seeking a simple solution to shipping art pieces

[staceycassell]

Hi,

I am building a site to sell art and am seeking advice on the simplest way of doing so: Selling original paintings and prints: Self-packaging and self-mailing. The Shopify Shipping seems overkill, and too complex for the simplicity of my operation. Hope some one has advice. Thanks.

[saivismitha]

Shipping rates are calculated based on a variety of factors and not just the weight. The following factors are responsible for the calculation of shipping rates at checkout :

• Shipper address
• Destination address
• Weight of shipment
• Dimensions of the shipment

Shipping artwork might require extra planning and care, compared to other items. In most cases, the shipping cost of unframed and framed paintings varies considerably since unframed paintings can be rolled and packed into cylinder packaging boxes, making them lightweight and cheaper to ship. whereas, framed paintings can be larger in size, heavier. This might make shipping costs high and will take more time to prepare. I’m not sure what is the exact reason in your case. I assume it might be because of the packaging issue with Shopify.  Since your product might require different box sizes, handling this directly with Shopify will not be ideal since Shopify allows you to choose only one default box for all your products.

[staceycassell]

Thank you for the help. Are the art pieces to be packaged before filling in the dimensions/weight in the Shipping section, or is this done prior? It would seem that the packaging be included in the dimension/weight calculation, but at the same time counterintuitive because all the art would have to be pre-packaged. I will be packaging/shipping myself from home as I am an artist selling only my original paintings. Thank you for any further assistance.