Charging delivery VS Free Delivery

[zenohki]

I was wondering if anyone had experimented with having the same item, one listed at a lower price with delivery as extra cost, and the other listed at the higher price (which includes the delivery cost) but is listed as free delivery, and had actually seen a significant difference?

Basically I'm wondering, are customers really that drawn in by free delivery?

Selling internationally I'm reluctant to make it free postage, as I may lose out on higher cost postage to say the US, but if I sell more, it may be worth it.

[JamesNorth101]

You will need to experiment to see what works for you

Personally I offer free domestic shipping while charging for international shipping

[Overdone]

Tried it recently and varied results. Some listings increased with a lower sales cost plus p+p whilst others didn't. All standard listings we have are free p+p so we duplicated the offer and changed some of title and other bits so we don't get pulled then changed pricing and p+p. Easy to try out. Just make sure you don't end up with exact duplicates.

[realdeals]

This really is product specific. What works for someone here may not work for you.

As others have said, experiment and research your own market. It is the easiest way. Set up new stealths to do this and test the water if you feel it would otherwise unsettle your existing account.

[IGNAS]

There were some studies and experiments conducted that shows
correlation between free shipping and higher sales (even if the price is the same with "product+shipping"). But it's more applicable to personal e-shops.

And of course, as others said -- product itself means a lot.

So less guessing and more experimenting!

[digipulse]

If the item is correctly priced postage means nothing. If your buyer feels that postage is stupid, he/she will be put off. If the postage matchs, + eBay's 10%+ for postage plus normal postage and materials for packing which should be put on the buyer NOT the seller, as it was NOT our idea after all, then there should be no difference unless you are dealing with very similar UK to UK items offering free post.......check your competition.

[Haidukken]

Everything that I need to shift quicky will be sold via Auction and shipping fee- I then don't feel bad when something sells for less than £5. If something sells for £2 and you have free shipping, it just sucks a bag of dicks.

Stuff that I don't mind keeping and selling for premium, BIN and free shipping.

Mix it up, see what your customers like and what ever makes more sense to your product and business plan really.

[rsot]

Free delivery for me tends to trump anything with shipping cost - but depends on the niche too

[zenohki]

Its hard to say for my product, looking at competitors its a really mixed bunch, and on my main sellers it seems I'm the one selling the most. My competitors seem to be selling cheap crap and awful replicas :/

That's been a nice eye opener though lol, I hardly ever look at competitors.

With how bad delivery to the US was over xmas, I changed my bonanza items so that delivery was all priced for tracked service, sales have significantly dropped because of it, and I hate Bonanza and its customers with a passion so I will not be soaking any of the delivery costs myself.

But you guys are right, I will pull out a few random items and try them on free delivery at a higher price, see what happens for a few weeks. With Eb's new late delivery report I have to wonder if it will help my rating.

[mtproducts]

I used to charge postage on items, but now instead put the price up and included free delivery domestically and then dropped the price for international delivery to the US considerably.

I think my customers were happy to pay for a higher priced item, so that way they don't think so much about the cost of postage, as its included... works well with cheaper items which are like £5/7 quid, customers wouldn't like to pay £2 on and item which is only £5, so instead i just put the price at £8 free delivery.

The idea of having both, could also work well, especially if you're running different accounts.

[taerese]

Let me share a recent experiment with you.

I have listed an item for more than 3 or 4 months without a sale. Listed for around £5.99 plus Free delivery.

Few weeks ago, I did this:

Listed price: £2.99
Delivery: £3.20

Total cost: £3.99 + £3.20 = £6.19 (As you can see, I slightly up the price when I added delivery cost to it.)

Result: Sold 2 of the item in the last 3 week.

Lesson: Some people are just after the selling price and they are lazy to do the math, otherwise they would have realised that even though it cost £2.99. The total cost is higher than if they bought it Free delivery.

Lesson 2: Some people get to the checkout point and cant be bothered clicking the back button to search for a cheaper one.

Lesson 3: Some people are just in a hurry.

Lesson 4: Some items will not sell despite many people watching them, but the moment they see sold 1, its like a call to action for them to buy as well.

Submission: Free delivery doesn't always sell more if you know how to tweak your listing to make it appear cheaper.

NOTE: I have just implemented the same strategy to a sandal I am selling and have got many pple watching since I split £6.99 into 2. Selling for £2.99 and posting for £4.10.

Like my experiment? Click thanks. Lols ------------------------>

[mich74]

For us it depends on the quantity that any customer is likely to buy. If we included delivery on items where there is likely to be multi buys (same item different size, colour etc) we list + postage. If we included postage on each item in the price & the customer bought say 5, our profit would be good, but the customer may think the overall price expensive.
It's all down to the product & value.

[zenohki]

Well I've added in a few new products and altered an old one to a new postage profile, now we wait.

Personally I would spend the time to do the maths and see which option is cheaper, but in the case of my Amazon Prime account, Prime eligible items always win as long as the item review is good enough.

I just know there is a tick box on ebay for free P&P, so maybe just that alone will get me more hits, who knows.

[wired]

eBay will definitely make sure you sell less when not offering 'free post' - they designed it to make sure the majority of sellers did, so I am sure Casino will put you down the search engines if not offering freepost. Be interesting to see the outcome from experiments being made - Can you graph your results Zenohki so we can have a look at the trends?

[zenohki]

Originally Posted by wired

eBay will definitely make sure you sell less when not offering 'free post' - they designed it to make sure the majority of sellers did, so I am sure Casino will put you down the search engines if not offering freepost. Be interesting to see the outcome from experiments being made - Can you graph your results Zenohki so we can have a look at the trends?

Haha there is no way I could do graphs I'm afraid, just because I'm glad I left school all those years ago and would hate to feel like I'm back there in any way shape or form XD

Seriously though I am doubtful I could put together any pretty looking results tables, but if i see a burst or increase in sales from the old product that I've updated I will let you know. It hasn't sold much in recent months but has a few watchers, so any sales at all on it would seem like it has benefited. I'm keeping an eye on the number of watchers and so far there is no change, but my ebay has been quiet this week anyway.

[ninja83]

I think psychologically it affects sales, if shipping is free. But there is a trick for cheap goods. If you sell a product for less than $10, try to add shipping cost $2. You will notice the increase in profits but shipping cost for customer psychologically will be almost free. It's works for me, but you have to test everything in your niche.