How Much to Charge for Shipping

is shipping below cost a good idea?

[Sports Workout]

I own an e-commerce site and it costs me about $2-3 to ship each of my items, which go for between $20-30.

I have thought about offering free shipping and eating the costs with the hopes that it would increase sales. I have also entertained the idea of running a promotion of $1 shipping on all items, which I believe would also increase sales and not eat as much of the costs.

I know a lot of sites also choose to overcharge their customers and turn a profit on the shipping costs; however, in this case, im guessing it would most likely drive away potential customers, especially because my market is flooded with competition.

Can someone please let me know, which of the above 3 options sounds good and provide examples if at all possible. Does the $1 shipping on all items sound like a decent idea?

Thanks a lot,

SportsWorkout

[jsinger]

Everything about the shipping process is a pain... often the toughest part of ecommerce.

90s Dot Bombs often gave free shipping because the Suits never spent time in the shipping department. The attraction of free shipping was that it was an easy way to put on a sale, especially when an instant sales boost was needed to make wallstreet happy (for a month or two!)

Shipping is a low margin money maker at best for smaller sites (ones that don't get 50% discounts from UPS, say!)

Better to put high margin items on sale. Not shipping.

[sun818]

> Better to put high margin items on sale. Not shipping.

You would be at a disadvantage with product search engines like Froogle if shipping is not presented to you. Any time a buyer sorts from low to high you are a competitive disadvantage. Buyer may not even look at your listing if the lower priced listing meeds all requirements for him/her to make the purchase.