Average Shipping Costs Table of Contents
As e-commerce and online shopping is on the rise, consumers aim for shipping services that are fast and affordable. In fact, shipping cost is an important factor that customers look out for when getting a product. But how affordable can shipping fees get without affecting your business? This article will be explaining the factors that affect shipping costs, and how to get a scope on what your shipping fee should be.
Shipping costs deal with the cost of getting a product from the manufacturer or warehouse to the final destination of a consumer. Many things could contribute to this fee such as surcharges, fuel costs, and other transportation fees. Recently, there has been a rise in the shipping cost. This is a result of the growing use of online shopping. The pandemic has caused many people to resort to e-commerce and that has led to significant demand for shipping services.
Before fully understanding how to calculate shipping costs, it is important to know the factors that drive them. Here are some factors that affect shipping cost:
An important factor in determining shipping cost is size. Packages that weigh above the norm are likely to attract surcharges. In the calculation for shipping costs, if the weight of the package is greater than the dimensional weight, then the package weight would be calculated instead. Different items fall into different categories in terms of weight. To be sure which yours fall under, ensure to consult your carrier.
This takes into consideration the density of a package in relation to its original weight. It is a common factor used to determine shipping costs. Carriers often have to choose which weight to bill between dimensional weight and package weight. The one that has more weight is usually billed. So if the dimensional weight is greater than the actual package weight, it will be billed instead.
The distance from the item’s point of location to the destination of the consumer matters a lot. Whether the item is being delivered locally or internationally plays a huge role in shipping costs. In essence, if an item is being shipped to a farther distance, the shipping cost will be higher. Whereas if it is shipped to a nearer distance, the shipping cost will be lower.
If the item being shipped holds great value, you might want to have it insured. This is to protect your interests even if it gets destroyed, lost, or stolen. Although beneficial, insurance costs a lot and could take a good cut in shipping costs.
The discourse of finance and business is really hard to engage in without including tax and levies. Shipping internationally may attract taxes that would have to be paid independently. So it is important to factor in taxes when dealing with international shipping.
Major carriers like FedEx, and UPS use package dimensions to determine shipping costs. As explained earlier, carriers compare the weight of the original item to the dimensional weight. Whichever is greater is used to determine the shipping cost. Suppose the dimension weight is greater than the actual weight, it is calculated instead. To calculate the dimensional weight, the dimensions of the package are calculated which include; length, width, and height. This is then divided by a dimension divisor. This can be used to round up a good value.
You can calculate the percentage for shipping cost by dividing the cost of shipping by the cost of purchasing the item. You can also use software like ShipStation for shipping in exchange for a small amount of money.
Scroll down to read our indepth Ecommerce Platforms guide. What you should know, Ecommerce Platforms features, price plans and support. Pros and Cons of Ecommerce Platforms as a ecommerce, everything is explained below.
Shopify is a software company that specialises in ecommerce software for small to enterprise level businesses.
Shopify is listed as the best ecommerce software related to Ecommerce Platforms. Shopify was founded in 2006 in Ottawa, Canada and currently has over 6,124 employees registered on Linkedin.
Lets see how Shopify compare to other ecommerce platforms out there.
Name | Rating | Established | Head Office |
---|---|---|---|
![]() |
9.9 | 2006 | Ottawa, Canada |
![]() |
9.8 | 2006 | Ottawa, Canada |
![]() |
9.7 | 1999 | Austin, TX |
![]() |
9.7 | 2005 | San Francisco, CA |
![]() |
9.7 | 1997 | Tamarac, FL |
![]() |
9.7 | 2005 | Salt Lake City, UT |
![]() |
9.7 | 2009 | Encinitas, CA |
![]() |
9.6 | 2000 | Dublin, Ireland |
![]() |
9.6 | 2001 | Frisco, TX |
![]() |
9.6 | 2008 | Chennai, Tamil Nadu |
![]() |
9.6 | 2016 | Carmel, IN |
![]() |
9.6 | 2006 | Montreal, Canada |
![]() |
9.6 | 1999 | Cologne, Germany |
![]() |
9.6 | 2019 | Victoria, Canada |
![]() |
9.5 | 2007 | Wellington, New Zealand |
![]() |
9.4 | 1995 | Seven Fields, PA |
![]() |
9.2 | 2011 | Los Angeles, CA |
![]() |
9.2 | 2008 | Yaroslavl, Russia |
![]() |
9.2 | 2005 | Santa Barbara, CA |
![]() |
9.2 | 2011 | San Francisco,United States |
*please check with the vendors directly for the latest pricing.
