We’ve all been there before — you find the perfect item online, add it to your cart, put in all your information, and then see the extra charge for shipping and ask yourself “is it really worth it?” Of course, when we see free shipping it’s enticing and we’re more inclined to make that purchase. In the end, though, are we actually paying more for “free shipping” in some cases?
Here at Frame It Easy, we don’t offer free shipping, but before you exit out of our site, let us tell you why! If you haven’t heard it before, let us do the honors of letting you in on a little secret: there is no such thing as “free” shipping. Fuel, vehicle maintenance, driver wages, etc. all cost money, so when a company decides to offer free shipping, they usually just tack this additional cost into the price of your item. This means you often end up paying more than necessary, especially when ordering multiple items.
We’ve done our research, and we stand behind the fact that we offer very affordable custom framing. We provide you with the lowest prices possible, and that is why we rarely offer discount codes. Our shipping costs are exactly what it costs us to ship your frames to you. We don’t profit off shipping which is why we don’t offer “free” shipping — we’re actually saving you in the end by not bundling shipping into the price of the frame.
Free Shipping = Spend More
Of course, some sites will give you a minimum to spend in order to qualify for free shipping. This is a tactic companies use in order to get customers to spend more money on their site! The idea sounds great. Why pay an extra $5 dollars for shipping when you can spend an extra $10 and get another product. It’s a win-win, for both the customer and the company, right?
Well, not totally. It typically benefits the company more because — on top of getting the customer to spend more just to get that “free” shipping — they are still adding the cost of shipping into the cost of the product(s). And often, this cost is rounded up. So, you’re not actually saving money, but spending more.
(P.S. This isn’t to say you can never find a good deal or promotion that offers free shipping, but we just want to shed some light on the hidden costs of anything “free” you may want to consider.)
Why We Instead Offer Fair Shipping
As we mentioned, we take pride in the fact that we offer affordable custom frames. Our company doesn’t profit off of shipping because we charge you exactly what it costs us to ship your frames. We ship from the three major shipping carriers (USPS, UPS, FedEx) and see which is offering the most affordable shipping to your door — that is how each order’s carrier is chosen. (Due to the volume of orders we send, we even pass along our discounted rates!) We consider this “fair shipping,” which should actually save you money in the end!
Furthermore, our software was built to optimize every single shipment to be the most cost-effective it can be — since our packaging is just as custom as each frame inside, we can make sure each box is packed as efficiently as possible. Since carriers have certain oversize fees they often tack on, we know if it’s more affordable to ship a multi-frame order in multiple boxes vs. a single oversized one.
It also is generally not very expensive to add on a couple more frames to a single frame order, so it is most efficient to order a few frames vs. a single frame, shipping-wise. (Now imagine paying a baked-in fee multiple times for multiple products that are all shipped in the same box! This is often the case with “free” shipping.)
Because of all these built-in efficiencies to make your order affordable right from the start, we also rarely offer discount codes, although you can sign up for our email list to receive the few/limited coupons we do send out. However, even with the fact that there are limited discounts and no free shipping, our frame prices are still generally lower than our competitors. Check out the chart below to see for yourself!
| Artwork Size | Frame It Easy (Derby Frame) | Our Competitors |
| 5” x 7” | $14.89 | $55-$65 |
| 8” x 12” | $25.03 | $68-$85 |
| 12” x 16” | $35.11 | $85-$99 |
| 16” x 24” | $50.72 | $115-$145 |
| 20” x 30” | $64.61 | $145-$179 |
Nothing Is Ever Really “Free”
Of course, the sound of “free shipping” sounds great! However, nothing is ever really free. That is why we here at Frame It Easy focus on keeping our product prices as low as possible for our customers and offering the best, fairest shipping rates we can find.
So just because you can’t necessarily see the shipping charges or they are listed at $0, someone is still paying the fee to ship — most likely, it’s you! In an online age where having things shipped is much more common than not, we just want to empower you to consider what makes the most sense for you (and your wallet).
