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Adam's Shipping Prices & Packaging


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Personally, as someone who runs a few online businesses, I'd prefer to see the shipping costs built into the price of the items. You eat a bit of shipping on some orders, come out ahead on some others. Yes, I realize that's not 'fair' to the customers who end up subsidizing the shipping of some of the others, but I think it's better from a gaining new customers perspective and has worked for me pretty well in that regard. I've experimented a lot with shipping and "free ground shipping" or something similar has always resulted in better conversions, as shown by A/B testing that tracks customers from arrival to conversion on the invoice page. Charge for shipping, even the base option, there is higher abandonment on the shipping fees page, even if the subtotal of higher product price versus lower price + shipping ended up being the same. In this day of Amazon Prime and two day shipping on everything for free, people are a bit spoiled.

 

If it were not for a particular person with a ton of Youtube videos, I may have balked at the price of shipping at checkout when I was on the fence about giving Adams products a try since my first order was fairly expensive, and heavy, which meant a decent shipping fee. Now that I use them and love them, I could care less about shipping, but, at the same time, more new customers mean higher production and more shipping, higher production hopefully means lower production costs, more shipping means higher UPS/FedEx discounts, so maybe if more people were being brought into the fold by way of low to zero shipping, we'd all ultimately win in the long run; including Adams.

 

Although after typing all that, I realized that perhaps the shipping is the way it is as a benefit to the reseller model. None of my businesses have that, so charging the same price on products but you save on shipping by going through a reseller could be a good way to grow the reseller network...

 

Just some thoughts.

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I've been talking with my girlfriend for a year about incorporating shipping and tax into price. It's tough. You end up with multiple prices for each product. For people out fo state, there is no Sales Tax. For people who pickup at my shop, I don't want to charge them shipping.

 

Amazon is great, but you are comparing Chinese made products at Chinese prices to hand made American Products. The markup on the China products has to be much higher than Adam's and they can bury shipping costs in.

 

Believe it or not, there isn't that much markup on Adam's products. By the time I'm done offering discounts, paying to ship the product from CO to PA, and all the other costs associated, my profit margin is really slim! A 10% discount on a Porter Cable kit is pretty close to my cost.

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I've been talking with my girlfriend for a year about incorporating shipping and tax into price. It's tough. You end up with multiple prices for each product. For people out fo state, there is no Sales Tax. For people who pickup at my shop, I don't want to charge them shipping.

 

You would never incorporate tax into price, that makes no sense since typically you only charge tax in the state you have a physical presence in; i.e. why would you incorporate a charge that only 1/49th of your US-based customers would see? If you offer free ground shipping to the lower 48, the price is the same whether shipped or picked up; everyone's happy, no one wonders what shipping is going to be and abandons your store at checkout when they see a shipping price they don't like. The only time this doesn't work well is when you're selling a product that has very heavy competition in online stores; then you run into the issue of people just picking the cheapest site, not realizing that they're going to pay $4 more in shipping at the site where the product was only $2 cheaper, resulting in a net loss for them. If you're selling something of that nature, then lowest advertised price is a valid concern.

 

Amazon is great, but you are comparing Chinese made products at Chinese prices to hand made American Products. The markup on the China products has to be much higher than Adam's and they can bury shipping costs in.

 

Believe it or not, there isn't that much markup on Adam's products. By the time I'm done offering discounts, paying to ship the product from CO to PA, and all the other costs associated, my profit margin is really slim! A 10% discount on a Porter Cable kit is pretty close to my cost.

 

Amazon Prime has nothing to do with where a product is made; if the company in question uses Amazon for fulfillment, they warehouse their goods with Amazon and leverage Amazon's infrastructure and shipping discounts and you get your product in two days for free, made in the US, made in China or made in wherever. My first Adams order was actually through Amazon, albeit not Prime, so I still paid shipping. I only started using the direct website after that first order since I prefer to cut out any middleman if I'm going to be buying repeatedly from a particular company, then they get the most of what I pay them.

 

I can say with 100% confidence that since signing up for Prime, I have made more impulse buys, including some I would have probably not gone through with had there been a $5 or $10 shipping fee. For a business, that's great; you're selling things to people who may have an impulse or are on the fence by simply making the purchase incredibly easy and not hitting them with shipping charges that might turn them away.

