Shipping Should Be Free

[GARRIGA]

Unless one is running a brick and mortar operation with high rent and other costs then shipping should be free unless heavily discounted from retail. Talking about selling frags.

This hobby getting ridiculously expensive and these days that’s a one inch nub being shipped. Shows usually have these small cup containers allowing several nubs the customer can use on the flight back. Can’t the industry find a more efficient way to get these nubs from point A to point B in the smallest overnight container.

I know. I know. I’m dreaming but let’s be honest. These garage farmers aren’t putting up the capital expenditure or running costs of a store and perhaps can absorb some of these shipping costs because we don’t always need to spend the typical minimum order requirement of $200 plus. Might just want that single overpriced nub.

Let's confine this to $100 frags, for example. Let's exclude auction sales and stick to overpriced nubs

 

[mpatterson42]

Yeah I've never ordered any living things online. Sometimes I'll be interested, add a few things to my cart, go to checkout, see the shipping cost and then just empty cart.

I don't know about free, but maybe let's split the difference?

 

[Matt L]

A nice thought, but the risk of loss is all on the businesses now. Even when someone gets a good shipment, they can get a refund through their payment company if they want. It’s also a psychological thing. A frag that is $200 with “free shipping”, is usually more desirable than a frag at $150 plus $50 shipping. All just a shell game, but a major reason I will never ship coral with my business.

 

[Idech]

It would be easy to sell every 0,50$ more, for example, to cover the shipping costs. Sometimes they would lose money, sometimes make a little, but even out in the end.

That’s something easy to figure out if you have access to your data as a store owner. If I had a store, that’s what I would do.

 

[Kooma]

Tough for them to absorb costs. Not sure what US shipping is like, but I image if you are buying a single frag for 30 or 40, overnight shipping that includes warming packs and ensures coral survival is going to eat up most if not all of that. If it doesn't make it to you, they lost the frag income and the cost of shipping, and may even need to pay for it again and replace with another frag. Same goes for delays they cant control in winter that kills the coral.

We wont see many home growers around if that is the new norm. Don't let Amazon and their multi trillion dollar sales make you feel like shipping should be instant and "Free".

Support the little guy. They're risking their neck to try and make a living. I will gladly pay a small guy for shipping and look for free shipping from the big guys.

 

[iReefer12]

Shipping is a hard cost, and typically $50 is not covering the full cost. I once tried shipping coral overnight, the cost was close to $150 IIRC. So, I personally don’t mind the shipping costs, I understand them.. it’s the price of coral that have gone silly, I never buy anything at retail anymore, I look for hobbyists that are like me that sell at reasonable prices.. or look for sales where the prices are what they should be in the first place.

 

[MoshJosh]

It would be nice. . . but I don't think it is realistic ESPECIALLY for single (low dollar) item orders where the seller would be losing money on ever transaction. Given the cost of shipping anything these days, it seems (dare I say) generous to get free shipping after $200 (considering the seller just lost 20% of the income. . . And probably more loss of profit). I am sure some sellers are "better" at it than others, but I think some are losing money even when the customer pays a shipping fee (flat $29 probably doesn't cover larger/heavier boxes). . .

I don't know, I'm just a guy on the Internet. I hate paying shipping too, but from personal experience (shipping non-corals) and from talking to retailers shipping is hugely expensive however you cut it. . .

 

[GARRIGA]

There are companies such as Ship Your Reptiles and others which negotiate bulk pricing with FedEx and also provide live delivery insurance should shipment be late and track both points to ensure shipping occurs during safest periods. I believe they’ve now extended this to fish.

Point being. There’s a way to reduce costs and garage farms aren’t paying rent and other burdens carried by brick and mortar and perhaps can increase volume by reducing the overall purchasing cost. Especially for those wanting less than minimum required for free shipping.

 

[rtparty]

If you owned a business and shipped items, I think your tune would change. It’s so stupid expensive to ship these days and none of them will guarantee animals.

