Why charge separately for shipping?

[appliancepartsupplyco]

If charging a flat rate for shipping, why not bake it into the price and mark it as free? Is there any benefit in terms of returns or not having to refund original shipping cost for doing so?

[wastingtime101 · Accepted solution]

You don't have to refund original separate ship costs on buyers remorse returns.

With separate ship costs you can offer buyers combined shipping rate on multiples which, depending on the product, buyers may prefer to a free shipping model where you discount the item price on multiples.

I have products that fit into both of those separate ship and free ship molds.

[richard1rst]

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@appliancepartsupplyco wrote:

If charging a flat rate for shipping, why not bake it into the price and mark it as free? Is there any benefit in terms of returns or not having to refund original shipping cost for doing so?

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Each method is superior to the other,

Each method is inferior to the other,

Yes, that is deliberately vague because some questions simply do not have an answer. Only opinions.

Buyers are divided into (at least) 2 groups. Those who will only buy “free shipping” and those who will never buy “free shipping preferring it to be stated separately.

No matter which method you choose you are automatically going to lose one of those groups.

All of my listings are free domestic shipping (I do charge for international shipping) because:

I am no longer bothered by nasty emails “Your shipping charges are outrageous” (even though they are not MY shipping charges, but the post office’s).

Why is shipping more expensive than the item (even though shipping is based on weight, size an distance without regard to the value of the item)

Precisely because my stated domestic shipping is ZERO I pay ZERO FVF on the shipping portion of an international sale. Considering that international shipping can easily be $30.00 plus that saves me $4.00 plus on each sale.

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Now it is true that on a remorse return I do not get to deduct the original shipping charge from the refund. But considering that my returns are routinely well under 1% that potential “savings” that I MIGHT get pales in comparison to the actual savings I DO get on the absence of FVF of international shipping charges.

The choice is yours and should be based on what is comfortable to you - not on what others think you ought to do. You can not be all things to all people.

[fm2000]

If you bake shipping into the cost of an item, you have to edit the price of each item if you want to increase the amount you are "baking in" to cover the shipping cost. If you use Shipping Policies and use flat rate shipping, you can easily adjust the amount you would normally bake into the price to cover shipping. By changing one Shipping Policy, you change the shipping costs for all items with that Shipping Policy.

Since postage is going up biannually now (and the USPS is adding more and more surcharges each year), it is important to be able to change the amount you are charging for shipping, if one chooses to not use calculated shipping.

As said, for some buyers prefer "free" shipping appears just because it "appears" like a better deal. One has to determine for themselves if that is worth the inconvenience of having to adjust every price when postage goes up.

[chevymontecarlo88]

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@appliancepartsupplyco wrote:

If charging a flat rate for shipping, why not bake it into the price and mark it as free? Is there any benefit in terms of returns or not having to refund original shipping cost for doing so?

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I think @richard1rst sums it up perfectly. There are some items/categories that have more remorse returns than others. Consider identifying them (if you have had a problem or think you may) to have a separate shipping charge and offer FREE Shipping on the others. YMMV

Experiment with some of your inventory to find your balance.