At AccessorizeYourVehicle.com we are changing many of our products to free shipping.  Although Free Shipping is not really free (you should see our FedEx and UPS bills) we realize that Internet shoppers prefer the free shipping model for several reasons.  How about you? Do the benefits described below apply to you, or do you prefer to compare the bottom line with all charges listed separately?

The most common benefits cited by Internet shoppers when asked about free shipping are:

• It simplifies the Internet shop and compare process.

Let's face it, one of the biggest benefits of Internet shopping is the convenience of being able to compare the prices offered by several merchants in a matter of minutes.  Compared to the cost of time and money to compare prices at two or more traditional retail outlets, Internet shopping is a no brainer.  Gone is the time wasted driving from store to store and looking for parking spaces.  And once you do get into the store, you avoid wandering through poorly organized stores with merchandise scattered about by other shoppers who's idea of looking for a bargain is to throw aside (or on the floor) what they are not interested in while searching for what they are looking for.

And of course there is the costs associated with traditional bargain hunting that Internet shopping avoids altogether.  Besides the obvious savings in gasoline or other transportation costs, no more door dings in crowded parking lots with spaces that are too small for the over sized SUVs and monster trucks that are still popular in spite of raising gas and oil prices.  Just driving to ONE store and back can add several dollars to the cost of a purchase, thereby minimizing the savings.

• It eliminates surprises during checkout.

How many times have you thought you found a good deal, dropped the product into your shopping cart, completed the billing and shipping information only to find that you were going to be charged an excessive "shipping" fee.  I highlight the word shipping here because I have found several sites that are selling the same items I am yet their "shipping" charge is 3x what I know they are paying to ship the item.

Hey, if you can't make a buck on the front end, maybe you can sneak it in the back end! 

My favorite is the merchants that access a "small" handling fee when most people know and they often advertise that their products are shipped "factory direct".  Shipping factory direct means they are not handling the merchandise! So what's the handling fee for?  Maybe its for handling your hard earned dollars.

• You don't have to enter personal or address information before finding out the total purchase price.

Many shopping carts, and unfortunately, ours is one of them, require you to enter your complete address information before they can calculate your shipping fees.  This isn't a big deal once you are ready to buy since the information is encrypted and safe from prying eyes.  But what a pain!

If you are trying to price compare at several merchants, and you need to enter your address information at each one, this represents an irritating waste of time.

So if the free shipping model is so great, why isn't everyone one selling everything with free shipping?  Well, there are a couple of reasons that I can think of. One is a matter of marketing philosophy and the other relates to the amount that shipping charges can vary between one transaction and another.

• Some merchandisers want to be able to show the lowest price possible to attract traffic to their site.

Attracting shoppers to your web site is one of the most important aspects of marketing products on the Internet. No traffic translates into no sales.  And even if someone doesn't purchase product A because your shipping fees are too high, they may take an interest if product B which ships for less.  Or maybe you see a nifty ad for another product or merchant that earns the web site a referral fee.

• If shipping is built into the price of an item, you may actually pay more for an item from a "free shipping" vendor than from a vendor that lists cost components of your purchase separately.

The cost of shipping some items can vary widely based on the shipping destination.  Good examples of this are heavy or bulky products such as Tonneau Covers or Wolf Consoles.  Hard tonneau covers are an especially good example because they are both heavy and bulky!

In the case of the Wolf Console - Full Size Tall Van Console the actual shipping cost to the east coast is $27.62. Sending the same console to California is $35.92. So, if an Internet retailer uses an average shipping cost when pricing the console, the west coast shopper is getting a deal, but the east coast shopper is paying $5 - $10 too much.

I think the important thing for Internet consumers to remember is that in retail, nothing is really free.  So when you are cruising the web looking for your next score, remember it's the bottom line that counts.  Sites that offer free shipping just make comparing bottom lines easier and quicker.



AccessorizeYourVehicle.com markets a wide variety of automotive and marine after market accessory items. In addition to offering Tonneau Covers and Personal Watercraft Covers from 3 vendors and car covers from 5 vendors, they also offer ATV Accessories from Wolf Powersports and Pet Travel Products from Covercraft and Canine Covers.