Can I just use forever stamps?

[brushesandboots]

I'm offering stickers and greeting cards for sale and plan to ship/mail them in a standard sized envelope. Can I just use a forever stamp to mail them? I don't see the need to spend $3.00 on a USPS First Class shipping label for each order. I will be missing out on tracking but I'm fine with that.

[Julie]

Hi, @brushesandboots!

Julie here from Shopify Support.

It sounds like you're using Shopify Shipping, is that right? With Shopify Shipping, you can offer customers shipping rates from carriers like UPS, USPS, DHL Express, Canada Post, and Sendle that are automatically calculated based on the carrier's current rates, the weight of the order, and where the product is being shipped from/to. 

If you want to continue offering your customers calculated shipping rates through Shopify Shipping, you can most definitely do so. When printing a shipping label, however, you can choose any method you like. This won't change the amount the customer paid for shipping, but it will change the amount that you'll need to pay for the shipping label. 

Alternatively, you aren't required to purchase a shipping label, so if you are wanting to mail these particular products in a standard envelope, that's totally fine. It's likely that you won't receive a tracking number, but if you do, you can manually add the tracking number to the order. When this is done, the customer's order status page will update to reflect real-time shipping updates from the carrier.

As a side note, have you considered creating a shipping profile for your stickers and greeting cards and offering free shipping on those particular products? Shipping profiles help you charge accurate shipping rates through product-based shipping rules. You can use shipping profiles to set shipping rates for specific products, and charge different amounts based on where you're shipping your products to and from. Because it won't be costing you much to fulfill these orders, creating a shipping profile for these products might make things a bit more convenient. 

At the end of the day, however you decide to fulfill and ship your orders is entirely up to you, regardless as to the shipping method your customer selected. I hope this clears things up, but feel free to respond here if you have any further questions. 

[EndlessLux]

Hi just curious about the shipping profile. Say I create one just for stickers, but someone orders 20 stickers and they won't fit in an envelope. So how would the shipping work? Would shopify know that or will it assume shipping to be the same price?

[Rae]

Hi, @EndlessLux! 

Great question! 

You can create multiple shipping profiles that will offer a combined shipping rate in the checkout. This help document has more details on this. 

If you're using weight-based shipping rates, Shopify will also use the weight of the products and the weight of your default package to create a combined shipping rate. 

Can you please tell me a bit more about your business, and the way it's set up? For instance, do you have multiple locations, or are some of your products only available for specific regions? Once I have this information, I can help determine the best way to create your shipping profiles. 

Thanks!