Need buyer input on free shipping

Hello, I guess this is the best board to ask this question.....Do you search by using the free shipping option?....I know free is great, but just wondering if it would help my sales a little....or is it not such a big issue for most....I would apreciate any input you could give me....Thank you so much in advance. Peace, Jeannie|||I don't often search that way, but "free shipping" always catches my attention while I am looking at many items.|||As a buyer I search on total price, knowing that the cost of shipping is in there somewhere, no such thing as free, really. As a seller I have heard that those who use free shipping often get lower shipping DSRs because buyers think free shipping should just get a 3 instead of a 5. Generally, I don't do it.|||"Free Shipping" is a rip off when buying multiple items from the same seller.|||If you are selling internationally (I am in Canada), Free Shipping will cause problems. Unless you are willing to offer Free Shipping to all destinations, you are eventually going to have an arguement with a non-US buyer who cannot fathom that you are only offering FS to US customers. I'm not saying they are right, they are not, but this is a question that we see over and over on the eBayCanada Boards. Many bidders search on eBaydotcom and don't cross check the shipping and handling tab for the actual cost to their own nation. As a seller, I do offer Free Shipping on some items (to Canada and the USA). In the past year, I have sold around 350 lots and only one was Free Shipping. So I doubt that it really is all that attractive.|||I don't notice that it's all that attractive to me as a buyer or that effective when selling. But it probably does have an advantage in certain categories over others. I did a search last night for a dvd, Evilution. I found 10 results. 3 offered free shipping. Link Which one do you think I bought? (Without peeking at my completeds! )|||^^^ Can I buy a vowel ?|||Why would you vie a bowel...?|||I never use the free shipping, it adds to your ebay fees, because it inflates your selling price, thus, your ebay fees will increase dramatically. That's why ebay wants you to offer it in the first place.|||I started using free shipping on all my auctions a while back, and now am re-thinking the whole thing Aside from the tons of $$ in fees it adds, now that it's tax time, it's just making more paperwork for me (not going to pay tax on postage) something I didn't think of when I started the free shipping.||||||Do you search by using the free shipping option? No I know free is great, but just wondering if it would help my sales a little. More units at less money per unit and probably higher ebay fees.This link does not violate board rules. Nothing is sold at this site. Ebay and Paypal advertise at this site. Link|||Do I search using Free Shipping? Never. Do I make decisions if free shipping is offered between several items? Sometimes. As a seller I do not offer free shipping for the reasons others have stated. I use the shipping calculator. Before selling carefully read about blocking countries you do not want to ship to. Or start out by setting your preferences to U.S. sales only. Link~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I did not sell you my opinion||||||People who get all excited about free shipping are probably the same people who get excited about getting a huge tax refund. They're ... er .... somewhat less than informed about certain things. If I were a seller, I wouldn't want to target those people as my customers.The mere existence of a problem is no proof of the existence of a solution.