If a website has the cheek to charge you for shipping, it should be next day delivery

earthstorm

Most Online businesses that charge postage charge a flat rate so no matter if you purchased a 52" TV or a light bulb the rate would be the same as they subsidise the delivery costs.
look at Amazon they offer free super saver delivery or a paid delivery option, with the paid option only saying the estimate is 1 day earlier than free option, but why pay when the free delivery often gets to you just as quick as the paid option.

unholyangel

Question: Do you have to part with any money in order to obtain/qualify for said "free" delivery?

If so, its not free......is it?

And in the cases of free delivery, you have to part with your money by making an order. The delivery may be at no additional cost to the item price, but its not free.

You have some companies who are upfront about the price of the goods and price of delivery. And then you have those who advertise "free delivery".


Its one of many tricks used by the retail industry in order to entice consumers into parting with their cash.

Jeff_Bridges_hair

unholyangel wrote: »

Question: Do you have to part with any money in order to obtain/qualify for said "free" delivery?

If so, its not free......is it?

And in the cases of free delivery, you have to part with your money by making an order. The delivery may be at no additional cost to the item price, but its not free.

Yes and No. You are correct that should you have to part with any money then that does not make it free. BUT, you do not part with any money for the delivery, ergo, that part is free.

unholyangel

Jeff_Bridges_hair wrote: »

Yes and No. You are correct that should you have to part with any money then that does not make it free. BUT, you do not part with any money for the delivery, ergo, that part is free.

So I can have the delivery without buying something?

Something is either free, or its not. If you have to spend any money at all, its not free.

The delivery itself may be at no additional charge, but you cannot obtain it without any charge, ergo...its not free.


Going back to the "do you ever get anything for nothing" mentality.

Jeff_Bridges_hair

unholyangel wrote: »

So I can have the delivery without buying something?

Something is either free, or its not. If you have to spend any money at all, its not free.

The delivery itself may be at no additional charge, but you cannot obtain it without any charge, ergo...its not free.


Going back to the "do you ever get anything for nothing" mentality.

Yes, you can have the delivery for free, they wont tell you or if he will ever knock on your door but it will still be a free delivery for you.


Sadly I thin a few of my posts have been deleted or I didnt hit the enter button properly , but never mind.

But going back to earlier posts - as I said, prices I buy of things are all the same whether online or in a high street shop. But we have been told that the online presence has factored in the price of delivery into its prices that it charges. So what about the online stores who do charge for free delivery but the goods are the same price? Are they just being greedy then?

And what about high street shops who will obviously have higher overheads than an online shop - they're the same price too so are the other posters(not you Unholyangel) claiming that they are selling these products at a loss due to not factoring in their overheads(of which a free delivery is an overhead in the case of online stores)? Why would a shop do that then?


I do get where you are coming from UHA, but as I said earlier I know a couple of people who have online stores and they price to sell like others but do not charge for delivery so they make a reduced profit but shift more stock which is why for certain items they run out and have to get a restock in quicker than those that charge.

And yes, you do get something for nothing - sunshine

Have a lovely day Unholyangel, I am off to me pit.

unholyangel

Jeff_Bridges_hair wrote: »

Yes, you can have the delivery for free, they wont tell you or if he will ever knock on your door but it will still be a free delivery for you.


Sadly I thin a few of my posts have been deleted or I didnt hit the enter button properly , but never mind.

But going back to earlier posts - as I said, prices I buy of things are all the same whether online or in a high street shop. But we have been told that the online presence has factored in the price of delivery into its prices that it charges. So what about the online stores who do charge for free delivery but the goods are the same price? Are they just being greedy then?

And what about high street shops who will obviously have higher overheads than an online shop - they're the same price too so are the other posters(not you Unholyangel) claiming that they are selling these products at a loss due to not factoring in their overheads(of which a free delivery is an overhead in the case of online stores)? Why would a shop do that then?


I do get where you are coming from UHA, but as I said earlier I know a couple of people who have online stores and they price to sell like others but do not charge for delivery so they make a reduced profit but shift more stock which is why for certain items they run out and have to get a restock in quicker than those that charge.

And yes, you do get something for nothing - sunshine

Have a lovely day Unholyangel, I am off to me pit.

Many online stores charge less than their physical counterparts to account for lower overheads and to remain competitive with other online retailers. If they charge the same, then at best guess I'd say they're either making more profit on online side or subsidising retail prices.

Anyway, the problem I think is that you're looking at it from a profit perspective. Being that delivery is an overhead, its not strictly profit related. Overheads are paid by the consumer - albeit indirectly.

They may provide delivery at no extra cost but to say they're providing it free is stretching the truth and the definition (being "without charge, requiring no money to be paid, costing nothing").

Don't get me started on BOGOFs :rotfl: but i don't think "buy one get one at no extra cost" quite has the same ring to it.

In short, if you need to part with any money at all, its not truly free. I think that was the point one or two of the others were trying to make.

Regardless of whether we can agree on it being free or not....I'm sure we can both agree it sure is clever (and effective judging by this thread) marketing.

Azari

unholyangel wrote: »

Anyway, the problem I think is that you're looking at it from a profit perspective. Being that delivery is an overhead, its not strictly profit related. Overheads are paid by the consumer - albeit indirectly.

We have a winner!

This is the fundamental concept that a few posters here just cannot seem to get their heads around.

There is no such thing as free delivery.

The customers always pay.

Admittedly you can obfuscate until the cows come home about promotions, cross subsidies and similar goings on, but, in the end, the customer pays and whatever the seller charges for a product, if there is 'free' delivery, the seller could have charged less if they could then add that amount back for the delivery charge.

bazster

Azari of course speaks perfect common sense. But on top of that:

If you buy something on-line check the delivery arrangements. If you don't like 'em or you can't find 'em, don't buy. If you agreed to pay £3.50 delivery for something to be delivered in a week's time, what is there to moan about if that's what you get?

For (usually) super-fast delivery at a low or inclusive rate eBay is the best bet, that ol' feedback don't half concentrate sellers' minds!

System

Azari wrote: »

We have a winner!

This is the fundamental concept that a few posters here just cannot seem to get their heads around.

There is no such thing as free delivery.

The customers always pay.

Admittedly you can obfuscate until the cows come home about promotions, cross subsidies and similar goings on, but, in the end, the customer pays and whatever the seller charges for a product, if there is 'free' delivery, the seller could have charged less if they could then add that amount back for the delivery charge.

I see your knowledge of business has not improved!

If you've got nothing else to add to the argument apart from the same ill thought out statements then really you should leave the thread alone!

You're contributing nothing new to what you said days ago!

terra_ferma

Azari wrote: »

Do you realise that you always pay for delivery from web sites?

It's either a separate charge or the prices are all set higher to include a an amount to pay for p&p.

Exactly, there's no free delivery, it's just a business/marketing decision how the courier/RM charges are apportioned, either through product price, or delivery costs.