5 ms·

What, no. Tell me before I add to the cart, right in the product description page. What kind of draconian world do I live in that I would need to add to the ca

by ggggtez 10y ago

What, no. Tell me before I add to the cart, right in the product description page. What kind of draconian world do I live in that I would need to add to the cart to compare prices.

nimish 10y ago
Shipping costs are not linear so they can only really be estimated from the entire cart
- teej 10y ago
  Then figure out how to bring the cart context to the product page in order to be able to say "Shipping will be +$2 if you add this to cart"
  - greenshackle2 10y ago
    I imagine this could slow down the page noticeably, if you have to hit the shipper's api for every product. EDIT: sibling comment pointed out, the origin warehouse may be unknown until you have the full order. so now you're figuring out which warehouse you'd hypothetically ship from if the customer bought each product on the page.
paulmd 10y ago
Shipping(A+B) is typically less than Shipping(A) + Shipping(B). In most cases shipping is a cost that's associated with an order, not with the item. It makes sense to show it in the shopping cart.
- rhapsodic 10y ago
  > Shipping(A+B) is typically less than Shipping(A) + Shipping(B). In most cases shipping is a cost that's associated with an order, not with the item. That's true, but they could provide the marginal shipping cost of an item before it's added to the cart: Shipping(currentCartContents + thisItem) - Shipping(currentCartContents) In many cases the marginal shipping cost would be 0.
  - Programmatic 10y ago
    I think the solution would be to create a system where: 1) we have a minimum amount to hit before the marginal shipping cost is $0, 2) build the shipping cost into our margins, and 3) advertise that the marginal cost is $0.
    - Jemmeh 10y ago
      So basically Amazon's free shipping deal. Prime items if you're not a prime member over a certain $ amount gets free shipping.
      - Programmatic 10y ago
        ;)
  - paulmd 10y ago
    Well, that's confusing too. If you show a shipping cost on the item, your average consumer would expect that they could buy just that item for that shipping price. After all, doesn't everyone hate the Amazon Add-On Program for exactly that reason? It's Prime but not really Prime. What if you have multiple tabs open? If you add another product in the meantime then the shipping cost quoted would be totally inaccurate. Could be too high, could also be too low depending on how your order crosses the weight/size thresholds. Also, that would mean that you have to total up the weights and hit the shipping API for every single page request. Right now you usually only get an icon that tells you "3 items in cart", sometimes not even that much. If you have multiple warehouses this gets even more complex, you essentially have an NP-complete optimization problem. That may not even be possible to do in real time, let alone on every page load. I just disagree in general over the value of the feature here. There is a lot of potential for misinformation and confusion, and consumers are already trained that they go to the shopping cart to get the shipping price. The shopping cart (the order) is the quantum used for shipping costs and it makes sense to put it there. Again, to echo others, I hate sites that make me log in and go through the checkout process to get a shipping cost. But there's nothing wrong with going to the shopping cart and typing in my ZIP.
- hx87 10y ago
  What if I just want A, and there is no B? It's straightforward to add a caveat that the shipping costs are for that item only and are not additive.
  - Avshalom 10y ago
    Now every page contains two prices and nothing actually adds up when you get to the final cost.
- clusmore 10y ago
  I think you're missing the point. The use case where I would want to see the shipping cost up-front is that I'm buying a single item and I don't care who I buy it from -- I'm browsing across a number of stores and will pick the one that gives me the best price (with the least hassle). In this case (purchasing a single item), there is never going to be a B -- I just want to know as easily as possible what it will cost to buy and ship this single product. If I need to register in order to find that out, forget it. I'm browsing across multiple stores that I've possibly never visited before and never will again, I'm not going to register to all of them. If I need to add to the cart, you're pushing it. If somebody else can tell me upfront, they're ahead and more likely to win my business. Based on only my own usage, if I haven't registered to a site I'm obviously not a regular buyer there and am most likely there to just buy a single item.
StavrosK 10y ago
Look at the actual flow, it's not too bad, and it calculates shipping on your entire cart, not just the one item (which is what users want).

