Rush Order Fees and Your Silhouette or Cricut Business

Most business owners receive orders and complete them in the order they were received, or in another method that makes sense to the crafter. But, what happens when a customer inquiries if they can get their order rushed? You should charge the customer a rush order fee. Depending on the product being made, it is appropriate for crafters to charge from 20% to 100% of the item’s final cost to get the order sent out before the stated turnaround time plus the cost of expedited shipping, if applicable.

How to Decide How Much to Charge for Rush Orders

When deciding what to set your rush fee at, you’ll need to be careful to set it high enough that the average buyer won’t want to add it unless they really need an expedited order. For example, if I am selling custom made tumblers for $8.00 each, a 20% rush order fee is only $1.60 – not enough to keep the average buyer who doesn’t need it quickly from tacking it on to get their item faster. Unfortunately, when your rush order fees are too low, you’ll receive too many rush orders. A general rule of thumb for rush order fees: The lower the price of the item, the higher the rush order percentage should be. 

How to Tell Your Customers About Rush Order Fees

Rush order fees, and standard turnaround times, should be disclosed to customers prior to ordering. Here are a few example blurbs about turnaround times and rush orders. Feel free to use them in your Silhouette or Cricut business.

• (Name of company’s) turnaround time is two weeks, not including shipping. If you need your item sooner, we can accommodate you with a rush order fee and expedited shipping. This allows us to put your order at the head of our production queue.
• (Name of company’s) turnaround time is currently four weeks, plus shipping time. We can accommodate rush orders with a flat rate of xx% of the total item’s cost, plus the cost of USPS Express Mail. Please contact us for an exact quote.
• (Name of company’s) turnaround time is one week. If you need your item to be ready for pickup in sooner than one week, please contact us to arrange payment of our xx% rush fee charge.

What is your business’ policy on rush orders? Leave me a comment and let me know!