There’s a reason it starts with the letter “F”, that’s what you’re getting!
Are you spending more for an item to get free shipping? The answer is most likely YES!
The saying that there are no free things in life is true when it comes to free shipping.
Shipping is a real cost that MUST be added into the product price. When you buy multiple items from a website that offers “free” shipping, the shipping cost is built into EVERY item. In most cases when you tally up the total with “free” shipping, it will cost you more than a site that charges shipping and handling up front.
Let’s look at some popular sites that give you “free” shipping and PulseTV.com that actually charges shipping.
Example:
Amazon price for Hurricane Spin Scrubber is $39.99 free shipping. Now, Amazon use to be at $35.00, but even then…
PulseTV Price is $29.99 PLUS shipping, for an average price shipped in the US of $36.90. Slightly higher… HOWEVER… buy two from Amazon and your price was $70.00.
From PulseTV you get a $10 discount for buying two so it’s $49.98 plus shipping for a total of $58.97.
Add more items at Amazon and your so-called Free shipping gets more expensive, while at sites like PulseTV.com that charge shipping, your price per piece shipped goes down.
Why you ask?
Because you are paying for the full shipping on EVERY item. You’re paying for multiple boxes even if they use one box. You’re paying labor as if every item is being boxed separately, plus your postage on sending one item is always more expensive than sending multiples.
Sites like Amazon count on your buying multiple items to actually profit on their “free shipping”. While sites that charge for shipping are just trying to break even on all the costs.
Another example of FREE Shipping that costs you more; let’s look at Rakuten (formerly known as buy.com)
Sure it’s free shipping but let’s look at the PulseTV price that charges shipping. It’s $9.49 for the item… add shipping and handling the total comes to: $13.48. You’re saving right away.
Buy two and here is the breakdown:
Rakuten $31.98
PulseTV: $22.45
Let’s go back to Amazon and another item called SafeT Air…
You will pay $29.95 and get “free” shipping.
At PulseTV.com you’ll pay $24.99 plus shipping for a total of $31.46. Cheaper to buy on Amazon by a dollar or two… but here’s where the free shipping sites get you.
PulseTV.com gives you a discount of $5 per jar when you buy two or more. So on two jars at Amazon you’re paying $59.90.
At PulseTV.com you’re paying $39.98 + shipping of $6.77 for a total of $46.75. Pretty substantial savings to actually PAY for shipping.
But guess what… the average person buys 3 jars, so let’s look at what free costs you.
Amazon: $89.85
PulseTV.com $59.97 + shipping cost of $6.91 for a total of $66.68. WOW! If you got free shipping you just paid $23.17 MORE.
Notice how little the shipping went up from 2 to 3 jars. From $6.77 to $6.91.
CONCLUSION:
Almost any site that “gives” free shipping is selling you a bunch of baloney. Remember free starts with “F” and that’s what they’re doing to you.
Granted if you are just going to buy one item, maybe you’ll save a dollar or two, but when you combine products you’re taking money OUT of your pocket.
At PulseTV.com we want to save YOU the maximum amount of money so we do a few things.
- We give you discounts on most items when you buy multiples.
- We increase shipping based on weight and your location only.
- We only fold in the labor and packing costs on your first item.
The average PulseTV.com customer purchases 4 items per order. Looking at the examples given above look how much more you would be paying for a total order buy getting FREE shipping.