Physical goods on Fiverr

[happytidings1]

Hiii Everybody ! I came across Fiverr this June and fell in love with it.I regret not finding it sooner.

I want to know what you all think about selling physical goods on Fiverr which actually need to be shipped as fiverr is primarily a site for services.

I am a paper crafter selling greeting cards and flowers.Thankful to @fonthaunt for a great start.

Please share your views on this.Wishing you all a beautiful day !!

Warmly,

Shabab

[Guest peppermint_wish]

I shipped only once for a buyer here. tips? i have a few:

1. make sure to charge for the shipping, especially in a different country. the basic gig price ($4, after fiverr takes its share) can barely cover the goods and the shipping fees. at least this was my case. 😕
2. it might take longer for the goods to reach the buyer, than what the post office clerk says. - mine said about 1 week, well if i remember correctly it took 2 weeks. 😕
3. Make sure to put enough days in the gig’s description: i put 3 days? i got an order on a friday evening [it was morning/lunch time for my buyer] and i arrived too late at the post office on saturday - it closed by the time i got there after getting everything i had to get for the buyer. I had to wake up early in the morning on monday to go mail the stuff - i “finished” the order on site some 2 hours before my time was up.

Other than this, the buyer was satisfied when they got the things - or this was my impression giving the fact that they paid and didn’t complain after 😉
As long as you want to ship stuff people would be interested in, go for it! It might be easier than on other sites XD

[misscrystal]

I have shipped things to people in other countries than mine with no problems.

[katja1700]

I also have a question, I sell physical items on another venue, so I have experiences both as a buyer and seller for things getting lost, refunds, getting wrong item, paying customs and import taxes etc. That may be problematic with fiverr.

So the delivery time has to include shipping time as well? With 30 days limit, is that enough to make the item… ship the item internationally… wait for possible customs being cleared… and what if the buyer doesn\t pick it right away from the post office?
What happens if the buyer gives the wrong address, or doesn\t pick up or pay possible customs or tax fees and the item is send back to the seller? And needs to ship again, how to ask for more shipping cost? AND the limit of 8 dollars for shipping (does fiverr get a cut on that too?) does not cover international tracking.
That is not the sellers fault… but fiverr usually refunds buyers very eagerly.

What about refunds on physical items? Because usually for refund, they would need to ship the item back, wait for it to reach the seller, before getting refund? Or, if it is damaged in shipping, providing photos to get a refund.
If the fiverr refunds automatically, like with usual digital services, then it might happen that the buyer would get the item free?

Sorry for rambling, we have a saying in finland of painting devils on the walls, for people like me who always prepare for the worst case scenarios… but I think these are questions to ponder as the venue is so much towards abstract&digital services and not for goods.

[Guest peppermint_wish]

Reply to @katja1700: when i talked about delivery and shipment above what i meant was this:
the time from when an order is placed until i complete the task - going to buy the stuff, pack it, and mail it - takes me 3 days [should have said 4]
The time my package is in transit - from my post office to the buyer’s door - i can’t include that in the time it takes me to complete the task. There are factors there that i have no control over. As i said, my post office clerk told me the package will arrive in 1 week, but it arrived in 2 weeks. i can’t include this waiting period in the order’s duration. The package arrived well at its destination, and i had no complaints.

However, if you make things by hand, you have to mention this and to include the time it takes you to complete them. Let’s say if it takes you 1 day to make 1 item, the next day you pack it, then it’s sunday, and then, on monday you mail it. You have to cover all these days [4 in total, though i recommend saying 5 or 6 because real life can be mean]. But you can’t include the shipping time.

I shipped for free, and so i can’t reply regarding the fees taken by fiverr from the shipping you mention. I can’t help with any other question, sorry.
I hope this makes more sense?

[katja1700]

Reply to @peppermint_wish:
Thank you so much for the info 🙂

I’m still wondering about making physical item gigs, because there are people in buyer’s request often asking for physical items (like paintings I can do), and getting no or only few offers.

Maybe it’s worth trying out, and just hoping it goes well and the post office delivers 🙂