It's weird how much of an incentive free shipping is.  I'll jump through hoops and sometimes pay more for a product, as long as the overall cost is less because of free shipping.  And what I recently discovered is that it works from a merchant's perspective as well.  I just sold something on eBay and selected the option that said I was willing to ship it for free.  Even though I didn't offer it for a great price, the product sold quickly, and I have a feeling free shipping made the difference.  It's funny because the shipping cost often isn't a significant percentage of the overall cost.  And that percentage decreases as the price of the object increases.  Of course, nothing is actually free, so the shipping cost is simply factored into the item's price.  But as consumers, we ignore this glaring fact, and we search for and readily purchase things that can be shipped for free. #business