Carriage charges

[Rhyl Lightworks]

What do people think about the best way to charge for carriage on an e-commerce shopping website?
Some sites charge a flat rate for carriage, no matter what the cost. Some have free carriage on everything (with possible a small order charge for orders of £10 or less). Others like ourselves, have a carriage charge for orders up to a certain amount, and carriage free above this. Some even have a variable carriage rate depending on the weight of the item.

If you have a carriage charge for items up to a certain amount, you adjust the price for lighter items below that amount, to make them seem cheaper, until carriage is added. This seems to annoy some people, who think they are getting something very cheap and (having not read the clear info. about this) then find a carriage charge bumps up the price.

I feel inclined to change to free carriage, but before finally deciding, I would be glad to hear people's views on this. When you shop online, do you take account of carriage charges, or just accept them and buy the goods anyway?
Barrie

 

[.Spiralling.]

I do take account of the carriage charges, as these can make the total cost to me vary considerably between sites. What I don't like is going to a site and not knowing until I've finished shopping what the carriage will be - eg carriage by weight - I want to know upfront what I will be paying to actually get the stuff I order.

I have a flat rate at the moment, and it's set fairly low; even so, it's not too often I have to pay a lot more in shipping than the customer was charged.

 

[quikshop]

We always used to opt for a simple tiered approach based on order value.

£1.95 for orders up to £15
£2.95 for orders up to £35
£4.95 for orders up to £50
FREE over £50

Quite a few of our shop keepers such as Tots'nToys use free UK shipping to great effect, so if you can afford to do that without pushing the price of your products way above those of your competitors its certainly worth doing, perhaps even as a periodical special offer to previous customers through a Newsletter?

 

[Gemma1]

What I don't like is going to a site and not knowing until I've finished shopping what the carriage will be - eg carriage by weight - I want to know upfront what I will be paying to actually get the stuff I order.

I totally agree....I like to know exactly how much it is going to be. I am offering free delivery at present, it is a good way to give something back once in a while to previous customers and definately attracts new ones...

 

[Gemma1]

Oops sorry Nicola, was actually trying to quote you there not just repeating exactly what you just said. Made a bit of a mess of that!!

 

[stephendoyle]

hi,

i prefer to cost the carriage and packing costs in and then
pitch your price to your customer with free delivery.

i find especially on ecommerce based businesses this works
better.

as someone mentioned above if you are charging carriage let
them know how much it is prior to them having to check out.

also in my experience as long as the shipping costs are reasonable
dependant on the product and service then customers dont
mind paying something.

regards
stephen doyle

 

[Kwackers]

As i added products to my website i added a weight

I think the weights we're equivelent to £1.50, £2.95 £4.95 and £9.95.

With the products i was selling some £10 products were costing £4.95 to send and some £60 products £1,50 to send, so i priced accordingly

 

[vitalchip]

I've been wrestling with this issue for a while, I charge based on weight but since the sculptures I sell are very heavy I subsidise the carriage charge a bit to keep the costs reasonable.

I'm now considering making a change to free carriage, I think it will encourage more purchases.

One issue - what happens if you offer free carriage and a customer wants to return an item under the distance selling act? Can you charge them the full cost to return it ( assuming you state this is T&C ) and would this then leave me open to a complaint that my carriage isn't therefore 'free' but rather 'included' ( which we all know it is anyway )

Any thoughts?

 

[Steve2507]

Personally I think some form of free postage is essential. The level just depends on your market. We've just changed our postage prices to include the options of Special Delivery and Saturday Delivery (which cost extra and don;t have a free option), but we still offer free deliver via our standard method. Our customers are loving it, with many taking up the special delivery option and those that don't want the special service can get (and are still getting) the free delivery.

 

[Rhyl Lightworks]

Thanks for all your input on this. I have decided to go down the free carriage route, but some of my prices will have to be altered to take this into account - a job for after Christmas I think.
Barrie

 

[streetslocal]

Ebay are actually going to be showing there listings in order aswell.

So higher postage will result in being on a lower page and free postage and cheaper postage towards top of results.

 

[rjhgt]

I have just introduced an ecommerce shop to my portfolio and have decided on the following:

Postage and Packaging costs are:-

Purchases up to £20.00 = £2.00
Purchases up to £40.00 = £4.00
Purchases up to £75.00 = £7.50

We offer FREE standard delivery on all orders over £75.00 for UK Mainland only.

I was unsure as to the route, and if I'm honest still am, therefore I will be keeping an open mind and will adjust accordingly to meet the needs of my business.

 

[Page]

I offer flat delivery.

I think the charges above would piss me off. I am spending more yet the carriage goes up and up but then suddenly goes down to zero.

Depending on what you sell the carriage is only a small part of the post AND packing cost. price in your time.

A simple policy is often better. IMHO

 

[rjhgt]

IMHO? What is your shop then?

 

[vitalchip]

I don't think there's an easy answer, or one that suits everybody.

I don't see a problem with carriage increasing as you buy more items, it costs more to pack and post after all. Offering free carriage over a set amount is also fine.

Just my view of course, like I say everyone has a different opinion.

Right now I charge carriage in bands, depending on weight and service level but I'm probably going to change soon to include some sort of free offer.

 

[Steve2507]

it costs more to pack

If you analyse your set up and you have your stock in a logical order then it proably doesn't cost much more to pack 2 items than it does 1.

The postage I agree that it can cost more, but then again you are getting a greater sale than if you were only selling one item, thereby increasing your profit and making reducing posting costs possible.

 

[Fuzzy]

We charge standard rates and then free delivery for 50 or more items, we intend to reduce the quantity in the New Year.

 

[Matt1959]

if it were me, I'd use carriage charges to single myself out from my competitors ie if in my particular market, everyone charged carriage, I'd do it free or very low cost and try and absorb the overall cost.

 

[IP2]

One issue - what happens if you offer free carriage and a customer wants to return an item under the distance selling act? Can you charge them the full cost to return it ( assuming you state this is T&C ) and would this then leave me open to a complaint that my carriage isn't therefore 'free' but rather 'included' ( which we all know it is anyway )

Any thoughts?

It is an interesting one, trying to make an outbound charge on something you had advertised as free could cause grief, but I agree if it is part of the "offer" that it was only free under the condition that the customer choose not to return it under the DSR and the charge was clearly visable then it is a condition of the sale. But that is a non legal view point!

 

[darrenwis]

Hi All,

My website, tots2kids is due for launch the end of Jan. I am currently looking to be unique regarding my shipping charges and ship by weight. I believe that this is the most fair and realistic way to charge for shipping items but ofcouse i am also wary that my customers will not know how much shipping would be.

This is why i also aim to say in the listing how much the shipping charge would be.

Do you think this would work?

Darren

 

We charge standard rates and then free delivery for 50 or more items,

50 Items.?:|

Blimey buy 50 Jet skis off us and we will chuck in a box of after eights and a small bunch of flowers + christmas cards for life.

Earl

 

[Fuzzy]

Haha very funny Earl, tell you what, you order from me -you won't get any posh after dinner mints , we throw in something special!