Free shipping or charge

[Mikez92]

Do you see more sales with free shipping or charging shipping

[Sunspot144]

Surprisingly, separating shipping costs from total price entices more buyers - the price appears "cheaper" in search.

[Mikez92]

Confused can u explain

[yankee]

I like both. On auctions, always shipping fee and a high one at that.

[Sunspot144]

Further down in thread

https://www.aspkin.com/forums/ebay-t...s-jan-1-a.html

[SaiJin]

But if you offer free shipping, I believe the search algo would bump you up,

[Sunspot144]

True, but more sales volume is seen by Cassini as eh.. "better"

[agent006140]

ebay encourages seller to offer free shipping,buyers can search and specify free shipping.
To me,sellers would just add shipping to the asking price,most buyers are wise to shop TOTAL PRICE.

[Sunspot144]

That's just it though... assuming your buyers are as tech-savy as you is your biggest mistake.

$10 item with $3 shipping looks 'less' to a buyer in search than the same item listed at $13

You don't really see the shipping price until you click the listing and/or get to check out..

Free shipping is just an old marketing gimmick when ecommerce took off. It was all the rage. Now who really cares lol

[WEI]

I always put Free shipping in all of my listings. Just add up the cost of the shipping to your pricing. :D but of course, see your profit margin on this, and the other ads.

[ebaystealth1974]

Originally Posted by Sunspot144

Free shipping is just an old marketing gimmick when ecommerce took off. It was all the rage. Now who really cares lol

Everyone cares, that's who.

It's not gonna appear cheaper when the customer never sees it because it's buried in search.

But if you're in a targeted niche, and there's only a few competitors, then I could see charging for it.

Personally, I do it both ways.

[Sunspot144]

Originally Posted by tinsoldier

100 million Amazon Prime subscribers might.

AMZ =/= Ebay

[Sunspot144]

Originally Posted by ebaystealth1974

Everyone cares, that's who.

It's not gonna appear cheaper when the customer never sees it because it's buried in search.

But if you're in a targeted niche, and there's only a few competitors, then I could see charging for it.

Personally, I do it both ways.

Disagree. Sales velocity is more heavily weighted in the search algo than free shipping.

[ebaystealth1974]

Go ahead and post up some screenshots of heavy-competition products with non-free-shipping listings being at the top.

Not saying they DON'T exist. I just want to see some.

[yankee]

I have some, but I am not posting a link or screenshot of my items on this forum LOL

[ebaystealth1974]

Don't blame ya there! But is it really HEAVY competition? Probably not...

[yankee]

Maybe 1000 listings. few hundred sellers. Not like phone accessories or laptops etc..

[Sunspot144]

Originally Posted by yankee

Maybe 1000 listings. few hundred sellers. Not like phone accessories or laptops etc..

Ditto. I cant speak for 10k+ categories (do sell in some), but honestly I think the results would turn out the same.

[Sunspot144]

Even in auctions people are less concerned about shipping costs. Same item can go for more than BIN with free shipping.

[ebaystealth1974]

I ALWAYS charge ample shipping on my auctions. More than enough to cover the actual shipping charge.

[Sunspot144]

Here's a thought (only if Ebay allowed it)..

You'd stand to gain listing same item twice BIN, one with free, one without, to appeal to free shipping oriented buyers.

In less mainstream obscure niches it can be pulled off with listing title keyword trickery and no product identifiers. Worse comes to worse they slap ya on the wrist and say "bad!".

[ebaystealth1974]

You may not have read my post, but that's exactly what I do.

It's how I know free shipping rule the high-competition categories.