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I can say with 100% confidence that since signing up for Prime, I have made more impulse buys, including some I would have probably not gone through with had there been a $5 or $10 shipping fee. For a business, that's great; you're selling things to people who may have an impulse or are on the fence by simply making the purchase incredibly easy and not hitting them with shipping charges that might turn them away.

 

That the same story as my wife... since getting a prime account shes contantly ordering things on Amazon because "it has free shipping!"

 

Shes also the type of person who will fall for the 'the large is only $0.45 more' thing at the concession counter at movie theaters. She comes to the seat carrying a massive bucket of popcorn and enough soda to drown an elephant. When I tell her I just wanted a small popcorn and small soda she says, "But the larges were only 45 cents more"

 

She doesn't quite grasp the concept of if you don't need it, then it doesn't matter how good the deal is. I bet half the stuff she's ordered from Amazon recently is purely because it ships free and not b/c we have any real need for it.

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Yep, I find myself buying the stupidest things with Prime because I know I can do it in two clicks, shipping is free and I'll have it in two days lol. Hmm, wonder how cold my freezer is, click click, thermometer on the way. Maybe I should clean the ice maker; ordered. My laptop is warm on the bottom; lapdesk ordered. Got all this great Adams stuff; maybe I should get a quick disconnect for the foam gun, oh, shipping is free, I'll get a quick disconnect for every thing I'll ever attach to the hose and a 100 foot hose so I can go all the way around the car lol.

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Yep, I find myself buying the stupidest things with Prime because I know I can do it in two clicks, shipping is free and I'll have it in two days lol. Hmm, wonder how cold my freezer is, click click, thermometer on the way. Maybe I should clean the ice maker; ordered. My laptop is warm on the bottom; lapdesk ordered. Got all this great Adams stuff; maybe I should get a quick disconnect for the foam gun, oh, shipping is free, I'll get a quick disconnect for every thing I'll ever attach to the hose and a 100 foot hose so I can go all the way around the car lol.

 

YES! I do this all the time.

 

Just ordered some 4 packages of steel wool 0,00,000,0000 for around $10 with free 2 day shipping. I have tons of <$10 orders, and it's nice to see them in 2 days. They are definately on to something there with Prime. I made up the first 2 years of membership fees within the first day, because of the weight of the stuff I ordered. That's what made me get Prime because it saved me so much $$ from the jump.

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I made up the first 2 years of membership fees within the first day, because of the weight of the stuff I ordered. That's what made me get Prime because it saved me so much $$ from the jump.

 

I ordered a 70 pound Rubbermaid detailing cart overnight for the extra $4; I can't imagine how much that cost them even with their discount, overnighting a package that size retail probably would have been $150 lol.

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I noticed that Adam's products are sold on ebay ....Maybe if you were only needing one item the shipping might be cheaper that way? They maybe set up as a flat rate rather than by location? It might save you a few dollars if someone is really trying to save money.

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Unless the company isn't making it up elsewhere the "free shipping" is merely an illusion. If Adam shipped free then he'd probably end up having to discount less or raise the prices of product. By showing us the cost of shipping he's just being a straight shooter.

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Just a reminder, I'm an Amazon Prime member and that costs me about $75 a year for all that "free" shipping.

 

PS. All this talk of shipping has made me realize that I haven't seen the FedEx guy in several days. Time to go check out the daily special. I think this weakend it's 2 for 1 In and Out Dressing!!!

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Unless the company isn't making it up elsewhere the "free shipping" is merely an illusion. If Adam shipped free then he'd probably end up having to discount less or raise the prices of product. By showing us the cost of shipping he's just being a straight shooter.

 

Yes, that was covered earlier in the thread; flat rate shipping means some customers basically subsidize the others. My point was that as a business owner, flat rate shipping, free ground shipping and similar configurations can lead to dramatically higher conversions in the ecommerce world. My interest as an Adams customer is to have the company be successful, I think they would get more sales from people on the fence about trying the product line by not hitting them with a shipping charge that is probably more than they're used to paying for other things at other sites, and the more customers Adams has, the better it is for all of us thanks to economies of scale in production, warehousing and shipping.

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Never had a problem with paying shipping charges from Adams. The packages have always arrived in perfect condition,well packed and fresh product. I do not know for sure but I would not buy Adams waxes from an E-bay dealer, less expensive is not always a bargain.

Adam is selling it on e-bay.....that's what I was talking about. The prices are the same....just thought maybe the shipping would be a little cheaper if you only needed one item.

