Metalcloak new free shipping policy

Shipping is never actually free, it’s just built into the price.

Still, it’s a clever marketing technique that works!
 
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Nice change. Some of their products have bumped up in price, but a few that I have been eyeing are still the same price.
 
Chris said:
Shipping is never actually free, it’s just built into the price.

Still, it’s a clever marketing technique that works!
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That’s true. I’m not sure if they raised the prices by doing this since I haven’t been on the site in a while. But if they haven’t, then it’s still more convenient with this change rather than waiting for a free shipping day
 
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mrblaine said:
Be nice if folks could get that through their heads. There is no such thing as free shipping. Someone pays, always.
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Of course.

It's like when my wife goes clothes shopping and always mentions the amazing BOGO sales. I always have to explain to her that there is no such thing as "buy one get one free". It's all just factored into the price and marketed in such a way that the consumer has no choice but to buy it, as they think they're getting a killer deal.

The flip side to that is that calculating shipping dynamicaly via the UPS or USPS API on an online shopping cart can be a royal pain in the ass to get accurate, especially if you sell a variety of different sized products. For that reason, I always tell my clients to offer free shipping and factor it into the price if they can get away with shipping the majority of their stuff via USPS flat rate boxes.
 
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Mattific said:
That’s true. I’m not sure if they raised the prices by doing this since I haven’t been on the site in a while. But if they haven’t, then it’s still more convenient with this change rather than waiting for a free shipping day
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I agree. And ultimately it's more user friendly for the consumer.

I think in our heads as consumers, when we get to the checkout process on a website and find that we're going to be charged an extra $80 for shipping, it can be the difference sometimes between a purchase and an abandoned cart.

Coming from a marketing background, I totally get it.
 
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Chris said:
Of course.

It's like when my wife goes clothes shopping and always mentions the amazing BOGO sales. I always have to explain to her that there is no such thing as "buy one get one free". It's all just factored into the price and marketed in such a way that the consumer has no choice but to buy it, as they think they're getting a killer deal.

The flip side to that is that calculating shipping dynamicaly via the UPS or USPS API on an online shopping cart can be a royal pain in the ass to get accurate, especially if you sell a variety of different sized products. For that reason, I always tell my clients to offer free shipping and factor it into the price if they can get away with shipping the majority of their stuff via USPS flat rate boxes.
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I tend to word it differently when I get asked which is quite often. Shipping is included. Stops ALL the bullshit.
 
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Chris said:
I agree. And ultimately it's more user friendly for the consumer.

I think in our heads as consumers, when we get to the checkout process on a website and find that we're going to be charged an extra $80 for shipping, it can be the difference sometimes between a purchase and an abandoned cart.

Coming from a marketing background, I totally get it.
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The problem we have is who do we punish the most? If we include shipping on brake kits, the price has to go up by some amount. It is a logistical nightmare to take all the shipping charges, analyze them for an average, furthest, closest, and attempt a median cost that will result in the least mark-up but won't kill the profit on a sale.

If most of your sales are only a couple zones away, then you take a big hit if that shifts to lots of sales further away.

We've tried to run the numbers and it is too variable to come up with anything sensible.
 
Chris said:
Shipping is never actually free, it’s just built into the price.

Still, it’s a clever marketing technique that works!
Click to expand...
I just looked back through some previous invoices. It appears like the prices increased between 7-11% (depending on the product) from when you paid for shipping. If I add the shipping costs from prior orders into the equation the price increase is around 1-3%.
 
mrblaine said:
The problem we have is who do we punish the most? If we include shipping on brake kits, the price has to go up by some amount. It is a logistical nightmare to take all the shipping charges, analyze them for an average, furthest, closest, and attempt a median cost that will result in the least mark-up but won't kill the profit on a sale.

If most of your sales are only a couple zones away, then you take a big hit if that shifts to lots of sales further away.

We've tried to run the numbers and it is too variable to come up with anything sensible.
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I agree, it is a logistical nightmare to figure out.

The people who have it the easiest are the ones who are selling very, very small items. Imagine if you're the guy who sells nothing but cell phone cases for instance. It's probably very easy for you to ship the majority of the items in a UPS flat rate box and then build shipping into the price and not lose too much.

I've gotten your big brake kits before. Those things aren't going to fit into any flat rate box, that's for sure.
 
mrblaine said:
I tend to word it differently when I get asked which is quite often. Shipping is included. Stops ALL the bullshit.
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"Shipping included" is certainly more accurate, that's for sure. For anyone to think they are getting "free" shipping is just absurd.

Alex01 said:
I just looked back through some previous invoices. It appears like the prices increased between 7-11% (depending on the product) from when you paid for shipping. If I add the shipping costs from prior orders into the equation the price increase is around 1-3%.
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I have to assume then that based off the amount of products they sell, they've figured that raising their prices 1-3% on average is enough to break even on including shipping in the price.

The other thing is negotiated rates. Depending on the amount of volume you ship, you can get some pretty good discounted rates with UPS. My Mom's company ships a ton with UPS, and so when I use their UPS shipping calculator, it compares their negotiated rates to the rate any other customer would pay. In most cases, their negotiated rate is 50% less than the standard rate. So, there's always that.
 
Someone should ask a Metalcloak dealer how they feel about MC's new "free shipping" policy.

At least one has complained to me that they are prohibited by contract from selling MC products at less than MAP pricing yet MC frequently offers discounts and "free shipping days" that bring the total price below anything that the dealer can match which has resulted in lost sales and worse - customers bringing in new Metalcloak parts purchased directly from MC that they want the shop to install.

I try to keep an open mind about the company, but the more I learn the less likely I am to ever be a customer.
 
Mr. Bills said:
Someone should ask a Metalcloak dealer how they feel about MC's new "free shipping" policy.

At least one has complained to me that they are prohibited by contract from selling MC products at less than MAP pricing yet MC frequently offers discounts and "free shipping days" that bring the total price below anything that the dealer can match which has resulted in lost sales and worse - customers bringing in new Metalcloak parts purchased directly from MC that they want the shop to install.

I try to keep an open mind about the company, but the more I learn the less likely I am to ever be a customer.
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This is why I stopped selling stuff from Advanced Adapters. I got setup with them to become a dealer and found the exact same thing. It turned out to be a complete waste of my time, so I just gave up on it altogether.
 
Mr. Bills said:
Someone should ask a Metalcloak dealer how they feel about MC's new "free shipping" policy.

At least one has complained to me that they are prohibited by contract from selling MC products at less than MAP pricing yet MC frequently offers discounts and "free shipping days" that bring the total price below anything that the dealer can match which has resulted in lost sales and worse - customers bringing in new Metalcloak parts purchased directly from MC that they want the shop to install.

I try to keep an open mind about the company, but the more I learn the less likely I am to ever be a customer.
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MC has no control over what a dealer can sell it for and never will. What they have is control over advertised pricing. Anyone can sell anything for whatever they want. It is not part and parcel of selling stuff to make a profit. Desirable but not mandatory. I know lots of folks that sell below MAP. They make it up on labor, other items in the total sale etc.
 
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