I think a good way to sum it up regarding the shipping is that someone has to pay for the box, packing material, tape, someone to pack the box and the actual cost of shipping the item. When companies offer free shipping, all of the above costs come out of the profit of the items being sent inside the box. Along with these costs, you have the actual cost of the item itself (cost of goods sold) then the merchant has to pay credit card fees, website hosting, utilities, rent/mortage, payroll, taxes on the profit and hopefully out of all this, the owner crosses their fingers and hops there is something left to put food on their own table. Oh, I almost forgot, take another 10-20% off of the top when they run discount codes!
I used to run a store that sold car wax and detailing supplies and now I do not. If I was bringing home great money and making a ton of money off of shipping, perhaps I would still be in the product business.
It doesn't make good economic sense to order an item or two online. What's the point of that? The customer thinks they are paying too much for shipping, the vendor is barely making anything because it is a small order and the one that actually wins is the shipping company because they get another package to deliver.
I would like all Detail City members just to keep this post in mind when you are ordering products online. I know that you work hard to make your money and sometimes even harder to keep as much of your hard earned money as possible. Just remember that there are businesses out there that need to make a profit in order to continue serving you and you may not always have the big picture in mind when you are looking for the lowest cost possible. If something doesn't look right, pick up the phone and speak with the vendor and ask if anything can be done, taking your order into consideration.
Just one more thing, I would get calls asking for the shipping cost on a small dollar item, lets say $12.95 and when I told them it would be $7.50 for shipping I would get an earful about how it's over 50% of the product cost. Hey, it's not my fault you are trying to order one item. How about if that same box had a $500.00 bracelet in it and the shipping was still $7.50, does it all of the sudden sound fair for the same size box to the same location. Nothing changed except the item in question and the shipping companies really don't care what's inside as long as it isn't hazardous, flammable or illegal. The cost of shipping is the cost of shipping.
Hopefully this helps others see the bigger picture and online vendors all over the world can thank me for saying what needs to be said.
erfectly said, Troy!
,every entity doesnt have every product,so here we are shipping an item or two to check it out....thats why our detail product shelves are on overload...:yikes: