I know I'm not alone in this, but I hate paying for shipping, especially from big box retailers. On websites like eBay I can understand the shipping cost -- since the seller is pricing everything him or herself, sellers who offer free shipping are often just incorporating the price of shipping into the price they're charging for the item. Free shipping is a huge selling point for many people, myself included, even when it's more of a psychological thing than anything else. However, I am more willing to pay shipping on Ebay and similar sites than from big box retailers. Shipping costs up to maybe $5 I can swallow, but more than that is kind of painful for me unless I'm making a big purchase. This is especially true when it comes to items that I'm not sure I'll like or that might not work out for me. If I order a pair of running shoes online, pay let's say $9 to have them shipped to me, and they're very uncomfortable or don't fit, then what? Many online retailers have a restocking fee or make you pay return shipping, so you end up losing money for absolutely nothing. Or if I'm lucky enough to be able to return to store for free or they do provide a return label, I'm still out $9 and gas or bus fare for no reason. Where do you stand on shipping prices? Is there an amount you refuse to pay? Does it not bother you at all?
Yes. They are on eBay. That is why i do not shop there anymore. I choose to shop at Amazon because they fixed this problem fro their users. Amazon offers free 2 day shipping for only $79.99 a year. You can not beat that. I only shop at eBay when they have a product that i cannot find on Amazon.
Yes. Sometimes on Amazon, certain things will be very cheap but then you look at the shipping and it's 5 times more then what the item itself costs. That of course makes me not buy the item or even consider buying it.
Absolutely. A couple weeks ago I looked into buying some square rings online as I sew purses. I have not been able to find them here in Mazatlan and since I was going back to Calgary for a few days I figured I'd order some and have them shipped to my post office box. What I ordered was going to cost me about $20 which was a steal. Then, I found out shipping what going to cost me $25. I canceled the order and ended up buying them at a sewing store. Sure, they cost a bit more but I spent less than what I would have after the cost of shipping. I prefer Amazon as I've either qualified for free shipping or it's been no more than $10. I mean, today I ordered a garage door opener for my father and the shipping was $6. That item is a lot bigger than the package of square rings ever would have been.
Shipping prices are actually one of the main reasons that I do almost all of my online shopping with Amazon because I can build an order that qualifies for free shipping without even paying for Amazon Prime. I also choose to do my other online shopping with site to store options because many of the online retailers that also have brick and mortar stores will offer free site to store delivery.
Of course! It's actually the dealbreaker quite often. I don't like paying ridiculous prices on shipping and it'll often send me to another seller instead. Sometimes, though, the overall price ends up being the same. They just discount the product price and compensate by tacking on some extra shipping cost.
I usually don't purchase anything if the shipping charge is more than 10-15% of the cost. It's incredibly frustrating on smaller sites sometimes, because the item I'm ordering is usually small, and costs less than $20 but you have to meet a certain amount in order to get free shipping. I'm rarely spending $100 on one website (unless it's Amazon) so that never works out for me. If shipping is more than what I'm purchasing costs, I don't buy it, or I look for it somewhere else.
Absolutely. You have to keep the shipping costs in mind when determining whether or not something is worth the money. You also have to remember to keep these costs in mind when comparing the pricing against local stores or online competitors. I always try to look for free shipping when I can; sometimes you can find online coupon codes and such.
Yep! I am only willing to pay so much for shipping. Honestly, I prefer sites that offer free shipping if you spend so much money. I'd rather just build up my shopping cart until I can spend enough to get free shipping. Seems silly to do it that way. But, if you need all of those items... Shipping is expensive and so is driving to the store to get them sometimes.
Like you I don't mind so much when it's a small independent retailer. I feel it's important to support small businesses, and part of that is making sure their profits aren't all taken up with shipping costs. The bigger retailers though I look very closely at their shipping charges. While I may not mind paying a few pence extra postage for a nice second hand bit of kid's clothing on ebay, if I feel that a big business is overcharging then I search for the same item with more reasonable shipping charges. I appreciate that they're saving me time and money not going to a shop, but charging extortionately won't bring me back. On top of that if the shipping company is annoying to work with as well as expensive I'll shop elsewhere. Having to stay in all day for a parcel that may or may not be delivered isn't saving me any time but will raise my blood pressure!
