Four pieces of information determine the shipping cost:
The product's cost price
The distance between buyer and seller
Your shipping expertise level
Whether the buyer and seller are in the same country
In short: As distance increases and product cost rises, shipping cost increases. As you develop shipping expertise, the calculated fee decreases.
Shipping cost is calculated as follows:
Distance × (Product cost ÷ (Shipping level × 2,500))
For example:
Product cost: $10
Distance: 1,000 km
Shipping level: 2
Calculation:
1,000 × ($10 ÷ 5,000) = $2
The base shipping cost for this product is $2.
If the calculated cost is less than $0.05, the minimum shipping cost of $0.05 is applied.
For some expensive or very distant products, the normal formula can result in a very high shipping fee. To prevent this, a cap system is applied.
This cap is 20% of the product's cost price.
For example, if the product's cost is $10:
$10 × 20% = $2
In this calculation, the cap is $2. If the normal formula produces a result above this amount, the system first uses the $2 amount, then adds the distance increase.
When your shipping ability increases, the normally calculated fee decreases. However, if the new fee is still above the cap, the fee you see on screen may not change.
When your ability increases enough and the normally calculated fee drops below the cap, you'll start to see the discount.
Example calculation
For a product in the same country:
Product cost: $10
Distance: 5,000 km
Cap: $2
Distance increase: 25%
Shipping level Normally calculated fee Applied fee
1 $20 $2.50
2 $10 $2.50
4 $5 $2.50
8 $2.50 $2.50
9 $2.22 $2.50
10 $2 $2
11 $1.82 $1.82
In this example, even if shipping level increases from 1 to 9, the fee remains $2.50. This is because the normally calculated fee is still above the $2 cap.
25% is added to the cap for a 5,000 kilometer distance:
$2 + 25% = $2.50
When shipping level reaches 10, the normally calculated fee drops to $2. This takes it below the cap, and the ability discount starts to show.
So your shipping ability doesn't go to waste. For some products, you may need to increase several levels at once to see the discount.
When the normally calculated fee exceeds the upper limit, the following increase is applied based on distance:
Distance Increase
0–1.999 km 5%
2.000–2.999 km 10%
3.000–3.999 km 15%
4.000–4.999 km 20%
5.000–5.999 km 25%
6.000–6.999 km 30%
7.000–7.999 km 35%
8.000–8.999 km 40%
9.000–9.999 km 45%
10.000 km and above 50%
The farther away the product is, the higher the distance increase added to the upper limit.
Shopping from different countries
If the buyer and seller are in different countries, an import fee is charged in addition to the normal shipping fee.
The import fee is also calculated based on distance:
Distance Import calculation ratio
0–1.999 km 105% of shipping fee
2.000–2.999 km 110% of shipping fee
3.000–3.999 km 115% of shipping fee
4.000–4.999 km 120% of shipping fee
5.000–5.999 km 125% of shipping fee
6.000–6.999 km 130% of shipping fee
7.000–7.999 km 135% of shipping fee
8.000–8.999 km 140% of shipping fee
9.000–9.999 km 145% of shipping fee
10.000 km and above 150% of shipping fee
Total shipping fee = Shipping fee + Import fee
For this reason, it is usually more economical to buy products from sellers in your own country.
Ticarium World shipments
If the buyer or seller is in a Ticarium World country, shipping is completely free.
Shipping fee: $0
Import fee: $0
Total shipping fee: $0
How can I reduce the shipping fee?
To pay a lower shipping fee:
Prefer nearby sellers.
Shop from sellers in your own country if possible.
Increase your shipping expertise level.
If the fee hasn't changed immediately after your skill increased, continue developing to get below the upper limit.
Remember that shipments made through Ticarium World are free.
