How Australia's Largest Craft Store Handles Complex Postage with Flexible Order Management
When Andrew Groves left his 28-year career as a senior executive with Tasmania's health department, he had a vision: prove that his wife Bev's brick-and-mortar craft business could thrive online. Eight years later, Bev's Cross Crafts operates Australia's largest craft store from a converted supermarket and ships orders across the continent, all while maintaining a principle that sets them apart in ecommerce: transparent, fair postage pricing.
"We felt that if we were only paying $7 for postage, but the actual app said $9, let's charge them the $7, because why should we make money out of postage?" Andrew explains. This philosophy drives everything about how Bev's Cross Crafts operates online, but it also created a unique operational challenge that required the right tools to solve.
The challenge: When fair pricing means manual processing
Running a craft store online presents a particular postage problem. A sheet of 12x12 scrapbook paper weighs about 30 grams and costs $1.50 to ship through Australia Post. A craft die might cost the same to mail. But charge a flat $10 shipping fee, and customers paying for lightweight items feel overcharged while those ordering heavier products get a bargain at the store's expense.
"You can't just charge postage upfront because they can buy a piece of 12 by 12 paper, which weighs about 30 grams, and in Australia, Australia Post would charge them $1.50. But it actually cost me about $9 to send," Andrew says.
The easy solution? Charge that flat $10 rate anyway and pocket the difference as profit. Many online retailers do exactly this. But that approach didn't align with Andrew and Bev's values. Bev's Cross Crafts made a decision that would shape their entire operation: charge accurate postage after picking and weighing each order.
This commitment meant every order required manual handling. Before finding the right tools, Andrew faced the prospect of either compromising on his principles or spending hours manually calculating and adding shipping charges to orders one by one. The process works like this: a customer places an order for products only, Andrew picks the items from inventory and weighs them, calculates exact postage including their Australia Post discounts, then sends a payment request to the customer for just the shipping cost. Once the customer pays, the packing team prepares the order for shipment and it goes out.
With about 18,000 SKUs online (from a store inventory of 40,000 products) and peak seasons that can more than double order volumes, Bev's Cross Crafts needed a reliable system to manage these two-part transactions efficiently.
The solution: Eight years of reliable order management
When Bev's Cross Crafts launched their online store, they discovered Cleverific and immediately saw how it could enable their unique postage model. While Shopify's native admin allows basic order modifications, it would require Andrew to manually look up and type in shipping rates for every single order. For a business processing 60-70 orders weekly (120+ during peak seasons), this manual lookup and entry process would be time-consuming and prone to errors.
Cleverific streamlines this workflow with a dropdown selection of pre-configured shipping rates. After picking and weighing the complete package, Andrew can quickly select the appropriate postage charge and add it as a line item to the order. The system then sends a payment request to the customer for just the shipping cost. Once paid, the order processes and ships.
“I use it every day. It’s a very integral part of our business.”
The workflow has become second nature for the five-person team. Orders come in throughout the day, Andrew picks them from their massive store inventory and weighs them, then selects the appropriate rate and processes payment. "We have a strong belief that if you pay your postage today, it goes out today," Andrew emphasizes. Once payment is received, the packing team prepares the order for shipment. This commitment to speed means orders are often completed and shipped within hours.
The system also handles their loyalty program credits. When customers have loyalty payments owing, Andrew can apply those credits against postage costs and process any necessary refunds, all within the same streamlined workflow.
The experience: Support that matches Australian pace
For a small team managing both a massive retail store and growing online operation, reliability isn't optional. Andrew particularly values the responsive support from Cleverific's customer service team.
"I love the app, you know, it's just reliable," Andrew says. "I can shoot off an email to Laura, and she'll answer me literally straight away, and usually there's a solution." With the time difference between Australia and North America, Andrew typically encounters issues around 7 AM his time, and responses arrive within five minutes.
“The biggest thing compared to some of the other apps is I can shoot off an email and get an answer literally straight away... It’s just a two-seconds bang, you know.”
This reliability extends beyond just response times. Andrew appreciates that the app works seamlessly in the background. "It's one of those things that, you know, in business, the last thing you need to do is be mucking around looking for new apps or looking for new things all the time. I don't have to worry about it. I never know it's there."
For a business built on a unique postage model that other solutions can't accommodate, this reliability isn't just convenient, it's essential. When asked what he'd do without Cleverific, Andrew admits he honestly doesn't know. After years of daily use managing their two-part transaction system, finding an alternative that could handle their specific workflow would be a challenge he'd rather not face.
The results: A sustainable model for growth
Cleverific has proven essential to the sustainability of Bev's Cross Crafts' transparent postage approach. Online sales now represent 25-30% of total revenue, with customers throughout Australia trusting the store's commitment to honest pricing. The system has enabled the team to process thousands of orders without pricing errors, maintaining their fulfillment standards even as volumes fluctuate throughout the year.
The same prices apply online and in-store, and postage reflects actual costs rather than profit centers. This business model only works because Cleverific can handle the post-purchase modifications required.
Looking forward: Innovation meets tradition
For Bev's Cross Crafts, success isn't about making postage a profit center or cutting corners on customer service. It's about maintaining the values Bev established over 31 years in business while adapting to online retail's demands. Popular items like Lavinia stamps from the UK and various craft supplies move through their system daily, each order processed with the same attention to accuracy and fast fulfillment.
Andrew's experience demonstrates an important truth about ecommerce technology: your tools should adapt to your business principles, not force you to compromise them. Many merchants take the easier route with flat-rate shipping and profit from the difference. Andrew chose transparency and fairness, even though it meant more complex operations. That choice was only sustainable because Cleverific could handle the workflow it required.
When your business model demands post-purchase modifications, two-part transactions, or custom pricing adjustments, you need tools flexible enough to accommodate how you've chosen to operate. For craft retailers dealing with variable-weight products, merchants committed to customer-first pricing, or any business that refuses to compromise its values for operational convenience, the ability to adapt order management to your specific principles isn't just a feature. It's what makes running your business the way you want possible.
Variable-weight products complicating your shipping? See how Bev's Cross Crafts maintains transparent pricing with Cleverific's flexible order management.
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