the shopping dilemma

[mamajoan]

Does this ever happen to you? You're shopping on an online site that offers free shipping if you spend a certain amount. There are a few specific things that you actually need (or want) and when you put those things in your shopping cart, the total is like $3 away from qualifying for free shipping. So you find yourself surfing around the site for hours, trying to find something that costs $3 that you kinda sorta want, or could possibly use maybe sometime. And eventually you start to think maybe it isn't worth the hassle, you should just pay the damn shipping costs.

Please tell me that happens to you sometimes. *g* I overthink this stuff WAY too much.

Comments

[calligrafiti.livejournal.com]

All the time.

On the upside, I got a CD I'd been waffling about buying for ages, because I needed something like $8.75 and it was $9. Turns out I really do like Diane Krall.

[tiggrrl.livejournal.com]

I do that all the time, and somehow there's never that $3 thing when you need it!

[lunaris1013.livejournal.com]

I swear sites that do that set their free shipping limit $5 over the average total per shopper just so we'll do that very thing.

[sydb42.livejournal.com]

If there's free shipping, I have to have it (well, unless it's A LOT more than what I'd planned to spend to get it), even if it means finding something else I never knew I needed. ;)

[kneidlach.livejournal.com]

It happens to me all the time but usually instead of finding something that costs $3 I'll end up buying another big item, therefore spending more money than I was originally intending. Which I think is the point.

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

YES!! That's the other thing I meant to say but forgot. I ALWAYS do that. And then I'm scrutinizing my shopping cart again and "okay, now I'm over the free shipping limit by $11, so I'll delete this one thing that costs $11 ... oh wait, but that's one of the things I NEEDED!" Argh!

I'm sure you are absolutely right that that's the whole point. They probably do have some way of calculating the average order size, and set the free shipping amount just a little bit over that. Bastards.

[obsessedmuch.livejournal.com]

I do it all the time and I JUST DID IT yesterday. Amazon taunted me with its little "You can have free shipping, you WANT free shipping, you NEED free shipping... just spend $1.47 more."

Which is how I bought $23.00 worth of extra stuff, of course. *doh*

[morgan-dhu.livejournal.com]

I really only do on-line shopping for books and CDs, which means there's never really any problem buying enough to meet the free shipping minimums, but on the rare occasions where what I was intending to buy fell under the minimum, I've always gone looking for a few more things to get me over the line.

[bodacia.livejournal.com]

All the fucking time. I will waste an hour of my time doing this...which is so NOT cost-effective when you think about it. ;)

[mamajoan.livejournal.com]

My point exactly!

[discreet.livejournal.com]

I've done it. Matter of fact, I just tried doing that when I was shopping for a digital camera.

Nooooooooooooooooo!

[techn0goddess.livejournal.com]

Get out of my brain! There's barely enough room in here for me and my voices.

HEY! Keep it down! I'm trying to type a post over here!

Stupid voices.