What I’m Woking on & Thoughts on Shipping

I worked on this new design this week, but haven’t had enough time to complete it for the Friday shop updates. Here is the sneak peak! Remember I talked about how I wanted to make a piece with a key hole detail in midriff area? I’m making that now 🙂 To balance out the skin showing, I am making the skirt longer and the flatter sleeves. Although, sleeves pattern needs to be adjusted, as you can see above!

Also, I need your input on this – I’ve been shipping my orders to the U.S. and elsewhere using the Japan Postal Office’s “small air package” method, which is the cheapest option available. The method does not provide tracking number or insurance, but depending on the weight, it costs 400 yen and up for a dress. By using that method, I have been able to maintain reasonable shipping fees to the U.S. ($5) and other countries ($7). I do not want people to not purchase my items because of high shipping fees.

However, this past month, I’ve had some costumers telling me that they did not receive  items that had been shipped. That got me thinking, perhaps I should change my shipping method to EMS, Expedited Mailing Services, which comes with tracking number and insurance up to 20,000 yen (about 250 USD). This method is more expensive, starting from 1300 yen for an item, more depending on weight. I’m considering changing shipping fee in my shop to $10, and eat the rest of the cost. What do you think? Would you still purchase an item with $10 shipping fee? I offer EMS option for my customers and it is included in my shop policy (that I ship by EMS with extra charge), but I don’t think most buyers read the policy before purchasing..  Also, with U.S. dollars doing so crappy (76 yen for a dollar now 🙁 ), it is getting hard for me to eat the extra costs. Any thoughts?