Profit margin management is a skill that any Lazada seller needs to have. A good part of profit management involves avoiding shipping overcharges. Below, we’ll be looking into what the Lazada shipping fee overcharge is and what you can do to prevent it.
What Is Lazada Shipping Fee Overcharge?
The shipping fee overcharge is a result of the wrong calculation of the volumetric weight of the product being shipped.
The courier team corrects the measurement at the sorting center. Therefore, sellers notice the overcharge on their statement of account.
Why Does This Happen?
The Lazada shipping fee overcharge is not a discrepancy in the records of the Lazada team but is more a result of a mistake on the end of sellers.
It happens like this.
A Lazada seller creates a product listing, entering all its relevant details including the product measurements. Since the seller is new to the platform, he had no apparatus to tell how much the product really weighs. He thinks of a number that he thinks is the closest measurement of his product and began publishing his listing.
He gets one buyer to the next until his online business flourishes never having to experience a single issue with his sales.
This has been the case for quite a while until one day he noticed an overcharge in his shipping fee. He tried searching online for answers and realized that he was not the only seller experiencing the shipping fee overcharge.
Lazada Shipping Fee Policy
This change in the shipping fee policy is due to a realization Lazada has had over the years: the shipping fee can change depending on an item’s volumetric weight as well as the origin and destination of the package. Therefore, the product measurement entry on product listings became a significant factor in determining shipping fees on the sellers’ end.
What Causes Shipping Fee Overcharge
There are two things that cause the shipping fee overcharge:
- Wrong/inaccurate product measurements
- Product measurements that are accurate but with no space allowance
For quite a while, the measurements of packages have only served as sort of a side dish or reference for the sake of customers (until the shipping fee policy update).
Not all sellers are well-informed of the new policy, however, resulting in confusion with regards to additional charges they get from shipping fees.
What You Can Do To Prevent Shipping Fee Overcharge
What sellers can do to avoid shipping fee overcharge would be to have a measurement device on hand so they can accurately obtain the volumetric weight of their products. Beyond that, we recommend that you give allowance to the precise weight of the items.
For instance, if your product weighs .5 kg, it would be a good idea to make it .8 kg in the product listing measurement entry. This is because when the courier re-examines the weight of your item in their own sorting center, they won’t be taking the item out of the packaging. Instead, the item will be weighed along with the pouch bag, bubble wrap, and the Lazada bag.
If you don’t include a space allowance in entering the measurement of the product, you will incur a shipping fee overcharge because the package will weigh higher in the sorting center.
Why Is The Shipping Fee Overcharge So High That I Am Getting A Negative Balance On My Lazada Sales
There are also certain times when sellers feel like the shipping fees are too high that they actually get a negative balance on their statement of account.
While seeing a negative figure in one’s sales report is alarming, the reason for this is that the full payment of customers simply hasn’t been completely transferred to the seller account just yet.
This is due to the following:
- Holiday periods
During big holidays like the Christmas season, the processing of payments is typically slower due to enormous demand. The revenue that you received at that time may not have been enough to complete the shipping fee deductions. Therefore, the deductions will renew at other times of the year all at once.
- Maximum installments
Installment amounts can sometimes exceed 35% of the 30 days threshold revenue per Lazada. Therefore, some of your remaining sales could only apply to your statement of account on the next payment cycle.
How Does Lazada Mitigate This Issue?
Lazada is currently working with its team to equalize the timing of the crediting and debiting of funds to sellers’ statement of accounts.
At this time of writing, Lazada had already successfully diminished the waiting time for the crediting and debiting of funds down to one week but still varies from the number of claims that they are receiving.
They will be conducting a testing period to see if they can automate the process so that the crediting and debiting reflect on sellers’ accounts at the same time.
To maintain good sales, you need to have a good grasp of how much revenue you are actually generating not to mention the expenses that you need to deduct from your revenue.
A shipping fee overcharge can disrupt your process of generating and predicting sales. A simple, inaccurate sales outcome can get in the way of incoming ads or campaigns you’ve been planning to invest there. Therefore, staying knowledgeable about your platform’s shipping fee policy is crucial in your Lazada business.
