Adding free shipping cost into product price.

[BusDreamer]

I am thinking of offering free shipping. It will be using the postal service. I am trying to add the cost of free shipping into the product cost. But I have difficulty doing this. I tried to calculate it based on item weight, but this can be too expensive? How do you do it when you offer free shipping?

[Freelancier]

The only way "free shipping" works (other than for digital items!) is:

Minimum order size that guarantees an appropriate profit to cover the cost.
A contract with a shipper that gets you better than "walk-up" rates.
Limits on where the "free shipping" applies (e.g., the lower 48 only).
And optionally a weight limit that excludes certain items from free shipping.

I'm assuming you can't do the Amazon model for shipping, which entails having distribution centers all over the country that reduces your ship distances.

[bonddm]

This can be costly for the shipper. Save yourself the trouble. You can't fool your customers. Eventually one will figure out that your price includes shipping and you will be called out on it. It happened to me on Ebay and it is not a good business practice. Rule of thumb is to be honest and upfront with your customers.