Does Offering Free Shipping Work for Anyone?

[Anonymous]

Ebay strongly encourages Sellers to offer free shipping. I understand why. Free shipping is important to buyers and generally results in increased sales. I get it.

But the mechanics have me pretty befuddled. In my experience as a Buyer, the issue isn't free shipping so much as it is combined shipping. I have had endless frustrations with Sellers who don't set up their accounts to offer combined shipping because I can't request invoices, and in general just over a lack of transparency as to what shipping on multiple items will be. Many sellers don't bother changing their account settings, yet offer free shipping in the form of post-sale credits once actual shipping costs are known. On the other hand, in my experience as a Seller, it is impossible to create combined shipping rules/policies that cover every scenario.

Offering free shipping certainly eliminates these problems: if there are no shipping costs, there is nothing to combine. However, there are two problems with this:

1. As a Seller, I may occasionally (or frequently) lose money because not all items can be easily combined. Aside from weight considerations, not all items are similarly sized, and changing packaging often changes shipping methods, which normally changes the rates. And of course, distances vary and I don't know, for example, whether I'll be shipping to Region 1 or 7 when I list the item with free shipping.

2. As a Buyer, I don't like paying duplicate (or triplicate or quadruplicate) shipping costs. For example:

I sell two comic books for $10 each, both with free shipping. Any half-conscious human knows the $5 shipping cost is built into the item costs, which means the Buyer is really paying for shipping twice when they pay $20 for both items (disregarding tax). Buyers will be naturally disinclined to buy more than one item on this strategy.

And yet, this is exactly what Ebay seems to want Sellers to do. If I understand, I can get a significant boost in Best Match impressions, discounts on selling fees, and other stuff if only I will start offering free shipping.

So, back to my original question: Does offering free shipping actually work for anyone?

[powell-memorabilia]

There are workarounds to problems with combining shipping.  You can offer quantity discounts - as in buy multiple  items and get x% off.  That’s what I do on my main selling account.  It isn’t perfect, but it works well for my items.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, do you mean free shipping? Combining shipping is what I think most Buyers want. It's what I want when I buy multiple items. I have tried to convince Sellers to offer discounts when the shipping cost is built into the item cost, but many refuse. And so, I do not buy from them at all.

For example, when purchasing trading cards, a Seller may build in a flat $3 to the price of each card. If I want to buy 5 cards, I don't want to pay $15 for shipping when I know the Seller's shipping cost is virtually unchanged. I would much prefer that the Seller list each card with a $3 (i.e., not built-in) shipping cost and then combine shipping so that total shipping does not exceed ~$5 for the entire order.

As a Seller, I am loath to offer items with free shipping because I know I hate that as a Buyer. I think Buyers will be disinclined to buy more than one item if they have to pay the same shipping costs over and over because they are built into the item prices.

Perhaps you're considering combined shipping the same as free shipping for these purposes.

[glasser]

I sell stuff that is not conducive to combined shipping because they are fragile and often odd shaped. Occasionally someone will ask if the were to win multiple items ( I mostly do auctions) would I combine. If I can safely I will. I let them know not to pay and I will calculate a reduced price post auction and then invoice a new amount.

If I can't combine, I will also ask them to hold in payment as well and will then give a discount on one item as a courtesy for being a good buyer.

Maybe you could add some language to your listings for those interested in multiple items to contact you to  make the best arrangements.

[hawkwind5454]

It's been my experience, that I can only cut the pie one way. I'm not going to sell something at a bare-bones (below market) low price, and also offer free shipping. Some items I offer free shipping on, and others, I do not. And I am not going to kid anybody; The addition of sales tax to the buyers' out of pocket also enters into it. I'm also a buyer on eBay, and so I can sympathize with it. And yes, yes, I realize that they would have to pay sales tax anywhere.... BUT, the fact remains. Some of the items I sell are hundreds of dollars. As much of my inventory is pre-owned, the sales tax on an item might be 10 times or more of what it would have been when the item was new originally. For me, the *free shipping* conundrum  not is not a black or white issue, as there are various shades of gray. Overall, I have never felt that offering free shipping was an asset to perpetuating a sale. 

[Anonymous]

Thank you. Auctions are a little different in that Sellers can always send an invoice and negotiate things like combined shipping via messages post-listing completion.

I should have been clear that I'm speaking mostly of Buy It Now listings. I have personally abandoned many purchases altogether because I add all the items to my cart and either I cannot request an invoice (because a Seller does not enable combined shipping or because Ebay encounters an error, which is equally common) or because I look at all the items in my cart and I just know that each one has a built-in shipping cost and I think it would be a rip-off to pay so much when the Seller's shipping cost will not change much with each new item.

