Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

We don't recover the full cost of shipping, but it's good enough for us.

You mean directly? Or are you subsidizing purchases for some business building purpose??

(I'm being picky, but look at the headline and article here. They make the incredibly sophisticated point that businesses have to cover their costs somehow if they want to stay in business)




Yes, directly. The site we run had free shipping at first.

But for our given store, for the vast majority of our orders, the shipping costs come out the same. And from my experience, there's a huge difference in customer behavior between free and flat shipping.

So, it really depends upon which part of the article you want to talk about. Brick & mortar vs internet stores? Well, the cost of shipping that isn't paid by the customer is very small for our site. At our current sales volume, it would probably be less than the cost of renting commercial space.

Obviously, this may not apply to everyone.




Join us for AI Startup School this June 16-17 in San Francisco!

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: