DaisyChain Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 I see a lot of etailers that have free shipping sales and wonder how they can afford to do this...I can see it with a minimum purchase but a lot of them do it without a minimum. What happens with all the $10-$20 orders? If I paid shipping on a $10 order of tarts, it would actually be spending money for them to take my tarts in most cases. lolCan you write off the cost of this free shipping on your taxes at the end of the year or something?Just trying to figure this one out... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grama Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 I have done free shipping in the past - long before everything starting costing so much. I used either 75.00 or 100.00 as the minimum purchase though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sudsnwicks Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 DaisyChain, I'm sure they'e be losing money on the small orders. But perhaps the larger number of orders they get due to this sale would more than compensate for it? As for the accounting side... the total the customer paid you is to be recorded as income, while the amounts you spent for their order (ingredients, postage, etc) is recorded as an expenditure. This is true no matter whether you're having a free shipping sale or not. So yes, you'd be able to deduct the shipping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LynnS Posted August 31, 2008 Share Posted August 31, 2008 The only thing I do free shipping/mailing are tarts. Even lowered my cost slightly and then boom USPS went up. I will keep the cost down now but will have to go back up. I got a $20.00 order this week for tarts.Was thinking I will not make much at all with USPS flat rate so I just happened to have a small box I saved( a order I placed) with someone. I used that box and saved over $3.00 in shipping/mailing. Finally managed to make some money.Cost goes up first of year.LynnS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kandleindulgence Posted September 1, 2008 Share Posted September 1, 2008 Hi DaisyChain,I totally understand where you're coming from...I thought the same way when I started my business many many years ago. The bulk of my business is wholesale, so when I do receive retail orders from my website my customers typically place large orders. It's very seldom that I sell tarts or anything like that. Although, my prices remain competitive to other's, my price point still allows for a cushion in terms of profit and offering free shipping. The idea is to get your customer to spend more by offering them something free, but it has to make good business sense.HTH,Jameel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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