Crafts and vintage marketplace Etsy is conducting a test that will see additional postage fees included in the price displayed in search and marked as ‘Shipping included’
Etsy say of the experiment: “Buyers tell us that unexpected shipping costs are a major barrier to purchase. They want to see the full cost of the item, including shipping, earlier in the shopping process. To address this concern, we’ll be running an experiment that shows prices that include shipping to some shoppers in the United States. The test will help us determine if seeing a price that includes shipping costs affects shopper behaviour.
Beginning this week, shoppers who are part of the experiment will see prices labeled ‘Shipping included’ on listing pages, in search results, and in their cart. The prices will reflect your item price combined with the cost of your least expensive shipping option for that item. Taxes will not be included in the prices. Shoppers will start to see combined prices over the next few days.”
This seems like a fairly sensible development because it has long been established in ecommerce that buyers like certainty and transparency when it comes to carriage costs. Indeed, on of the key reason why shoppers ditch their baskets before checking out is because they encounter a surprise fee or surcharge.
But it’s not necessarily that easy to implement. Remember that a seller will likely not offer only a single postage cost but multiple services based on the speed of delivery and also consider that there might also be international rates to include too. But that’s why they’re testing it.
6 Responses
Horrible idea! As a seller, I have lost two sales already tonight.
nope, this is just going to screw things up with postage being “included” in the price then someone will try to haggle a lower price for the 2nd/3rd items that they are buying and/or with accusations of profiteering on the postage
I don’t like this being to my Etsy website. My views went down to a few a day. You made this decision for me but you don’t state long this test is going to last. Bad idea Etsy.
This is not fair to the Etsy shops who are in the test!! This can literally close a shop.
One thing I have noticed is that LOTS of customers do not read the fine print. They are just going to view the price and think that mine is higher than someone who isn’t in the test and is selling a similar item.
Etsy should make a global change to ALL SHOPS at the same time. Not test their idea using mine.
Extremely poor choice on Etsy’s part!!!!!
I have maintained a relationship with Etsy for years but will now start actively looking at other platforms to promote my goods.
Views & sales have PLUMMETED, must return to orginial format, ASAP!!!
Very bad idea. You put this in place on my top selling item. Now views and sales are down. Thanks for asking if I wanted to be in your test group.