[QUOTE]Originally posted by queen_mab:
how am i supposed to know ahead of time what type of shipping the buyer will pick? something like makeup, say, that the buyer wants sent first class, will end up in a lil padded envelope. if they want priority, it'll be a completely different shape. altho i realize the whole thing sucks, does anyone have any ideas? thanks![quote]
How can you not know how you will ship the item? Every item I ship has one packaging type for itself. It will never change depending on service type. I'm lucky that I never have to ship anything resembling an envelope. All my stuff requires boxes. But in order to use calculated shipping, I have to have the total package weight of each item and the dimensions before I ship it, so I can't not know the package type. Once you know your package, service type doesn't matter if you use calculated shipping. Not only is calculated easy in my opinion, but it ensures buyers are paying actual cost, not more or less, which helps us both.
This is why I use calculated. Otherwise I'd have to sit down and really get to know the postal requirements and rates, which I don't care to do. I know enough to ship every type of package I need, and if I don't know I can find it on USPS.com or in my personal shipping guides, which I created based on USPS standards.
And using USPS supplied boxes makes it a breeze. The USPS rates and standards are not too difficult if you use calculated. Most of the time you don't need to worry about oversizes, non-machinable, or balloon rates. And the beauty is you never have to worry about dim weights if you use calculated. As long as you enter the dimensions and weight, everything else will be calculated for you. This is why I think calculated is easier.