As many of you have come to discover browsing our site, 90% of our furniture is fully assembled therefore lending to shipping costs which can be costly (location based) as they are too large for Canada Post, FedEx or UPS ground services. So how come some stores offer free shipping and others don't? How does it work and how does it affect you, the client?
Let's talk about the pros and cons of FREE SHIPPING
The bottom line is shipping is never really free but in reality its just built into the cost of the product... Here’s a dirty little secret that retailers don’t want you to know: The cost of free shipping is passed on in another ways, shipping costs are usually often masked by higher prices, a lack of quality customer service to reduce costs, or strict purchase/return conditions. Shipping is a basic cost of running an online business and the money quite simply has to come from somewhere.
Did you know that the main problem with free shipping is that you may actually pay more for your purchase? As we now know shipping cost is built into the price of the item, so follow this example with us: you want to buy a bed, night stands and an armoire. You might actually be paying 1000$ for the armoire (includes $150 for shipping) plus $750 for the dresser (includes $175 for shipping) plus $300 (includes 75$ each for shipping). So your free shipping tallies up to 475$ hidden in the cost of the products. So it well worth doing your research to get the true best prices for your purchases, although free shipping is always tempting!
So, fundamentally the 'FREE SHIPPING’ advertising is there in hopes that the consumer will think it’s a good deal and impulse buy the product without fully investigating the best price on the market.
The second type of shipping offered is FLAT RATE SHIPPING, essentially its a bit like free shipping but less of the costs are hidden or buried in the product costs, such that the retailer charges say $100 for purchase up to $500 and say $200 for purchases over $500. Basically the retailer has established the average shipping cost and applied the average, in some items he will win on others loose, but always hopes to break even at the end of month when the overall shipping costa have to be settled with the carriage companies. In this case, the best value is to place your order for multiple items at once and not to pay the shipping rate over again for additional items. We apply this method to major metropolitan areas throughout Canada, however we understand that if a client buys only piece, it my be frustrating to them to pay the same shipping fee as another client who is purchasing multiple pieces. Here is a useful tip: Buddy up with friends and family to submit one order then you can split the shipping costs.
Last but not least charging the ACTUAL SHIPPING COST. This is what it says, you pay the TRUE price for the product which generally provides a little more complexity for the retailer and complicates the sale a little but the consumer does know EXACLY what he or she is paying for. Here at Rustic we really to try to give the best prices for both products and shipping that are available today along with the best possible customer service, we want our customers to feel satisfied with their purchase and come back time and time again.