Free Postage?

[raydavies]

I'm always being pressured by eBay/Amazon/Etsy to offer free postage. Apparently, wonderful sales would follow. Does anyone know if this is true?

Many thanks,

Ray

[webtrekker]

Free postage simply means that you've already added the postage cost into the selling price.

It depends really on how a buyer sorts their sesrch list.

[UK Printed Mugs]

We find on eBay that once you get a good ranking then having a postage cost makes no difference to that ranking.

[GoonerGary]

It depends on the total price and the customer's perception. £10 for a mug??? How much?

or £7 + £3 postage makes more sense.

[raydavies]

Thanks for the replies you've, more or less, confirmed my thinking. I think the first figure that hits the eye is the one that resonates and leads to a reaction.

In other words, £6.99 = buy: £7.00 = buy: £10.00 = look elsewhere regardless of the additional postage.

Thanks again,

Ray

[webtrekker]

Sorry, I don't agree.

By offering 'free postage' the cost is built in to your listed item, so multiple sales of that item in a single transaction will bring in more profit.

My daughter is busy full time on ebay and sells a certain item in packs of 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100. It's amazing the number of people who order 2x packs of 10 (incl £3.95 tracked postage per parcel) and she simply sends them a single pack of 20, clicking a modest £3.95 worth of extra profit.

As an aside, it's also worth remembering that Final Value Fees are charged on the whole sale, INCLUDING SHIPPING CHARGES, so nothing is to be gained either way by offering free postage or not.

[GoonerGary]

When they buy 4 mugs, they'll expect the shipping to be combined/ reduced. Hard to do with built in postage. But yes you can profit from it.

[webtrekker]

When they buy 4 mugs, they'll expect the shipping to be combined/ reduced. Hard to do with built in postage. But yes you can profit from it.

That's a fair point, but again, I've had quite a few orders or 2 or more of the same mugs and the buyers have been quite happy to order them separately without even questioning the postage and I've sent them in one shipment. Let's face it, profits on mugs are already rock-bottom and every little helps!

[Customprintwales]

I think it depends on your sales breakdowns.

I sell a lot of multiple items and so sell at price plus postage, if I combined the postage it can start to get a little expense for the customer.

I do a lot of A3 posters and sell in multiple quantites to schools on Amazon. I charge £5.95 a poster plus postage of £3.00. My nearest competitor sells with free postage and charges £9.99.

I regularly get orders of 8 or 10 posters in an order. With me that would be £62.50 with my competitor it would be £99.99. It's a big difference. Especially when I use Amazon as a way to gain new customers to buy direct from my website

If you have a lot of multi item orders go with seperate postage.