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i ordered the Prem. Detail Kit from Adams directly on Ebay. That whole big kit on ly 19.00 Shipping. Can Not complain there. If the Shipping is free, you can count on it they have raised the price to re-coup the money.

Just a thought.

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I understand where a lot of you are coming from in regards to the shipping prices. I find myself waiting to place orders until I need a few things, as $10 shipping for a lone bottle of "*****" is not pratical for my wallet. I usually wait until I need at least 3 things, which may take a month or two to place my order. I wish USPS shipping would be implemented for non-fragile things such as towels, pads, shirt/hat, etc.

 

USPS First Class mail, if under 13 ounces, is extremely cheap to ship, and is my preferred method when I ship stuff. You can ship stuff for like <$3 in most cases. So if I needed that extra foam applicator (red circle one) really bad, I could be in and out for <$3 shipping :D

 

Just a thought

 

I can say with 100% confidence that since signing up for Prime, I have made more impulse buys, including some I would have probably not gone through with had there been a $5 or $10 shipping fee. For a business, that's great; you're selling things to people who may have an impulse or are on the fence by simply making the purchase incredibly easy and not hitting them with shipping charges that might turn them away.

 

 

:lol:

 

Same here

 

I am literally addicted to buying things from Amazon, simply because of the Prime shipping.

 

I got a free year last year through their Amazon Student Prime and just continued it this year.

 

I find myself buying all kinds of things, I probably buy 95% of stuff I have through Amazon. I rarely buy things retail, only at Costco and of course Adam's for all my car detailing needs.

 

I am just dreading the mandatory sales tax collection that goes into effect on September 15th this year :mad:

 

I'll probably use one of those out of state concierge services to avoid the sales tax :D

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I understand where a lot of you are coming from in regards to the shipping prices. I find myself waiting to place orders until I need a few things, as $10 shipping for a lone bottle of "*****" is not pratical for my wallet. I usually wait until I need at least 3 things, which may take a month or two to place my order.

 

I got around that issue by buying two of the 5-gallon jugs of detail spray during the black friday free shipping coupon thing. That should last me through summer LOL.

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I got around that issue by buying two of the 5-gallon jugs of detail spray during the black friday free shipping coupon thing. That should last me through summer LOL.

 

Now that sounded like a good idea,, long as you are using it. By the looks of the stable you have,, it will be put to good use. SOme nice horses there

 

I had ordered my kit from Adams store on Ebay, I then cancelled it and went to adams site and place a bigger order. It was alot easier to do it from Adams Home Page. Plus always nice to be able to chat with them if you have a problem or need to change up a order. Great Customer Service

Edited by GaryW
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  • 6 months later...

I was reading this thread with great interest. I too agree with everyone about the packing and customer service; FIRST RATE!!.

 

I also agree that shipping is a necessary evil and someone has to pay, somehow. While I'm not complaining directly about the shipping charges, they have stopped me from placing small orders (especially disappointing are the daily specials).

 

It's very hard for me to accept that the shipping charges sometimes are almost 30% of the price of the products! Usually around 20%. To me, that's just unreasonable.

 

As of right now, I have the two specials (36 oz Detail Spray and the Daily Special, 36 oz VRT) in my cart and with the forum member discount the price is $53.91. Ground Shipping is $9.58 or about 18% of the price of the products.

 

Now, spending $9.58 is not going to change my lifestyle any and I will place the order but it's the principle of it all. It's a huge percentage. We know that it's weight/distance based but I get a FexEx discount from my employer for 2nd day shipping and I priced the same weight to ship back to Adams using my discount and the price was $11.55, and that's second day air!! The price Adams is charging is $20.44 for the same service! If I can get that discount from FedEx, I surprised that Adams cannot.

 

I wanted to share my feelings (and they are mine alone) but the shipping charges do prevent me from placing orders for items that I would prefer to have but can find an alternate for so that I do not have to pay such (IMHO) high shipping charges.

 

This is a business decision of Adams and I would be remiss not sharing my thoughts as I think many others might feel the same way!!

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We know that it's weight/distance based but I get a FexEx discount from my employer for 2nd day shipping and I priced the same weight to ship back to Adams using my discount and the price was $11.55, and that's second day air!! The price Adams is charging is $20.44 for the same service! If I can get that discount from FedEx, I surprised that Adams cannot.

 

Your employer may be getting a higher discount due to the volume and distances they ship. Back in the old days, and yes, I remember them. Everybody paid the same rate regardless. Now discounts are based on volume and distances. And everybody has a different rate.

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