Herbert Graf wrote:
[snip]
> Why are online retailers CHARGING shipping and handling separately?

Because, as Wouter has pointed out, unless you are selling the same thing 
(price and quantity-wise) to the same destination, you would either be 
overcharging or undercharging your customers.

Most of our company's business comes from the Internet, and we get customers 
from all over the world. We simply provide shipping quotes directly from the 
major carriers (based on the actual weight), and let the customer pick the 
one that works for them, depending on how urgently they need the item, and 
how much they're willing to pay for it.

> Why
> do MANY of them royally rip people off? I've been charged $30+ shipping
> and handling for items barely worth $30 that arrive through regular post
> with a post mark of $5. Yes, the box costs something, and the "bring it
> to the post office" costs something, but $25 PER ITEM? Ouch...

I hate those kinds of retailers myself, and do my best to avoid them.

[snip]
> I search out the online retailers that INCLUDE shipping in the price.
> It's not hard to do, some retailers do it, I find those are the
> retailers I always go to first.

This may be saving you the trouble of calculating the final cost, but you 
are probably not getting the best overall price. Why subsidize someone 
else's shipping?

> Online retailers are competing with brick and mortar stores at a
> disadvantage: their customers have to WAIT for their items to arrive
> (and hope they do arrive). [snip]

When I buy online, I usually buy there because:

    1) The item is only available online, or
    2) the item is price sensitive, and is cheaper on-line, and/or
    3) it's more convenient to have the item delivered to my doorstep, than 
drive to the store, and
    4) I don't mind waiting a week for the item to arrive.

If none of the above is true, I go to a brick and mortar store. When 
calculating the final price of a product, I try to remember that my time and 
the gas aren't free.

> Every time I've sold something online I've included the shipping price
> in the price. Yes, on some destinations I've lost a little, but I set my
> margins to deal with that. On some items I've made money on the shipping
> portion. On average, the shipping portion comes out to close to zero.

I don't think it's fair to the customers who overpay.

> Online retailers: please smarten up. TTYL.

It's the customers who need to smarten up, and start voting with their 
dollars. As long as there are people willing to overpay for s&h, there will 
be businesses willing to rip them off.

Vitaliy 

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