To eat or not to eat, that is the question

[Ftalgen]

Hey guys.

I was waiting for a friend today and I happened to pick up a business magazine in which there was an article about shipping costs. Essentially, the article revolved around the debate of whether an ecommerce business should "eat" or "not eat" shipping costs to attract customers.

I personally have mixed emotions, as products tend to vary in weight. Thus eating the shipping costs on a light item is much more doable than eating the shipping the cost on a heavier item.

What are your thoughts? For those of you that have ecommerce sites, what have you implemented?

[peteVA]

Why in the world would anyone eat the shipping costs?

You can add them to the price of the goods, but just say "I want to make 40% and I'll mark up everything by 1.67 and eat the shipping, no matter what the weight?

Haven't heard of that one before.

And I do sell 5 figures a week with "free shipping". but it's built in the price of the goods.