product returns.  RA means “Return Authorization”.   RMA means “Return Merchandise Authorization”. 

Most wholesale suppliers have a strict process you must use to return any item.  When wanting to return an item, you must contact your wholesale supplier to obtain an RA Number.   The reason for the return may affect the method of return.  The wholesale supplier may set up a UPS or FedEx, pre-paid pick up.   You must clearly mark the RA number on the outside of the return package.  Once the wholesale supplier receives the product, they will pass you a credit. 

The process is similar with wholesale drop shippers.   Your customers must contact you requesting a replacement.  You then contact your wholesale supplier to request an RA and submit a replacement order.   In some cases, the drop shipper will ship the replacement product even before they receive the damaged product.  This saves the customer having to wait for their replacement to arrive.

UPS, United Parcel Service, has some very helpful hints on handling ‘Returns.’  View this UPS video now. 

Click to review more of Chris Malta’s “Wholesale Tips”

    on New York radio station WCMF right from your home computer,

Tuesday morning, June 23, at 8:30am  EST

Listen here: www.WCMF.com

Chris is on the road bringing the RIGHT way to do business online to anyone who’ll listen. 

He’ll be talking about online scams, how they work, how to avoid them and how to get OUT of them if you do get caught.

Listen on your computer through WCMF’s audio streaming. Just point & click!

It’ll be fun AND informative…thanks in advance for listening in!

Here’s our next term: “Net 30″.   Net 30 refers to the credit terms your wholesale supplier extends to you.   When your wholesale supplier types Net 30 on your order and invoice, this means you have 30 days to pay for that invoice.   The advantage of such payment terms is that you have some time to sell all of the products on that invoice and actually receive the money before you have to PAY for the goods.

If you are new to that wholesaler, you cannot expect to get Net 30 terms from the start.  Wholesalers base your credit terms on your business credit HISTORY, not your personal credit history. You begin by paying up front for your purchases with cash or credit card until you build a good purchase and credit history with your wholesale supplier.  At that point you can apply for Net 30 terms from your wholesale supplier.   The more business you bring them, the sooner you can request a Net 30 order. 

Once your account is approved, you can begin to establish a business credit history.  This will also help you get Net 30 terms with other wholesale suppliers more quickly.

Click to review more of Chris Malta’s “Wholesale Tips”