Email a copy of 'Amazon Sellers Must Update Ads by January 13th' to a friend
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Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). She is a member of the Online News Association (Sep 2005 - present) and Investigative Reporters and Editors (Mar 2006 - present). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com. See disclosure at EcommerceBytes.com/disclosure/.
Considering that shipping isn’t free and it’s an FTC violation to claim free shipping, particularly if you’re raising prices to offer it, I’m glad they made this move — as both a seller and a buyer. I wouldn’t be surprised if the sudden extra attention Amazon is getting from government officials has anything to do with their decision.
IF I mention the shipping not being an additional charge, I will say “shipping included.” However, I have dozens of items that don’t have shipping added with no mention of shipping in the listing anywhere. They have to click on the calculate shipping button to see that shipping isn’t added. It does help when your listings are posted on shopping sites like Google Shopping, though, because they show the shipping and tax added.
I won’t shop on Wayfair because of their claim of free shipping when prices have obviously been hiked, often well above the combined value and cost of shipping of the item. I visited their site once, saw what I saw, and never returned. Same goes with Overstock. I want transparency…period…and I certainly don’t want to be overcharged.
Sorry, Wayfair, but “free” shipping really is a game changer.