# Lost business to custom/shipping costs (Europe, Australia, New Zealand)



## NonSequiturTees (Oct 19, 2012)

Hello everyone. I am wondering how you compete with big companies like Amazon, ebay and others that offer free shipping to customers in other countries. I have customers cancel their orders because of shipping costs. On my website they can calculate shipping costs before placing an order. Many times I get emails from people asking me to either lower the shipping cost or ship for free since they have to ad custom costs to the price of the t-shirt(s). I offer free shipping to California, British Columbia, Idaho, State of Washington and Oregon only. 
My question is if anybody is having a similar experience and if so how are you dealing with it? 
Thank you


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## ericdata (Mar 25, 2008)

If your product is unique and one of a kind make them pay the shipping charges. Otherwise keep moving forward and focus on continued sales and marketing. Good luck!


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## charles95405 (Feb 1, 2007)

there is not much you can do....I do not offer free shipping and I don't set prices based on what others charge...


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## letsmakethatcake (Jan 25, 2013)

if it cost 5 bucks to ship then charge 5 bucks to ship. Or .. lower the price of your product by 2-3 bucks and raise the shipping by 2-3 bucks.


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## NonSequiturTees (Oct 19, 2012)

Thank you everyone for the good advise.


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## BlueCottonLeann (Nov 12, 2012)

Hey Ricardo!

We've been printing and shipping t-shirts to North America since 2008, but only recently expanded to offer international shipping. We use a company called Bongo to handle our international payments and shipping. You're right, international shipping is costly, but for those who want the product, it is available to them this way. Before we were unable to serve them at all.

We do offer free shipping to the continental US, and always work to get the best deals with UPS and USPS, and choose the method of shipping that is most cost-effective for the product.


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