Shipping charges…

Most e-commerce businesses that have a major problem do so because they did not fully appreciate how much of an effect shipping charges can have on their bottom line.
Far too commonly, a customer will find a suitable e-commerce site offering exactly the product they are looking for at a fantastic price, only to discover that the shipping charges quoted are so high that they remove any cost advantage of buying from that particular business. Consequently, they cancel the whole transaction seconds before they are due to make payment, and turn to the Yellow Pages to look for a local dealer instead.
All too often, this happens because online merchants get greedy. They offer attractive discounts on products they list in their online catalogue, only to try to get back some of the money that they are ‘losing’ by offering a discount with an artificially inflated shipping charge.
This is not going to work, because most national delivery services (US Post, The Royal Mail etc) and international courier companies show delivery charges on their websites, and if you can see those charges, so can your customer. It is very easy for them to see whether you are ‘cheating’ on delivery costs, and if you are, that is your business relationship with the customer concerned at an end.
It is in the interests of the long-term future of your business to find the most economical and reliable way of delivering your goods to your customers, and you should never try to grab an extra few cents here and there by inflating delivery charges. Do so and you will lose far more than you could ever gain.