To Ship Free or Not to Ship Free, That is the Question.............

[notjustcollectibles]

Hi,

Was ponding the free shipping school of thought.

I go back and forth on the idea.

I am a small seller. I am getting ready to add more listings and thinking of

offering free shipping on all.

Just wondering if it does make that much of a difference in sales.

Asking advice from your experience would be greatley appreciated.

Thanks

[chrysylys]

Regardless of how you parse it, buyers always pay shipping.

$10 + $5 shipping = $15

$15 + free shipping = $15

The difference comes in returns/refunds.  If you refund original selling price only, you refund $10 in the first example and $15 in the second.

As a buyer, I usually (but not always) look for 'free' shipping just for that reason.  If I have to return ( which I almost never do), I know I shouold get everything back, not just part of what I paid.

[victorjunkman55]

Free shipping get's you Nowhere fast on eBay. Good Luck to you.

[used_auto_parts_services]

Free Shipping is not worth it in my opinion.  We are located on the East Coast and shipping locally versus across the USA can be quite different.  We use calculated shipping on all items and add a packaging fee high enough to cover the boxes, bubble wrap, tape, etc.  Rarely does anyone question our shipping charges.  We do offer Free Shipping if a customer purchases three or more items.

[phcd1]

If you ship "Free" and you take returns, you can't recover your original shipping charge unless you charge a restocking fee. A restocking fee is a big turn off for many people.

You seem to not take returns, which in my opinion is the best return policy on eBay at this time. Some will say that "No Returns" is another big turn off (although it does not hurt my sales, in fact, it increased them).

The main reason I stopped "Free Shipping" is because when you use Free Shipping, you are no longer competitively priced. You "appear" expensive when comparing items.

[billythekid16]

My listings are a mix of both free shipping and buyer pays shipping. My most recently sold items (23) show that eight of them were free shipping.

If you are not completely comfortable on offering free shipping on all your listings, I suggest doing it this way:

If the item price is $14.99 and more, offer free shipping.
If the price is $14.98 or less, the buyer pays shipping.

I use $14.99 as my magic mark. You can use whatever dollar amount you feel is fit for you as long as the magic mark is consistent. It may not work for everybody. But if you choose to do both charging shipping and offering free shipping, its a memorable rule of thumb.

[usmc*usnmom]

I used to offer "free" shipping on lighter weight items that went First Class Mail. When I got rid of it and went to the item price plus a flat $4 ship fee, my sales for those type items went up almost 40%.

[apache.falls]

we been giving customers free shipping for 20 years on ebay without any problems, and make more profit when they buy multiples

[bluecuda1971]

It depends on what you sell or buy, but I tend to avoid free shipping on most items…

“Free” really means “built into the price”. Heavier items do much better with calculated shipping, as a high cost will scare local buyers and you can easily lose money on shipping to buyers farther away.

With the parts I buy, I look for sellers who charge for shipping but offer to combine. I will give the sale to a seller who will combine shipping over one who won’t. This means the seller with the cheapest item price may not get the sale. Often paying $1-$2 more per item will end up saving me money because I’m not paying the $3 shipping on each additional one.

When you charge for shipping it’s also easier to offer the buyer options. Giving a choice of say Priority, UPS ground and Smart Post can let a buyer decide how much they pay based on how quickly they want the item. As mentioned in previous posts, free shipping also complicates returns for buyer’s remorse.

[forestthrutrees]

I have shipped only a couple things free. No difference on what sells and what doesn't IMO

[lja440]

Ok, I have been a eBayer since 2004 and a mail carrier since 2000.

The vast majority of my listings have Free Shipping. I also have my items split between several ID's. I did this after some run ins with buyers wanting things I could not do, such as tossing in a cheep paperback and calling a Jeans lot Media Mail. And other such equally dumb ideas.

Free Shipping can and does work but you have to really know your shipping and your market. 

With the exception of media where I often get multiple sales to the same buyer. And items that are oversized that will if shipped to further zones encounter a balloon rate I ship free. 

When I list I list with maximizing my postage value. If it can't best use a RR box or Flat Rate mailer then I try for lots that are just under the next pound on the zoned scale.

My sell through hovers around 80%. I rarely get returns and those are just because of fit. I've never had a claim of damage or a package lost. To me they are the real cash sink on shipping. Free Shipping stops the whining about the s/h cost. No more:

I bought one of your books, send it with these jeans and ship Media Mail refund me the difference.

My husband bought your pulley (10# old hay pulley), I want the tulip cup and saucer (bone china). What would combined shipping be?

Could you take it out of the packaging to lower the weight and shipping cost.  (Homeco eagle statue).

And yes these were all real questions I was asked.

[rianvisser]

Probably depends on what you sell.

As a buyer, I will not be interested in free shipping when buying goods valued hundreds or thousands of Dollars. In these cases I would rather want my goods to be shipped securely.

I do not think free shipping necessarily attracks buyers, perhaps on low valued items it may make a difference to some buyers.

[baggs-2024]

Free shipping is a cost that you will be refunding if a buyer opens a return.  How many returns do you normally get?  I never offer free shipping unless it is under $4-$5, because that is okay.  It used to benefit buyers that use ebay bucks, because then they would earn them on the cost of the shipping as well, but since ebay gutted that program, it's really not a factor anymore.

I say no free shipping, and use calculated shipping now, much easier, and at the rate shipping rates are going up, much less work to do when they change.

[spudcakes]

Never offer free shipping 
I Shipped an item for $21.77. The buyer said the pool cue had dings and wanted to return. My description stated clearly that the butt had a number of dings. Also my description graded the cue at 85-90%. Both of these condition statements should have turned the seller off or at least prompted questions before bidding. Long story short, Ebay required the buyer pay return shipping but I was still out my shipping of 21.77. The final explanation I got from Ebay is that free shipping is not part of the price of an item and a full refund is required, I cannot re-coup shipping from the buyer. Ebay advised that I should set up for shipping charges and abandon free shipping. That way only the actual price of the item has to be refunded but the shipping is not. So, it makes no sense to figure in shipping in the price of the item and use free shipping. It can come back to hurt sellers when they sell to a "Window Shopper" who wants to buy it and look at it then return it instead of reading the description. Ebay has no help to offer the Free Shippers in such a case. I tried real hard but nuthin' doin'. I had to talk to several customer support personnel to get the explanations and finally the advice and it took some prodding. Yes they are polite but they want to protect ebay's profits from free shipping. Shippers are not afforded a fair consideration. No justice for shippers.