Is Free Shipping Really Free?

During these tough economical times, brides are looking for great deals to extend their wedding budget. One enticing offer made by online wedding stores is free shipping. But when taking a closer look at this popular promotion, one question is raised - “is free shipping really free?”

As a bride planning your wedding and shopping for your wedding supplies online, you’ve surely seen free shipping’ promotions like ‘Free Shipping on Orders over $150.00’. While these deals are designed to catch your attention - and your patronage - you may not be getting the best deal possible.

When companies offer free shipping, they are still paying the fees necessary to ship your order. In order to do this and still make money, most companies need to sell their products in large volume, i.e. 200 favors or more, or increase the average per-piece price of the products they offer.

Another way companies can ‘make up the shipping costs’ is to charge higher than normal shipping prices on all their products, every day so when they do offer free shipping promotions, their average shipping revenues will make up for their promotion losses.

So how do you know if you are getting the best deal with free shipping? This answer to this is simple. Once you have decided what favors, decorations, or accessories you want to order, find several websites that offer the same products. Add your products to the shopping cart at each website you are interested in doing business with. Many websites allow you to calculate your shipping and handling costs without actually having to enter any of your personal information. Your shopping cart total is what you want to look at when making your decision. You may find that your total price on a website offering ‘free shipping’ is actually more than your total price on a website that does not offer free shipping.

Wedding accessories superstores like My Wedding Reception Ideas want your business and work hard to earn your trust and loyalty in their products and services. Take a few extra minutes and do your homework. The savings you make with a little extra effort will go a long way to extending your wedding budget.