Name | Price | Duration |
---|---|---|
![]() |
$29 - $299 | Per month, Per month, Per month, |
![]() |
$29 - $299 | Per month, Per month, Per month, |
![]() |
$RequestPricing - $RequestPricing | |
![]() |
$0 - $99 | Per month, Per month, Per month, Per month, Per year, Per year, Per year, |
![]() |
$29 - $299 | Per month, |
![]() |
$9.99 - $Free | Per month, Per month, Per month, |
![]() |
$0 - $99 | Per month, Per month, Per month, Per month, Per year, Per year, Per year, |
![]() |
$RequestPricing - $RequestPricing | |
![]() |
$RequestPricing - $RequestPricing | |
![]() |
$99 - $299 | Per month, Per month, Per month, |
![]() |
$79 - $299 | Per month, Per month, Per month, Per year, Per year, Per year, |
![]() |
$36.16 - $36.16 | Per month, |
![]() |
$RequestPricing - $£79 | Per month, Per month, Per month, |
![]() |
$1.7 - $1.7 | one-time/user, |
![]() |
$85 - $295 | Per month, Per month, Per month, |
![]() |
$RequestaFreedemo - $RequestaFreedemo | |
![]() |
$RequestPricing - $RequestPricing | |
![]() |
$66.58 - $799 | Per month, Per month,One Time Free, |
![]() |
$GetPrice - $GetPrice | |
![]() |
$10 - $10 | Per month, |
Name |
---|
Shopify Features
|
Shopify Plus Features
|
Volusion Features
|
WooCommerce Features
|
3dcart Features
|
Big Cartel Features
|
Ecwid Features
|
Kooomo Features
|
Ecomchain Features
|
Contalog Features
|
PayKickstart Features
|
Upclick Features
|
Trusted Shops Features
|
PayMotion Features
|
Storbie Features
|
Nexternal eCommerce Platform Features
|
Virto Commerce Features
|
nopCommerce Features
|
FastSpring Features
|
Gumroad Features
|
Customer service is very important when using a ecommerce like Shopify.
When investing in and dealing with a ecommerce for your business, timely customer support is essential.
Customer service includes assistance in installation, training, troubleshooting, upgrading, and cancellation of a product or service.
Your ecommerce solution should offer customer support that includes Phone answering services, Live chat support and Email customer service support.
Shopify and Shopify Plus offer support where clients are able to call or contact the helpdesk via email or a chat service.
Name | Support Rating | Support | Languages |
---|---|---|---|
![]() |
8.4 | Phone, Email | English |
![]() |
8.5 | Phone, Email, Live Chat | Danish, German, English, Finnish, French, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional) |
![]() |
7.3 | Phone, Email, | English |
![]() |
7.4 | Phone, Email | Afrikaans, Arabic, Danish, German, English, Finnish, French, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Simplified) |
![]() |
8.4 | Phone, Email, Live Chat | English |
![]() |
8.1 | Phone, Email | English |
![]() |
9.6 | Phone, Email | German, English, French, Indonesian, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish |
![]() |
9.4 | Phone, Email, Live Chat | Xhosa, Tonga (Tonga Islands), Samoan, Maori, Maltese, Fijian, Tibetan, Chinese (Simplified), Vietnamese, Uzbek, Urdu, Ukrainian, Turkish, Thai, Telugu, Tatar, Tamil, Swedish, Swahili, Serbian, Albanian, Spanish, Slovenian, Slovak, Russian, Romanian, Quechua, Portuguese, Polish, Punjabi, Norwegian, Dutch, Nepali, Malay, Mongolian, Macedonian, Marathi, Malayalam, Lithuanian, Latvian, Latin, Korean, Central Khmer, Georgian, Japanese, Italian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Armenian, Hungarian, Croatian, Hindi, Hebrew, Gujarati, Irish, French, Finnish, Persian, Basque, Estonian, English, Greek, German, Danish, Welsh, Czech, Catalan, Bulgarian, Bengali, Arabic, Afrikaans |
![]() |
9.7 | Phone, Email | Arabic, German, English, French, Gujarati, Hindi, Italian, Latin, Malayalam, Nepali, Punjabi, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Urdu, Chinese (Simplified) |
![]() |
10.0 | Phone, Email | English |
![]() |
9.7 | Phone, Email, Live Chat | Arabic, Czech, Danish, German, English, French, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish, Serbian, Vietnamese, Chinese (Simplified) |
![]() |
4.0 | Phone, Email | English |
![]() |
10.0 | Phone, Email | English |
![]() |
10.0 | Phone, Email | Arabic, Czech, Danish, German, Greek, English, Finnish, French, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Vietnamese, Chinese (Simplified) |
![]() |
9.8 | Phone, Email | English |
![]() |
9.6 | Phone, Email, Live Chat | English |
![]() |
8.9 | Phone, Email | German, English, French, Italian, Dutch, Norwegian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Chinese (Simplified) |
![]() |
7.7 | Phone, Email | Arabic, German, English, Persian, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese (Simplified) |
![]() |
9.1 | Phone, Email, Live Chat | Arabic, Czech, Danish, German, Greek, English, French, Croatian, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, Serbian, Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Simplified) |
![]() |
10.0 | Phone, Email | English |
Ensure that the ecommerce solution you decide upon provides the exact range of tools your organisation needs. Check ECOMMERCE is a good fit for your business.
