Over 70 percent of online shoppers want their orders to be delivered quickly and at affordable rates. As a dropshipper, you'd want to offer your customers the lowest shipping rates possible to entice them. But this action can also negatively impact your profit margin.This is why you must be able to reduce your shipping costs, so your customers could get the lowest shipping rates possible without you getting affected. Luckily, we've got some tips for you below on how to reduce shipping costs and maximize your profits.

Work with Multiple Suppliers

One of the best ways to get the best price possible in any business is to have more than one supplier. With this, you can easily compare and contrast and choose one that best suit you. The same happens in dropshipping.For instance, Amazon might have a product that's going for $2 shipping costs; if you search for other suppliers, you might find another one with $3 shipping costs, or $1.5. So, if the product is right, you'd definitely go with the supplier with the lower shipping costs. Now, this is possible because you search and work with multiple suppliers.

Know Your Representative

Most carriers have representatives that are in charge or attending to customers, negotiating, answering questions, and making the shipping process as smooth as possible for entrepreneurs, their customers.Although they are sales agents, and the more you ship, the more they benefit; getting yourself acquainted with them is one of the best ways to put yourself in a good place when dealing with the supplier company. Chances are you'd get to have access to good information, resources, and they'll always give you individual attention when you need help.

Leverage Free Packaging

Making use of free packaging is another way of lowering your shipping costs and maximizing profits. Free packaging, free boxes, and shipping supplies are available for customers from most of the major carriers. You only need to find your way of getting access to them. Getting yourself acquainted with the representatives can help you here. They might have some tips for you or what you need to do in order to have access to them instead of using your own boxes or packaging that might cost you additional dimensional fees.

Know Your Package Sizes

In case you don't know, most shipping cost calculators consider factors like the dimensions - weight, size, destination, etc. when doing the calculation for the shipping fees. That's why it's important always to use boxes that are the right size for your items. Using large boxes for items that could have fitted well into smaller boxes will make you pay more, affecting your profit margin.

Negotiate Shipping Rates

If you're ever going to do any business and be successful, you must know the art of negotiating. Maybe you don't know, but the truth is most carriers provide incentives, bonuses, discounts, etc. on the product you're shipping, especially if the volume is large – you just need to ask and negotiate.Things are changing every day in the world of dropshipping. If you have a good relationship with your representatives, then you should be able to negotiate any new benefits in favor of yourself. You could also look at the competition (other suppliers) shipping rates to give you an idea of how to negotiate with your current supplier.

Leverage Flat Rate Shipping

Flat rates are great for standardizing the shipping process and helping ease the constant changes associated with shipping costs. The good thing is many shipping companies offer this option. The likes of USPS, FedEx, and UPS even provide flat rate boxes for free, which is a huge saving. Shipping companies set the flat rates by zones or distances the package travels. Your reps would also have more information to give you that could help you leverage a flat rate.

Use Regional Carriers

Using regional carriers is another excellent way to reduce the costs of shipping and maximize your profits. The only difference between regional carriers and the major carriers out there is in their designation. A regional carrier will operate within a small geographic area or a particular region, while major carriers can deliver to a wide range of areas.These regional carriers offer the same services as that of major carriers but at reduced prices. Therefore, if your deliveries are within a particular region only, you could use a regional carrier's service to save yourself some dollars.There you go! No doubt, shipping costs are the biggest challenge for more than half of online sellers, and one major factor that determines the success of your online business is the extent to which you reduce expenses. If you can't reduce shipping costs, then you can't reduce your expense. Luckily, the above article solves all the whole worries altogether. Contact us today at Fulfillman to know more about our services. We specialize in providing excellent Drop Shipping services, Warehouse fulfillment, China sourcing, Third Party Logistics, and so forth. Our dedicated experts will be available to speak with you and discuss the options available to you. We guarantee you get quality and excellent services that gives 100% client satisfaction.