pricing low value goods and shipping

Which is best in your opinion?

[Digmen1]

Hi Guys

I have a new website for my new product.

I have only one product but in several colours.

I want to retail it for about $2.50 US.

People tend to buy a few of them at a time for work or home or for gifts for friends.

I am not sure to go for $ 2.50 for 1 plus shipping
$ 5.00 for 2 plus shipping and
$ 10.00 for 4 with free shipping.

Or just go for a minium order of 4 with free shipping ?

In some ways I want to keep it simple and say there is no freight if you buy 4.

But I may be doing myself out of a few single sales.

What do you think ?

[gpilling]

How about 1 widget for $5, 4 widgets for $10 with free shipping. Maybe even make a 10-pack price.

Consumers don't tend to value shipping. They think of it as an almost zero cost, and since your product is low price this will be a headache for you. What is the shipping cost going to be for your $2.50 item? $2.49?

[Rugles]

I guess it all depends on your margin and what your shipping costs are going to cost you.

Low value products equal death, on an ecommerce website. Because of the labor costs associated with processing the orders. All you need is one package to go missing or be damaged in shipping and you will be losing money from the moment that happens.

[HRoth]

One thing I use for low-value items is a flat shipping rate. I charge $3.50 if they buy one widget or a thousand. Most people do not buy a thousand.:) But they typically buy more than one. For the flat rate, they get first class mail with delivery confirmation in a nice solid package. It works good.

If you have several colors, give a price break on a collection that contains all the colors. I have found that collections sell real well if you can find a good theme for them. Irish Widget Collection (green or orange, depending). Communist Widget Collection (red).