An important factor for business owners to consider when looking for a Ecommerce like Shopify is the support and educational resources the Ecommerce platform can offer.
Choose a ecommerce that is considered an industry-leader with a well tested and well known software platform.
If you are thinking of using the Shopify platform you will need to know that Shopify is ecommerce that you can rely on.
Shopify is the best Ecommerce solution by overall rating based on price, support and feature set.
Shopify is the cheapest Ecommerce solution, price plans start at $29 and goes all the way up too $299 depending on the plan.
Some Ecommerce providers offer free plans, but its best to go with a provider that 100% is able to fulfill your needs rather than go cheap. Especially for your business.
The most popular Ecommerce solutions are Shopify, Shopify Plus, Volusion, WooCommerce. This is measured by number of active users and overall rating.
Overall rating | 84% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 84% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Basic | $29 | Per month |
Professional | $79 | Per month |
unlimited | $299 | Per month |
Overall rating | 85% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 85% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Mid-Market | $29 | Per month |
Enterprise | $79 | Per month |
$299 | Per month |
Overall rating | 73% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 73% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Mini | Request Pricing | |
Plus | ||
Pro | unknown | |
Premium | unknown | |
unknown |
Overall rating | 74% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 74% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Small-Business | $0 | Per month |
Mid-Market | $15 | Per month |
Enterprise | $35 | Per month |
$99 | Per month |
Overall rating | 84% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 84% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
3dcart BASIC | $29 | Per month |
3dcart PLUS | $299 | |
3dcart PRO | ||
3dcart Enterprise | unknown | |
unknown |
Overall rating | 81% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 81% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Titanium | Free | Per month |
Diamond | $9.99 | Per month |
Platinum | $19.99 | Per month |
Gold | $29.99 | |
Overall rating | 96% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 96% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Free | $0 | Per month |
VENTURE | $15 | Per month |
BUSINESS | $35 | Per month |
UNLIMITED | $99 | Per month |
$12.50 | Per year |
Overall rating | 94% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 94% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Small-Business | Request Pricing | |
Mid-Market | ||
Enterprise | unknown | |
unknown |
Overall rating | 97% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 97% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Small-Business | Request Pricing | |
Mid-Market | ||
unknown |
Overall rating | 100% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 100% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Basic Terms | $99 | Per month |
Small Terms | $199 | Per month |
Growing Terms | $299 | Per month |
Overall rating | 97% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 97% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Premium Plan | $99 | Per month |
Professional Plan | $199 | Per month |
Basic Plan | $299 | Per month |
$79 | Per year |
Overall rating | 40% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 40% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Small-Business | 36.16 | Per month |
Mid-Market | ||
Enterprise | unknown | |
unknown |
Overall rating | 100% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 100% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Small-Business | £79 | Per month |
Mid-Market | £129 | Per month |
Enterprise | Request Pricing | Per month |
Overall rating | 100% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 100% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Small-Business | 1.7 | one-time/user |
Mid-Market | ||
Enterprise | unknown | |
unknown |
Overall rating | 98% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 98% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Small-Business | $85 | Per month |
Mid-Market | $125 | Per month |
Enterprise | $295 | Per month |
Overall rating | 96% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 96% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Small-Business | Request a Free demo | |
Mid-Market | ||
unknown |
Overall rating | 89% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 89% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Small-Business | Request Pricing | |
Mid-Market | ||
Enterprise | unknown | |
unknown |
Overall rating | 77% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 77% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Small-Business | $66.58 | Per month |
Mid-Market | $99.67 | Per month |
Enterprise | $299 | One Time Free |
$799 |
Overall rating | 91% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 91% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Small-Business | Get Price | |
Mid-Market | ||
unknown |
Overall rating | 100% |
Support Rating | 88% |
Setup Rating | 100% |
Price Plan | Price | Price Plan Duration |
Small-Business | 10 | Per month |
Mid-Market | ||
Enterprise | unknown | |
unknown |
If you feel some of the above ecommerce solutions are not quiet what you are looking for or perhaps you would just like to see some alternatives. See our highly rated list of ecommerce below.
You can read some of our Ecommerce side by side vs page comparisons.
From us to your inbox weekly.