10 Mar

10 Tactics to Lower Shipping and Handling Fees

Many people are making the switch from shopping in stores to shopping online. That’s because you can save a lot of money with online shopping if you are smart about the way that you do it. However, you can also lose money by shopping online if you aren’t careful. One of the quickest ways that people lose money when shopping online is that they pay through the nose for shipping and handling fees. Luckily, it doesn’t have to be this way. Just like with every other aspect of online shopping, all you really need to do to save money on shipping and handling is to get educated in how to be smart about the topic.

To get you started on that road, here are ten tactics to use to lower shipping and handling fees when shopping online:

1. Always do comparison shopping. The key thing to know about shipping and handling fees with online shopping is that some retailers include the fees in their stated prices and others don’t. You need to be able to do comparison shopping with this understanding in mind. You want to add up the total price of each item including the shipping and handling fees before you do your comparison shopping. As always, choose the retailer with the best product and the best terms at the lowest price.

2. Enter phrases like “free shipping” in your search engines. When there is something specific that you want to buy, do your normal comparison shopping first. However, before you make a final purchase, enter the same product’s name into a search engine (like Google) along with the phrase “free shipping”. You will find that this results in new search results that you may not have otherwise found. In some cases, you will find a better deal on the product this way.

3. Look for promotional codes for shipping and handling fees online. One of the best ways to truly get free shopping online is to learn to search for online discount codes for the retailers that you are purchasing items from. There are often promo codes for free shipping on things you were going to buy anyway. In fact, there are even some websites out there that specifically exist to offer free shipping codes online. These may not be the best deals though so look around at all of your favorite promo codes sites to see what’s out there.

4. Always purchase things well in advance of when you need them. The biggest expense people pay when shopping online is the expense of expedited shipping. Make sure that you purchase all items many weeks in advance of when you actually need them so that you can choose the slowest (and usually the cheapest) shipping. If you have to put a rush on something, you’re going to pay the price. If that’s the case, you may find that it’s cheaper to go out to a local store to buy the item rather than ordering it online.

5. Find out if the item can be shipped to a local store for free. In some cases, you want an item that you see online and it’s not available locally but you don’t want to pay for shipping. If the store is a chain store, they might offer to ship the item to a local branch of the store and then you can pick it up at no charge. They can do this because they just ship it with items that were going to ship to that store location anyway so it doesn’t add to their costs. REI and Walmart are examples of stores that offer this perk.

6. Buy in bulk but only carefully. One of the key tricks that people use when they seek to save money on online shipping and handling fees it that they try to buy in bulk. Almost all websites reduce shipping fees after you buy a certain amount of merchandise. This can be really great for items that you buy on a regular basis and will actually use. However, it may not be a money saving tactic to use if you end up buying more than you’ll use just to save money on shipping and handling.

To determine whether or not you should buy in bulk when shopping online, you’ll want to do some math. First, figure out what the cost of the bulk item is that allows you to get reduced or free shipping. Write down that amount. Next, determine how much of the item you will actually use. For example, you want to order a bulk set of Christmas tree ornaments but you’ll only use 4/5 of them. Calculate the cost of buying only 4/5 of them including the cost of shipping. Is it cheaper then the number you wrote down before? If so, don’t buy in bulk.

Another thing to consider when buying in bulk is whether or not you can re-sell the excess items that you are getting to get back some of your money. Doing so would allow you to buy in bulk, save on shipping and handling fees and get some cash in hand following your sale. Always, remember to follow the standard rules for saving money when buying in bulk and you should be able to apply this to saving money on shipping and handling fees online.

7. Look for stores that offer flat rate shipping fees when you need large items. This is basically the opposite of buying in bulk. It’s when a store offers a single shipping fee no matter what the size or amount of product is that you’re buying. This isn’t good when you’re buying a single small item because the rate is usually higher than what it would cost to ship just that item through another retailer. However, if you’re buying many items or one large item then a flat rate could be considerably cheaper than if you have to pay full shipping fees at another site. Old Navy is one example of a store that offers flat rate shipping but look around to find others.

8. Join the club or get the card. Many online retailers offer free memberships that give you access to reduced shipping and handling fees through email announcements and newsletters. Also, if a store offers their own credit card then you may want to find out if they also offer perks with that card. Sometimes one of the perks is free or reduced shipping and handling fees when you make online purchases using the card. However, you want to make sure that you’re responsible about paying those bills off as soon as they come so that you don’t see those fees come back two-fold in the form of credit card interest rates.

9. Shop online using a cash back rewards credit card. Another way credit cards can help you to save money is if you get a really good rewards credit card and then use that for all of your online shopping. Even though you’re paying some shipping and handling fees, you’re getting that money back in the form of cash. You still want to reduce your shipping and handling fees as much as possible before purchase but this can be another way to add to your savings. Again, make sure you’re responsible about paying off the credit card to avoid interest charges.

10. Be aware and read the fine print. The final thing that you can do, but the one that is ultimately the most important, is to always remember to pay attention to the fine print whenever you are ordering anything online. Make sure that you carefully read through all of the fees. Look closely at the totals of any payments with respect to the shipping and handling fees before you make a payment online. By committing to being vigilant about shipping and handling fees, you will protect yourself from excessive charges and ultimately you’ll save money when shopping online.