There have been times over the years when I have decided not to buy something because I wasn't happy with the price of the shipping, this happens more when I'm dealing with a US company (I live in the UK). I remember back in the early 2000s when companies (and especially Ebay sellers) would lower their asking price, but inflate the shipping price to compensate for it, it worked because idiots thought they were getting a good deal. Free shipping is the best price though.
Yes, I have turned away from good deals only because the shipping costs were phenomenal. At one stage I was ordering a lot of books from Amazon and couldn't believe how one seller tried to charge me $76 for packaging and shipping fees, when another seller offered the same books with a handling fee of $18. How can there be such a big difference? I have saved a lot of money on Amazon simply by searching around and sometimes waiting for a few days to see if there are any new listings of the items that I was interested in.
As an eBay seller, I wonder if people really understand what shipping actually costs. Yesterday the post office charged me $14 to mail a t-shirt to France. If I had charged free shipping, I would have taken a $14 loss. If I had priced the item $14 higher with free shipping, no one would have bought it because the item price was higher. It's a losing battle to try and make buyers happy because some people want everything for free. They want the item cheap and the shipping free. What about my costs to acquire the item and ship it out? What about the eBay and Paypal fees that I have to pay for the privilege of selling the item? eBay and Amazon Marketplace sellers are human beings with bills to pay and families to feed. On a $10 item, an eBay seller only sees $5-$6 profit because of listing fees, final value fees and Paypal fees. Fulfillment by Amazon charges sellers a storage fee to store their items in the Amazon warehouse. It's not my job to give away my items and cheat myself on shipping costs.
I have to agree. I sell on ebay casually. What I usually do is include free USA shipping only with fixed price listings, so I can add shipping costs to the total price. If the buyer was international I would charge him the extra difference. But if I'm listing something as an auction I can't offer free shipping, because I have to make sure I don't end up losing money if the item ends up selling for a low price. Also it's true that between ebay and paypal fees (their the same company so they win it all) the profit isn't as much as people think. On the other hand it really bothers me when sellers insist on using a very expensive shipping option when I know from experience that there are cheaper methods. I know what are fair shipping prices for my area, and I don't expect free shipping, I'm not an unreasonable costumer. What I do expect is not having to pay $40 dollars for UPS, for a small package that could have been shipped USPS for $12.50.
The shipping cost is a deal breaker for me. I do not like paying for shipping, I am willing to pay what I consider a reasonable price but when the shipping cost is as much as the item I am purchasing I have to decide if I can get it locally it would be a better deal even if the cost is a little higher.
That's why I use Amazon for most of my online shopping. I haven't paid shipping costs in years now from Amazon. Otherwise, I'll use a site-to-store option from someone like Walmart or Best Buy. I'll even consider making larger purchases to get free shipping from online retailers that sell clothing. Either way, I do whatever I need to to qualify for free shipping because I see no reason to spend tons of money on shipping charges.
Most of the times they are because when its about buying something as a costumer that business management should think of their clients first and how they can comfort them at their maximum. So yeah that is the way how it works and we get to have ideas for understanding major factors especially the ones that works.
In a lot of cases, they seem to be a big factor when I'm ordering something. I tend to use eBay and Amazon most of the time for my online shopping needs, and sometimes the shipping costs are even more than the cost the item itself. If something sells for 3 pounds, the shipping cost would be around 3.73 pounds. That's crazy! This is especially inconvenient because I don't do heavy shopping all that much online. The bills start to increase, so I have to find alternative items that include free shipping (which in most cases, don't even exist) to lower it down a notch.
This is why Amazon ruled the online shopping business, free shipping and 2 day shipping is amazing. But if I were to order something really important and I had to pay for shipping I would do that but if it's just like everyday things then it's a deal breaker. You can see the prices being advertised, it was pretty much a steal but then when it comes to shipping you would just press the back button.
Yes they're a real deal breaker. I once ordered this really cheap laptop from eBay it was used so it was really cheap so I had to snag it and unfortunately for me I hit on the "Commit to Buy" button on the page without realizing that there are shipping costs but I thought it won't be that much of a problem but turns out it is. So I had to pay way too much for a used laptop. I could've just bought a brand new one.
