Add shipping or free shipping???

[jagustore]

Hello, Increase the price of the item and free shipping, Or reduce the item price and add shipping. which one is the best? Which one is the most used?

[kathieskorner]

Like you I charge shipping on most items as there is no such thing as "free" shipping.  My thought has always been why should someone across the country pay the same as a buyer in the next state when it can cost considerably more to ship across the country.  Plus I think buyers should be aware of shipping costs. 

Occasionally I will use "free shipping" on books  because media mail is not zoned or on very light weight items.   

[gamersbaystore]

Should you offer free shipping? It really depends on what you're selling, and what your profit margins are.

ebay's outrageous fees + outrageous shipping costs + free shipping = burned holes in your pocket! That's been my experience anyway.

Something really important to note, listings with free shipping get way more traffic. This is because ebay intentionally prioritizes listings that offer free shipping over those that don't, and buyers also filter out search results based on free shipping as well.

Free shipping generally equals more traffic and likely more sales, but at the cost of less profits. That being said, you really have to weigh the benefits vs. the drawbacks when making such a decision.

I prefer to price items higher than what I actually need to sell them for in order to turn a profit, while also charging shipping. Then I run promotional sales like buy 2 get 1 free, a percentage off, etc, in order to drive more sales.

I can actually control the flow of sales with promotions alone. At times when I have a lot of new inventory to list, I run less promotions, and at times when I need more sales I run more of them.

Its also not a bad idea to offer free shipping on some items, as you will get more traffic if you do it. But you have to make sure your profit margins will allow for it. I do it from time to time, but very sparingly.

[gamersbaystore]

Exactly! Free shipping is only viable if its something that's really cheap to ship and sells at a decent price worth doing so.

I sell a lot of DVD's, a very saturated category with a lot of competition. The free shippers get tons more sales, they also make no money. My free shipping competitors have to sell dozens of DVD's to equal my profits from a single sale.

I see no logic in making a lousy 5 or 10 cents profit on every sale. That's a lot of work for literally nothing. Like selling a DVD for $5 with free shipping. There's no profit in that.