[bshmerlie]

I was just curious how people are offering shipping prices around $40 or less sometimes. I just did a price quote on Ship Your Reptiles and its almost $70 bucks. Are people just eating the price difference to make the sale or is there a cheaper way? I'm talking about shipping frogs overnight with a 10:30am delivery time.

 

[Neontra]

Many things influence shipping cost. Some people include insurance, the weight of the object, the distance the package must go, whether or not the retailer will use cold/heat packs, packing materials, etc.
So if you were to ship a 2 pound live shipment 2000 miles in a 12x12x8 box, it would cost (for me) about 80$. If I were to ship a 2 pound live shipment 1000 miles in a 5x5x5 box it would cost me about 50 bucks.

 

[Pumilo]

I set up an account with Fedex. I don't ship in bulk but I still get a discount if I print my shipping labels on the computer. I ship in an 8" by 8" by 8" box. This allows room for frogs, a free isopod culture, styrofoam insulation, and 4 phase 22 paks.
Skip insurance as they won't stand behind a live shipment anyway.
Pay for standard overnight shipping BUT choose the "HOLD AT LOCATION" option. This gives you an automatic free upgrade to morning delivery. They are usually ready for your customer to pick up by 9 or 10 AM. HOLD AT LOCATION also keeps your frogs off a hot, bouncy truck and instead, in a nice temp controlled office.
My shipping charges for this average $45 to $50. This allows me to charge a flat $65 shipping and use the extra $15 or $20 for the 4 phase paks and shipping materials. If you wanted to, you could offer to refund the $15 or $20 upon the return of your box and phase paks but by the time they pay shipping on that, they are only saving about $10.