Which is more important: Item Cost or Shipping Cost?

**TheCHICompany** · 12-10-2010, 08:47 PM

To all,
We have an after-sale survey we have used for the last two years.
Over 75% of respondants prefer low item cost & honest shipping rates, vs. higher item costs to pay for the "free" or "super-saver shipping".

Question: see poll above

Beer_Maker · 12-10-2010, 09:16 PM

I think you get to a point where the economy balances out, but for the most part I would rather pay less of an item and an honest shipping cost.

hamiltont · 12-10-2010, 09:18 PM

Both item cost & shipping combined determine my purchases... Cheers!!!

**GilaMinumBeer** · 12-10-2010, 09:22 PM

Your poll is flawed.

You gotta be competitive in both respects or be the only vendor with what I need to get my business. But, you only get one first impression. If CS on the first shot is crap I will go elsewhere from then on regardless of competitive pricing or exclusivity.

mosquitocontrol · 12-10-2010, 09:27 PM

I would say both obviously because they add together for a total amount. But in my experience I would say 90% of the time stores with flat-rate or free shipping end up leading to a lower overall price. This includes factoring in slightly higher product costs.

TheCarnie · 12-10-2010, 09:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Austinhomebrew
We just had an order from someone in California. His order was $449.40 so he qualified for free shipping. The items he ordered were heavy and we paid $292 in shipping charges. Adding in the 14 boxes and shipping peanuts and our COST (not retail) the order cost us over $500. Yes, we lost over $50 on the order. There are no quotes needed around the words free shipping.

This kind of honest response make me want to patron your site. Just because it is showing that you can take the ups and downs. It shows you won't disqualify an offer based on business margins. I'm just saying this because i recently had a bad experience from a photography site who canceled my order because it wasn't profitable. You have won my business sir!

Anyways Depends on what I'm buying. But I'm a sucker for free shipping.

**arturo7** · 12-10-2010, 09:45 PM

Total

**Yuri_Rage** · 12-10-2010, 09:48 PM

It's just a marketing game. If I'm making any significant purchase, I'll look at the TOTAL COST of similar orders from competing companies. The one with the lower price will likely receive my order.

Caveat: reputation. A company with no reputation or a bad reputation will not receive my order even when the price is low.

Caveat #2: speed. Cheap shipping means nothing if it takes forever. If the overall product cost is the same and I can get free USPS 1st Class shipping vs reasonably priced UPS 3 day service (or similar), it's quite likely that I'll choose to pay for shipping.

DKershner · 12-10-2010, 09:55 PM

Online Marketer here...

Do an A/B test on your site. Even asking people what is important will not give you accurate results. Post sale surveys on a site that specializes in low-cost items and dynamic full cost shipping will obviously wildly skew the results as well, since they obviously bought from your site for a reason.

Also, just to point out, you do not have to be all one or the other.

ArcaneXor · 12-10-2010, 10:02 PM

Total delivered cost. The lower the total cost, and the easier you make it to figure out what the cost is, the more people will frequent your store.