High shipping charges have definitely stopped me from pulling the trigger on an online purchase. I absolutely love free shipping, but understand places need to make money. I have no problem paying for what the item actually costs to ship and maybe a little extra for shipping supplies, but that's it. What really frustrates me is when shipping charges are tied into how much you spend (J.Crew used to do this, not sure if they do anymore). One year for the holidays I was going to order my sister a sparkly small accessory online, because of the price of the item $79, shipping was going to be $9.95 for a hair piece that weighed less than 6 ounces. I ordered it because she really wanted it, but when the item arrived in a bubble envelope, shipped first class it made me so angry.
Yes that's true lol sometimes the are more like a pain that happens because they are more then the cost of the product and that is what makes you feel low about what you are gonna buy and how.So that is how it does matter and at the same time buying from a source where you get free shipping is a tremendous way.
Amazon Prime, Amazon Prime, Amazon Prime. I'd greatly recommend getting it, if you do a lot of online shopping. For starters, I've never found a product on ebay that I couldn't find on Amazon. I could never go back to not having the free 2 day shipping. I've paid for the Prime membership and then some with shipping costs that I use through Amazon. Add in the movies and TV shows, and you're getting such great value out of the membership.
I won't pay more than $7 for shipping small items, but if I really, really like the the item, then I will be willing to pay no more than $20 for international shipping. For local shipping, the cost is only $1+ to $4 for cellphone packages, so it's quite cheap. I think if I pay more than $20 for shipping then I'd be wasting my money already, especially that I still have to pay "taxes" when the items arrive.
I don't know what it is about the cost of shipping, but I hate it. I could look at two identical items, one for $10+$2 shipping, and one for $12 with free shipping, and I'll buy the one with free shipping. It's the exact same price, but paying for shipping seems like a rip off. Maybe it's just a weird mental thing for me, but I don't like paying for shipping. I'm conditioned to Amazon and their free shipping, which kind of sucks because I like to support independent businesses as well.
Deal breaker for me! I too have an issue with big box retailers charging shipping fees , because of this I have purchased an Amazon Prime membership. I use Amazon Prime for most everything I buy since they offer two day free shipping. Even if I find it on a different site I always double check with Amazon to see if I can get it cheaper with free shipping. With the quantity of items I order from grocery items to tools Prime has more than paid for itself to me. Especially for people that live in smaller rural areas and don't have the advantage of running into a "big" city for hard to find items. If I order from a company and pay shipping it has to be something I "really" need or want. In other words I can't find it at Amazon. Lots of times if I do find something I think I just can't live without I may go as far as getting to the shopping cart and then just completely close out the site. Around Christmas (I do almost all shopping online) I really look at the top of the site to see if it's going to offer any free shipping or discounts on shipping cost. I try to steer away if they don't, so yes shipping cost is almost a 90% deal breaker for me.
I agree, shipping prices can be a deal-breaker for me. Big box retailers I find are much more expensive when it comes to shipping. I can find things for very low shipping or free shipping on Ebay. Sometimes I think they incorporate the shipping cost into the price, but not always. Amazon is also pretty good about shipping prices. I usually won't go higher than a few dollars. Unless I am ordering something big. If I am ordering something big, I can understand why it'd be expensive to send.
For me, it depends on the item. If it is really that unique that I could only get it online or from that particular site, then I don't really have much choice and would hesitantly agree with the high shipping price. As long as there are other options, however, I'd be a lot more picky with using my money to pay for shipping because if the shipping price is that high then I'd just end up thinking I could have just used the money to buy a completely separate product and could have more things derived from my money rather than just being used for delivery.
Yes, they are. I live in PR and sometimes stores use only UPS or FedEx, that considers PR to be international. The shipping prices are sometimes more than the merchandise or are so much that it doesn't make sense for me to buy that over something I can get local. That being said I have payed really high shipping to get items that are one of a kind or very hard to find, or impossible to find locally.
I would have called J. Crew and cursed them out for charging $10 to ship a hair clip in a bubble mailer. Not literally cursed them out, but I would have complained. It probably cost them $4 total to mail that item.