I'm also speaking most of items that are of similar size, weight, and more or less comparably priced. Adding one or two or twelve trading cards won't change shipping costs much, but adding a second magazine  changes a seller's shipping cost substantially.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your reply.

I agree free shipping isn't necessarily an enticement to convince buyers to purchase something. When I see an item for $15 with free shipping and the same item in the same condition from another seller for $9 plus $5 shipping, I will be more inclined to buy the one that costs a dollar less. It's about the total price of the purchase, leaving out for the moment things like seller reputation, shipping time, etc.

And yet, Ebay only offers certain perks if Sellers agree to offer free shipping. They must be fairly convinced that free shipping leads to more sales. It may not be true or it may only be partially true, i.e., true for some single item purchases but not true for multi-item purchases or purchases of many different types of items.

Regardless, I would like to gain more page views and receive other discounts, so I'm trying to find a way not to get hosed if I start offering free shipping.

[1tuna]

it must be working for someone

I have read somewhere in ebay that 75% of the items on ebay already have free shipping

the same paragraph also stated that 75% of the itsm sold on ebay are new

[stainlessenginecovers]

There are no longer any perks for listing with 'free shipping'. 

[Anonymous]

Please explain, as I still see prompts from Ebay to change my listings to include free shipping and to accept free returns (the latter being the subject of another thread I started).

I know Ebay sometimes changes things and the changes aren't reflected everywhere right away, but this is a new one for me. I'm curious what you mean by this and how you became aware of it.

Thanks!

[stainlessenginecovers]

What really matters is 'what are your competitors doing?. If they sell offering Free Shipping, then you should (build that cost into selling cost).  It's very easy to have things listed 'price with shipping lowest first' after an initial Search Term is inputted (that is how I've always shopped)

Free shipping used to be a 'thing' to get 'better placement on best match'. 

Promotions did away with that. 

Free Returns might have some perks; I don't know as I don't use it. 

The only real 'perk' is 2 things that I know of.

1.) Offer 30 day returns and be Top Rated Seller (TRS) and you can deduct up to 50% on a return if item is returned in a less-than condition.

2.) 10% off Selling Fees if you have 1 day or less shipping and offer 30 day returns. 

Other things that may be considered a 'perk' is 'have a store', get more free listings and a discount on final value fees (some categories) as well as being able to use 'markdown manager' (put things on sale)

TRS or Store Owners also get coupon on ebay packaging materials (again- I don't use it so not fully aware of what it consists of... $25 a month or something like that?) 

[crazystuff4sale]

A lot of buyers like to click that little "Free Shipping" button that filters the search results.

[richard1rst]

The pool of buyers that exist on eBay is not homogenous. Some are drawn to free shipping, some are drawn to cost+shipping. No matter which method you pick you are going to lose the interest of some buyers.

I’ve been here since ’04. At first everything I did was cost+shipping with a stated policy of combining and discounting shipping on multiple orders. There were both advantages and disadvantages to that policy.

So I started experimenting with free shipping on less expensive items where the shipping, either way, was of no major significance. Some of the disadvantages disappeared. Most notably, but not singularly, the complaints about the shipping cost. Patches and decals, etc, still required tracking but the complaint was why can’t you just send it in a regular letter for 50 cents. Or the complaint on larger heavier items Why can’t you just use the cheaper flat rate. Except the item is too big for a flat rate box. Your shipping costs are too high. And the time necessary to respond and explain. Free shipping did away with all that.

Gradually I converted more and more so that today 100% of my listings are free shipping. Including some relatively large and heavy items. And again there are both (different) advantages and disadvantages to that policy.

But I am satisfied that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages and I would not go back.

Buy again remember that the audience is bifurcated. No matter which choice you make you are not going to reach everybody.

[hawkwind5454]

I would tend to agree with you. I'm sure that the big volume sellers, who sell hundreds of thousands of items, are dealing in the NIB capacity. One is likely to see a seller listing 5,000 garage sale type items. eBay is no longer what it [inadvertently] once was. 

[glasser]

@Anonymous 

eBay pushed free shipping hard to compete with Amazon. The same with pushing returns and short shipping times. eBay seems to think Amazonification of the site will lead to better results.

There is no free lunch and there is really no such thing as free shipping. Someone somewhere absorbs the costs.

eBay fails to see how in some markets--like where I sell--shipping costs are actually substantially lower then when buying at other online auction sites that either charge a lot for inhouse shipping or you have to use a UPS store type shipper and of course that's not cheap.

Some of this is also a hold over from the days when shipping was not included in FVF so some people price items lower and charged more for shipping.

All that said, maybe you want to raise the issue of fixing some of these combined shipping glitches on a Wed community chat.