Shipping - To charge or not?

[Diggerboy]

Hi folks,

We've been selling hardware & tool storage through eBay for a while. One of our suppliers offers effectively a drop-ship service (we take the order, they dispatch and deliver overnight).

We get charged a fixed total rate for the items, including shipping.

I still haven't figured out if it's better to offer our customers "free shipping", or separate the item & shipping price for transparency. We tried to separate for a couple of weeks but struggled with sales, and our eBay competitors continued to sell at generally higher total prices, but with the "Free Shipping" tag line. I thought customers might prefer clarity - but it seems not?!

Anyone got experience with this?

Our ecommerce shop www.blackrock-direct.com is currently set up with all shipping prices "built-in" to items, thus we advertise as "Shipping Included" in listings.

Any thoughts?

[KidsYard]

Having shopped many times in both Amazon and Ebuyer. I like the option of free delivery a few days later with the option to pay a premium for next day.
You could use this to your advantage by sending the free delivery next day. This would really do wonders to the satisfaction of your customers who would more than likely come back.
I would definitely promote the free shipping on the home page and each and every page.
Could I just point out a slight niggle with your site?. The template is fixed and viewing on my 24" monitor leaves a large white border bottom and both sides. This also affects how the sites footer displays between each page. As I said a slight niggle but perhaps one you may not of been aware of.

[CableGuy]

I'm a big fan of free shipping - similarly I also appreciate the flexibility to be able to upgrade to next day delivery for a reasonable charge.

On eBay it seems that pricing is everything, so free shipping may get those crucial extra few sales, if you can absorb the cost.

eBay is getting more competitive each day - those within eBay circles say that sellers have to do more to 'differentiate themselves', but the bottom line is that the eBay buyer is less interested in service and more in price. They usually want a Ferrari for the price of a Nissan Micra!

[deniser]

On Ebay I add up the total cost of the purchase and compare the totals so it doesn't matter which way you do it.

What I can't stand though is when eg. on Amazon an item costs 1p but the shipping costs are not shown until checkout and then you see they are £5. That doesn't apply to Ebay though where everything is clearly stated.

Can't see that it matters much.

[Mattonella Tile Studio]

I think it's as broad as it is long. Personally I look at the total price that I'm paying. That's the bottom line. I know other people would look at getting the cheapest possible 'price' for the item and pay over the odds to have it delivered. Others would be enticed by free shipping, regardless of what the item cost is.

I don't think there's a blanket right answer.

[davidshaw89]

Hi,

It really depends if you are going to sell just one item, or many in one delivery!

for example, itemA costs £1 to deliver 1. (£9 = amount we wish to charge)

If a customer wanted to buy itemA from me at £10.00, which included shipping, this would be ok.

but if the same customer wanted to buy 10x itemA from me, this would cost them £100. The shipping will not cost £10, so why should we charge the customer £10?

So if we dropped the price down to £9 and charged £1 +5% of the order value then the total order would be £95.50!

I know its only a few pounds, but you are helping to save the customer money, and if they can pay less, they will! :D

[borobabe]

On Ebay I add up the total cost of the purchase and compare the totals so it doesn't matter which way you do it.

What I can't stand though is when eg. on Amazon an item costs 1p but the shipping costs are not shown until checkout and then you see they are £5. That doesn't apply to Ebay though where everything is clearly stated.

Can't see that it matters much.

Amazon operate on a fixed shipping which is set up by them dependent on the weight of the item. Sometimes I gain on the postage they charge but most times what they have set postage at for the item is less than I actually pay for shipping the item out.

[deniser]

Thanks for clarifying from a seller's point of view Borobabe.

I have no problem with the amount; what I can't stand is that you have to go all the way through checkout before you know the total price making comparison impossible.

[Delboy]

David you could allow them to invoice you.. or offer a refund over the cost? thats what has happened to me... or have a note that says... if you need more than (say) 5 please contact me first. and then you could sort it out and invoice it?

[davidshaw89]

offer a refund over the cost? thats what has happened to me... or have a note that says... if you need more than (say) 5 please contact me first.

Thats a good point, but i feel that a lot of customers are reluctant to go down the "get it refunded" route at a later date. They would rather just not be charged for it in the first place.

If you are selling on your own website, you could have a section which shows the item cost, delivery charge and then total cost on the product listing page. This way they know that delivery is seperate, but with the added bonus of seeing the full price of the item :D

[mmjosh1010]

I completely agree with what most people are saying, promoting a free shipping option is great to get customers even more interested. Then also offer along side that a premium shipping option at a price, which people will take up if they are desperate for the goods.

I love it when I find something on a site that I'm really desperate for and I see for an extra cost I can get it next working day. The more choice the better I say.