 

[MoshJosh]

But are garage sellers/small retailers able to negotiate those rates? My understanding is that shipping rate negotiation is only possible for those who are moving very high volumes? My guess (and I'm not the postal service), is that garage sellers are not moving large enough volumes/not shipping enough boxes to make negotiation worth while for the postal service (FedEx, UPS, whoever). I could be wrong.

 

[Matt L]

Point being. There’s a way to reduce costs and garage farms aren’t paying rent and other burdens carried by brick and mortar

My electric bill, water, salt, time, fragging materials, and the coral price itself all go into the price. Another major difference is aquaculture versus chop shops. Aquaculture is much more expensive to run. The businesses aren’t making as much as you think.

 

[PotatoPig]

If shipping was free across the board then someone buying small quantities of cheaper frags would cause the seller to hemorrhage cash…

 

[rtparty]

But are garage sellers/small retailers able to negotiate those rates? My understanding is that shipping rate negotiation is only possible for those who are moving very high volumes? My guess (and I'm not the postal service), is that garage sellers are not moving large enough volumes/not shipping enough boxes to make negotiation worth while for the postal service (FedEx, UPS, whoever). I could be wrong.

PirateShip.org

Best and cheapest way to ship things. You get the largest discount possible no matter your volume

 

[BryanM]

$50-65 for overnight UPS, theres just no way these vendors can absorb that, which is why you see "free" on orders over 250/300, etc.

What gets me, somewhat the same, is that my infinia 230.6 shipped "Free".

 

[MoshJosh]

PirateShip.org

Best and cheapest way to ship things. You get the largest discount possible no matter your volume

Never used it, what kind of rates are we talking about for overnight shipping?

And for the sake of the matter at hand, how do PirateShip rates compare to rates negotiated directly with the shipping service?

 

[Matt L]

Never used it, what kind of rates are we talking about for overnight shipping?

Depends on size, weight, and distance. It’s not a flat rate.

 

[DIYreefer]

There are companies such as Ship Your Reptiles and others which negotiate bulk pricing with FedEx and also provide live delivery insurance should shipment be late and track both points to ensure shipping occurs during safest periods. I believe they’ve now extended this to fish.

Point being. There’s a way to reduce costs and garage farms aren’t paying rent and other burdens carried by brick and mortar and perhaps can increase volume by reducing the overall purchasing cost. Especially for those wanting less than minimum required for free shipping.

I suppose I fall into the category of “garage farmer” (although my systems are in a spare bedroom) so I’ll offer my thoughts on this subject. While you are correct in that I don’t incur the same expense of a brick and mortar, I don’t think you’re considering how much work and other expenses go into operating even a small coral propagation operation. Even one as small as mine. Most weeks, I dedicate at least 20 hours of my time to growing corals and I spend roughly $350 per month to run the tanks. Should I not be compensated for that?

Offering completely free shipping is simply unrealistic and wouldn’t make sense for ANYONE to do. I sell the majority of my stuff for <$50. By your logic, I should lose money to ship you a frag. As much as I enjoy aquaculture, that’s not going to happen.

FWIW, over the last two decades I have purchased corals from pretty much all of the biggest and most highly regarded vendors. I’m not kicking them, they are fine. However, the best corals tend to come from the smaller operations and fellow hobbyists. The prices tend to be far better as well. This hobby 100% needs guys like me, or else it would be far more expensive than it already is, and that $50 shipping charge would be a welcomed annoyance.

 

[GARRIGA]

My electric bill, water, salt, time, fragging materials, and the coral price itself all go into the price. Another major difference is aquaculture versus chop shops. Aquaculture is much more expensive to run. The businesses aren’t making as much as you think.

Retail stores have all these costs as well.

 

[DIYreefer]

Never used it, what kind of rates are we talking about for overnight shipping?

And for the sake of the matter at hand, how do PirateShip rates compare to rates negotiated directly with the shipping service?

Pirate ship is great, that’s who I use. Discounts run around 70%, which is the only reason I can afford to offer $50 shipping lol.

 

[Matt L]

Retail stores have all these costs as well.

Absolutely. But many of them are either chop shops or flippers. Most don’t have the space for aquaculture.