Shipping and handling. Those three words are enough to give any online
bargain hunter a nervous, queasy feeling. After all, high shipping costs
(suspiciously high, in some cases) can turn a good deal into a bad one
faster than you can ask
“What exactly is handling?”
Recognizing this fear, more than 2,000 retailers have
banded together to offer a one-day reprieve from shipping fees in an
annual shopper’s holiday known as
Free Shipping Day. This year’s Free Shipping Day, which guarantees delivery by Christmas Eve, takes place this Friday, December 16.
The website’s founder, 30-year-old entrepreneur Luke Knowles, built
and promoted the first Free Shipping Day website in just two weeks after
having the idea on December 5, 2008.
“It’s a money-saving measure for consumers and a way to extend the online holiday shopping season for retailers,” said Knowles.
“Everyone benefits.”
A visit to
FreeShippingDay.com
offers a list of participating web merchants. Among them are big names
like Best Buy, Zales, Cabela’s, Barnes & Noble, Bed Bath &
Beyond, and JCPenney. Countless smaller, specialty stores, including
hundreds of eBay and Etsy shops, are also taking part. We highly
recommend a visit to the site to browse the
list of retailers,
which reads like the world’s largest online shopping mall. If anything
else, it might spark an idea for the perfect gift for that
hard-to-shop-for friend or family member, and you can’t put a price on
inspiration like that.