Why is Free Shipping so hard for some sellers?

[guybemis]

Can somebody help me understand this. I'm looking at an item priced $4.99 plus $2.69 shipping. It's a good price. The next lowest seller is charging $12.99 with free shipping for the exact same item. My question is why would the seller choose $4.99 plus $2.69 shipping?

From my buyer perspective, I would be just as likely to buy the item if it was priced $9.99 with free shipping. Because 1. it would still be under the $10 price point and 2. it would still be the lowest price on eBay. Mentally I have already put it over the $5 price point, because of the shipping charge. As a matter of fact I might be slightly more likely to buy it at $9.99, because I might have searched for it with Free Shipping checked. Though usually I use Price plus Shipping Lowest First. That is why I saw the item.

The seller is a long time seller and seems to price all their items similarly. The only thing I can think of is the seller is charges shipping without even thinking about other possibilities. Because maybe that is the way they have always done it.

Is that it, or am I missing something?

[buyselljack2016]

May show higher up in search.

some buyers want to know how much they are being charged for shipping.

[emerald40]

As a buyer I much prefer that  the item and shipping be listed separately with the latter being actual cost with no padding.

It gives me a better sense of the value for what I am paying for.

[guybemis]

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@buyselljack2016 wrote:

May show higher up in search.

some buyers want to know how much they are being charged for shipping.

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Yeah, but I think it would still show up in the same order in Price Plus Shipping Lowest. I think the next higher priced seller is making their sales on people searching with Free Shipping checked. Those people don't even see the lower priced item.  It seems to me the seller is just cutting their own profits with their pricing.

[flyinhawaiiangirl]

Perhaps he has found it helps eliminate problem buyers who choose to search using that as a factor, a sub set he does not necessarily wants to do business with anyway.

[guybemis]

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@emerald40 wrote:

As a buyer I much prefer that  the item and shipping be listed separately with the latter being actual cost with no padding.

It gives me a better sense of the value for what I am paying for.

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If shipping was the actual cost of shipping, that might be useful. But it's not. Many sellers under value the price of the item and inflate the shipping charge to make up the difference.  For example I have seen items priced $1 with $20 shipping. No way does that item cost just $1 and no way does it cost $20 to ship it. It's proably actually a $17 item with $3 shipping.

For that reason I prefear I prefear one sigle price.

[autopartspuller]

Everyone  has thier reasons.  With this store, I use free shipping on most of my first class items however, anything over 1lbs has seperate shipping.  This is due to the highly variable cost depending on where those items get shipped.

I have another store where I ship light weight craft products.  I personally do not offer free shipping on them because I am able to offer an automatic combined shipping discount when someone wants more than one of the item.

In the end, why wouldnt you want the seperate shipping if you are saving money?

[mountainmommie]

I am sorry but I don't understand what your point is. Are you making a shipping point or a profit point? 

Because you would pay $9.99 doesn't mean someone else will.  I'm confused.

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

As a buyer I hate free shipping. I like to buy multiples and free shipping is nearly always a ripoff. 

I think it's dishonest because everyone knows shipping isn't free, it's included. I don't want to pay a ridiculous upcharge for the benefit of avoiding math.

[Anonymous]

Simple... There is no such thing as Free Shipping!

[beardedbovine]

@guybemis

The seller may offer discounts on combined shipping. This can still be done with free shipping but some find it easier to separate the cost.

The seller may separate the shipping cost so they don't have to refund it when remorse returns come in.

[tsme35]

Free shipping is a rip off if your buying more then one item. Shipping is not free and is added into price of the item, if you buy 2 items your paying shipping per item so your paying twice on shipping. I do combine shipping, buy 1st item plus shipping and only .50 per listing after that. Your gonna see alot less free shipping come end of January when 1st class changes to zone rated, zones could be as much as $1 difference in shipping, some buyers won't be able eat that.

[autopartspuller]

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@tsme35 wrote:
Free shipping is a rip off if your buying more then one item. Shipping is not free and is added into price of the item, if you buy 2 items your paying shipping per item so your paying twice on shipping. I do combine shipping, buy 1st item plus shipping and only .50 per listing after that. Your gonna see alot less free shipping come end of January when 1st class changes to zone rated, zones could be as much as $1 difference in shipping, some buyers won't be able eat that.

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I had no idea.  UGH!  That is going to be a mess.  I better start early on fixing my shipping.  Thank you for the heads up!

[guybemis]

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@mountainmommie wrote:

I am sorry but I don't understand what your point is. Are you making a shipping point or a profit point? 

Because you would pay $9.99 doesn't mean someone else will.  I'm confused.

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I'm trying to make both points. Do you really think the difference between $7.68 and $9.99 is going to make that big a difference? I'm pretty cheap but two and a half dollars is not that big a deal to me. Especially on an item that is already very low price, and that other sellers are charging as much as $39.00 for. And no I would not pay the $39 for it, or even close to it. But I would pay $9.99.

If two and a half dollars is that big a deal, the seller would have other options as well, such as $7.99 with free shipping. That to me would be exactly the same to me. Because I would mentally round either  $4.99 + $2.69, or $7.99 off to $8 anyway. As I said, I'm cheap, but pennies make no difference to me. But since the seller's price is so low anyway, I think they would be cutting their profits unnecessarily. I noticed the seller is a sponsored seller. I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it. I found the item searching for the low price, not from the sponsored link.

[southern*sweet*tea]

When I first started selling books and booklets, I did all of them as "free shipping".  After a while I changed over to calculated shipping. My sales went up 30%.

I have a good amount of buyers who buy several items at one time. "Free" shipping is a ripoff for those buyers, because they are paying unnecessary shipping costs.

I do offer it on some items...just because.