We use USPS Ground Advantage for all standard shipping. If your customers need their orders faster, Express upgrades are available. These use USPS Priority Mail, and pricing is as follows:

• Priority Upgrade: $3.99 for the first item

• Each additional item: $1.99

Origin Zip Code: 37745

Processing Times vary by product:

• Most items: 1–3 business days

• Candles: 2–5 business days

This reflects our processing time on your orders. In most cases, we ship by the next business day, unless a product needs to be reprinted due to a quality control (QC) issue.

We strongly recommend setting your Etsy shipping profiles to show a 2–5 day processing time. It might seem counterintuitive if we typically ship faster, but here’s what we’ve learned the hard way:

Why You Should Add a Processing Buffer

Q4 is wild.

Even with two full-time team members handling personalization and processing during the 2024 holiday season, we still struggled to stay caught up.

Delays can snowball quickly—whether it’s a high order volume, a customer who doesn’t respond quickly to a personalization question, or sending design previews for approval. Setting a 2–5 day processing window gives you:

• Breathing room if you can’t approve the order the same day

• Time to handle customer communication or personalization approvals

• A safety net to help protect your Star Seller status

Shipping Profile Setup & Pricing Strategy

Below is a screenshot of a basic Etsy shipping profile setup.

When it comes to what you charge for shipping—there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. Many sellers use different strategies, but we lean toward simplicity.

For most products, we use flat-rate shipping. Here’s our approach:

1. Research the market – We look at top-selling listings for similar products (e.g., 20oz tumblers).

2. Calculate the average total price – That includes the item plus shipping.

3. Set our product price and shipping rate to align with that average.

4. Make sure your Priority Upgrade covers your cost – Always include at least the base rate ($3.99) in your pricing.