by ggggtez 10y ago

What, no. Tell me before I add to the cart, right in the product description page. What kind of draconian world do I live in that I would need to add to the cart to compare prices.

nimish 10y ago

Shipping costs are not linear so they can only really be estimated from the entire cart

teej 10y ago
Then figure out how to bring the cart context to the product page in order to be able to say "Shipping will be +$2 if you add this to cart"
- greenshackle2 10y ago
  I imagine this could slow down the page noticeably, if you have to hit the shipper's api for every product. EDIT: sibling comment pointed out, the origin warehouse may be unknown until you have the full order. so now you're figuring out which warehouse you'd hypothetically ship from if the customer bought each product on the page.

paulmd 10y ago

Shipping(A+B) is typically less than Shipping(A) + Shipping(B). In most cases shipping is a cost that's associated with an order, not with the item. It makes sense to show it in the shopping cart.

rhapsodic 10y ago
> Shipping(A+B) is typically less than Shipping(A) + Shipping(B). In most cases shipping is a cost that's associated with an order, not with the item. That's true, but they could provide the marginal shipping cost of an item before it's added to the cart: Shipping(currentCartContents + thisItem) - Shipping(currentCartContents) In many cases the marginal shipping cost would be 0.
- Programmatic 10y ago
  I think the solution would be to create a system where: 1) we have a minimum amount to hit before the marginal shipping cost is $0, 2) build the shipping cost into our margins, and 3) advertise that the marginal cost is $0.
  - Jemmeh 10y ago
    So basically Amazon's free shipping deal. Prime items if you're not a prime member over a certain $ amount gets free shipping.
    - Programmatic 10y ago
      ;)
- paulmd 10y ago
  Well, that's confusing too. If you show a shipping cost on the item, your average consumer would expect that they could buy just that item for that shipping price. After all, doesn't everyone hate the Amazon Add-On Program for exactly that reason? It's Prime but not really Prime. What if you have multiple tabs open? If you add another product in the meantime then the shipping cost quoted would be totally inaccurate. Could be too high, could also be too low depending on how your order crosses the weight/size thresholds. Also, that would mean that you have to total up the weights and hit the shipping API for every single page request. Right now you usually only get an icon that tells you "3 items in cart", sometimes not even that much. If you have multiple warehouses this gets even more complex, you essentially have an NP-complete optimization problem. That may not even be possible to do in real time, let alone on every page load. I just disagree in general over the value of the feature here. There is a lot of potential for misinformation and confusion, and consumers are already trained that they go to the shopping cart to get the shipping price. The shopping cart (the order) is the quantum used for shipping costs and it makes sense to put it there. Again, to echo others, I hate sites that make me log in and go through the checkout process to get a shipping cost. But there's nothing wrong with going to the shopping cart and typing in my ZIP.
hx87 10y ago
What if I just want A, and there is no B? It's straightforward to add a caveat that the shipping costs are for that item only and are not additive.
- Avshalom 10y ago
  Now every page contains two prices and nothing actually adds up when you get to the final cost.
clusmore 10y ago
I think you're missing the point. The use case where I would want to see the shipping cost up-front is that I'm buying a single item and I don't care who I buy it from -- I'm browsing across a number of stores and will pick the one that gives me the best price (with the least hassle). In this case (purchasing a single item), there is never going to be a B -- I just want to know as easily as possible what it will cost to buy and ship this single product. If I need to register in order to find that out, forget it. I'm browsing across multiple stores that I've possibly never visited before and never will again, I'm not going to register to all of them. If I need to add to the cart, you're pushing it. If somebody else can tell me upfront, they're ahead and more likely to win my business. Based on only my own usage, if I haven't registered to a site I'm obviously not a regular buyer there and am most likely there to just buy a single item.

StavrosK 10y ago

Look at the actual flow, it's not too bad, and it calculates shipping on your entire cart, not just the one item (which is what users want).