Do you charge for shipping?

I have a few clients that have moved since their wedding - military families - and I am getting ready to ship their products. I can drop ship albums, but I dont know if I really want to.

Do you charge your clients for shipping? Shipping materials? Your time?

I charge shipping (the actual cost to me) anytime I do drop ship. When I have it come to me first and then ship, they pay both sets of actual cost and shipping materials if necessary. Nothing else, though.

Do you tell them this as they book, or let them know the shipping charge before you send it?

I don't. I figure that it's all part and parcel of my customer service experience.

I include it. If they are overseas clients, shipping can be expensive, but I just factor that into my pricing

I'm no pro, but I personally would not ask for the shipping cost after the fact. If you had informed them up front, that is a different story, but at this point, I would eat that cost. I would feel a little tacky sending a note - "please pay for this $20 worth of shipping before I send you your $2000 worth of photos."

If it is anything I can plan on, I always factor it in to their package price. If something comes up after the fact, I just bite the bullet and pay for it and then write it off. I am not a fan of asking for more money after a contract has been signed and try and always err on the side of caution.

Red Tie Photography wrote in post #12793610
Do you tell them this as they book, or let them know the shipping charge before you send it?

I let everyone know and my price list explicitely states that prices are exclusive of sales tax and shipping.

I require full payment for albums at the time of order. At that time, I write up an invoice (just a simple thing I formatted in Excel) and it includes a line for shipping. My album provider (Zookbinders) has a pretty standard rate that I can rely on. Whether they're picking up in my office or if I'm drop shipping, it's the same amount.

As much as I hate to send product like an album out without first inspecting it, I do it for most long distance couples. If I were to NEED to have it come to me first for some reason, I would get estimates from UPS, include it in the cost, and let the client know the amount at the time of order/payment.

If you order off my gallery you get charged shipping. I actually started doing this because I read an article on the cheapest discount you can give, but the one most people get excited over, is free shipping. So when I do a session I offer free shipping if prints are ordered within the first 15 days. I noticed my ordering trends change dramatically after I did that. So it was more of a business tactic then money maker.

Peacefield wrote in post #12794356
I let everyone know and my price list explicitely states that prices are exclusive of sales tax and shipping.

I require full payment for albums at the time of order. At that time, I write up an invoice (just a simple thing I formatted in Excel) and it includes a line for shipping. My album provider (Zookbinders) has a pretty standard rate that I can rely on. Whether they're picking up in my office or if I'm drop shipping, it's the same amount.

As much as I hate to send product like an album out without first inspecting it, I do it for most long distance couples. If I were to NEED to have it come to me first for some reason, I would get estimates from UPS, include it in the cost, and let the client know the amount at the time of order/payment.

Out of curiosity, what's your definition of "long distance couples"? I only ask because you are only supposed to charge sales tax for clients that live in your actual state. So if you sell an album to a couple in, say, New York or Pennsylvania, they shouldn't have to pay sales tax.

This is another place where someone savvy enough could try manipulating a discount from you. If I were to hire you to shoot my wedding in California I know I would, because there is no reason why I'd have to give you New Jersey sales tax and why you'd have to charge me. That's the main reason I also separated out sales tax. Only my CA clients get charged it. My Minnesota and Arizona clients get to order prints and albums tax free.

I don't charge for local shipping, but I charge for overseas shipping as it can cost $200.

I wouldn't drop ship an album, I want to check it and package everything up nicely.

PeaceFire wrote in post #12794844
Out of curiosity, what's your definition of "long distance couples"? I only ask because you are only supposed to charge sales tax for clients that live in your actual state. So if you sell an album to a couple in, say, New York or Pennsylvania, they shouldn't have to pay sales tax.

This is another place where someone savvy enough could try manipulating a discount from you. If I were to hire you to shoot my wedding in California I know I would, because there is no reason why I'd have to give you New Jersey sales tax and why you'd have to charge me. That's the main reason I also separated out sales tax. Only my CA clients get charged it. My Minnesota and Arizona clients get to order prints and albums tax free.

As I understand it, NY and NY have a reciprocal sales tax relationship and I am supposed to charge tax for couples who live in NY even though I live and deliver from NJ.

It's not uncommon for me to shoot way out of state couples who are getting married here because that's where their family is. I'm shooting a Boston couple on Saturday and an Hawaiin couple next month. They still pay sales tax on the shoot because it happens in NJ. If they live out of state and come to pick up their album in my office, my understanding is that I still charge sales tax. I don't if I ship it to them out of state.

Once I give a price to a couple, I don't like going back to them for more $$ for smaller things like shipping....
and because they're military, I'd give them a break!

I've never had to deal with overseas shipping... all pretty much in-country

I personally deliver anything local and eat standard shipping charges in-country.

I think it's stingy of the photographer and kind of tasteless to charge a couple thousand dollars for services then want another 10-20 bucks for shipping stuff. Now, shipping internationally can be expensive so I factor that on an individual basis.

Yeah, I agree with cdi. If it's under $50, I wouldn't even think of it. But if the couple moved to Japan after the fact and it was going to be $200? Then it could be appropriate.

Looking stingy is terrible for business, imo. Even if you aren't actually being stingy.