While we’ve gotten used to Amazon rolling out new features for its customers, often local delivery or free shipping is only extended to Prime subscribers who pay a yearly fee for such things. But Amazon says everyone can get free shipping on some small items, Prime member or no — with no minimum order required. [More]
free shipping
Walmart Leak Reveals Name, Details Of Upcoming Amazon Prime Competitor
By 5.27.15
Earlier this month it was revealed that Walmart, whose online business has been hugely overshadowed by its bricks-and-mortar operations, was finally going to take a real stab at Amazon with the introduction of an annual subscription service that offered free shipping and other benefits, but at a lower yearly cost than Amazon Prime. Yesterday, the retailer goofed and tipped its hand to reveal some details on the upcoming service. [More]
Sephora Introduces $10 Unlimited 2-Day Shipping Program
By 3.5.15
If you like to buy online from Sephora, but dislike waiting until you have $50 worth of items before making your purchase, great news! The gourmet supermarket of beauty has started its own free shipping subscription service in the Amazon Prime model, called Flash. It gives customers free 2-day shipping and a discount on overnight shipping. [More]
Target Reduces Free Shipping Requirement To $25, Now Cheaper Than Walmart & Amazon
By 2.23.15
Consumers no longer have to drop $50 to qualify for free shipping on Target.com. In an attempt to stay competitive with other online retailers, the big box store reduced the minimum requirements for free shipping to $25. [More]
Amazon Adds Seller-Shipped Marketplace Items To Super Saver Shipping
By 1.28.15
People love free shipping, even if retailers don’t necessarily love it so much. For customers who don’t have Prime memberships, Amazon’s free shipping on orders of $35 or more is a popular policy. Yet if one item in a customer’s cart ships from a third-party seller, it doesn’t count toward that $35 total. Amazon has now changed this policy…but only for items that were already listed as having free shipping. [More]
Free Shipping Is Expensive For Retailers, Bad For Profits
By 1.2.15
Customers love free shipping, but retailers do not. Well, that’s not quite true: retailers love the sales that the availability of free shipping drives, but it isn’t very good for their profit margins. While customers have become used to free shipping and view it as the default for shopping online, retailers still haven’t been able to figure out how to provide free shipping without losing a lot of money. [More]
Amazon Claims Customers Have Saved $2 Billion In Imaginary Shipping Fees
By 12.30.14
Amazon wants the world to know that they’ve been working their robot shipping army hard this holiday season to deliver our purchases. This week, Amazon announced that they have saved their customers $2 billion in shipping fees through their Prime two-day shipping program and free shipping for orders over $35. That’s a nice caclulation and all, but it’s still largely imaginary savings. [More]
Free Shipping Will Be More Expensive This Holiday Season
By 10.23.14
There’s no such thing as free shipping. What looks like free shipping from a shopper’s perspective is only subsidized shipping, and those subsidies come from shoppers. They could come in the form of higher prices, or higher spending thresholds to earn free shipping. This year, free shipping will cost you a little more. [More]
Target Baiting Holiday Shoppers With Free Shipping On All Items This Season
By 10.22.14
There’s nary a bit of frost on the ground and yet it’s time for retailers to start gearing up for the holidays. Getting off to a running start today is Target, announcing that starting today it’ll offer free holiday shipping on everything it sells online for the first time. [More]
Target Now Offering Free Shipping On Orders Of $50 Or More
By 6.24.14
In an effort to cut out a bigger piece of the online retail pie, Target has announced that almost all Target.com orders that total at least $50 will qualify for free shipping. [More]
Amazon Quietly Ups The Free Shipping Minimum Purchase To $35
By 10.22.13
For as long as we can remember, Amazon.com’s minimum purchase requirement to qualify for its free super saver shipping was $25, a pretty easy threshhold for many shoppers to reach with perhaps a couple of books or a really nice salad spinner. It’ll be a bit tougher now, however, as Amazon has quietly increased the free shipping amount to $35. [More]
The Heaviest Item On Amazon To Qualify For Free Shipping: A 1,509-Pound Gun Safe
By 11.29.12
When shipping is always free after an annual fee, who’s to say where Amazon Prime members will stop shopping? Sure, the company is betting that most members will be shipping smaller, everyday items — but what if you wanted to ship something super heavy, say, a 1,509-pound gun safe? Well, that would be free, too, even though it’d probably cost Amazon a tidy sum to ship. [More]
Sears Parts Direct: Free Shipping Means We Only Charge You For Shipping Once
By 11.19.12
A chat customer service representative at Sears Parts Direct advised Jan about which part she should order for her garage door opener. They advised her incorrectly, which she figured out shortly after placing the order. It was too late: the wrong order couldn’t be reversed. A second chat agent offered to order the correct part, with free shipping. Jan interpreted this to mean “we’ll refund your shipping for the first, erroneous part, too.” Not so. [More]
E-Commerce Warehouse Wage Slaves Race Against The Clock To Send Your Crap
By 3.1.12
Consumerist readers, and Americans in general, love having things shipped to us online, but resist paying for the actual shipping. But those aren’t robots pulling your stuff off the shelves shortly after you hit “submit order.” They’re real people, pushed to work at an impossible pace for middling pay, with mandatory overtime. Mother Jones writer Mac Mclelland briefly worked in one such warehouse this past holiday season, pulling books, dildos, and cases of baby food off the shelves. She wrote about the experience. It might make you think twice before placing your next massive online order. Or not.
Amazon Extends Free Shipping Deadline To Woo Last-Minute Christmas Customers
By 12.13.11
If you’re not already shopping online, Amazon is trying to make sure that you do so with them this year, by extending their free shipping deadline by one day to Dec. 19. It’s not exactly the equivalent of heading out to find gifts Christmas Eve, but for online shopping, the clock is definitely ticking. [More]
Fine Print In Ad Offering Free Shipping Explains It's Not Actually Free
By 12.5.11
Funny how an ad with a big “Free Shipping” graphic can then turn around and warn in the fine print that shipping isn’t included in purchases. Confusing, and exactly what Corey spotted in a promotion for Vistaprint.com. [More]
How To Make Sure Your "Free" Shipping Doesn't Cost Too Much
By 11.30.11
Online sellers don’t offer free shipping with minimum spending amounts just to be nice. They’re trying to squeeze enough extra purchases out of customers to justify the expense of eating their shipping costs. Savvy shoppers can use such offers to their advantage, but they’ll have to out-smart the rigged system. [More]
Earning Free Shipping Isn't As Cheap As It Used To Be
By 11.28.11
As you click away, happily shopping for Cyber Monday sales, it’s important to realize that you might have to spend more to trigger that free shipping at checkout. While more retailers are offering free shipping this year compared to last year, consumers will likely have to pay a minimum on goods first. [More]
