Buy.com: Free Shipping*
No one likes to pay for shipping, so when an online store advertises “free shipping” it can be a big inducement to buy. The two spyware products above from Buy.com are about the same price and both appear to include free shipping. In fact, only one item ships free while the other costs $5.48 to deliver. Can you tell which is which?
*MOUSE PRINT: “If a product has this truck icon: 
that product receives FREE Budget Shipping regardless of its price. If a product has this truck icon: 
, that product is eligible for FREE Budget Shipping under one of the following minimum order free shipping programs…” [Buy.com website, June 29, 2006]
So, if a product has a yellow truck within its description, shipping really is free. But, if the color of the truck is goldenrod, then shipping is free only if your order meets a minimum purchase requirement (typically $25). Who would have guessed that the color of the truck on the free shipping logo matters?
And we have the slight language differences to parse as well: products with the yellow truck say “qualifies for free shipping,” while products with the goldenrod truck say “eligible for free shipping.” Again, who would ever understand there is a difference between those two phrases?
The bottomline: free shipping is really only free if the mouse print says so.
If you don’t understand the difference between the words “eligible” and “qualifies”, get a dictionary. If you can’t read, you’re SOL.
Comment by kay katz — July 10, 2006 @ 11:38 amI think buy.com is very clear on this, and this should not be listed on mouse print. You can even click on the truck for definition. $25 also is not bad for a minimum free shipping order.
Comment by dave — July 10, 2006 @ 10:38 pmClearly buy.com went out of their way to parse words to confuse potential customers. I say stay away from companies who operate in such deceptive ways. Nice job Consumer World!
Comment by Jim H — July 24, 2006 @ 7:49 amThe difference seems clear to me. Plus, the link is clear. It’s eligible and they let you know the circumstances. It’s also in line with the industry standard and is at least as clear as with competitors such as amazon.com.
Comment by Hagrinas — July 24, 2006 @ 9:32 pm[...] I found this one especially interesting, concerning Buy.com. Looks like everyone will be kept honest, including the folks submitting the articles. There was some feedback defending Buy.com from some of it’s satisfied customers. [...]
Pingback by Evendition - B2Blog and More » Mouseprint.org — August 10, 2006 @ 7:35 pmI have been purchasing items from Buy.com for years, and always understood the difference in shipping costs. Be careful on checkout though, the free shipping is not automatic, you have to choose it! There is absolutely no deception involved, just pay attention do what you are reading.
Comment by Harold B — September 26, 2006 @ 7:38 amTheir free shipping offer is also not valid for Hawai’i. Yet Amazon.com’s “Free Super Saver Shipping” is valid for Hawai’i.
Comment by DefenseEngineer — September 26, 2006 @ 8:41 amBeen buying stuff from there forever, either way you go… you get a total for what you are purchasing, including how mmuch for shipping etc etc… Unless you close your eyes and have your browser type in your information and click for you, you’d have a hard time not noticing that you did or didn’t have “free” shipping.
Comment by Jason — September 26, 2006 @ 9:24 amThis should not be a Mouseprint item. Buy.com is very clear in the wording
Comment by Craig — September 26, 2006 @ 9:40 amand like everyone above stated, the difference between “qualifies” and “eligible”
is very clear and well known.
I agree with those making comments in support of Buy.com! Every “truck” icon is a hyperlink which describes the free shipping offer, when you add an item that is
“elegible” for free shipping, the very first line of the next page has
the truck icon with “Free shipping on orders over $25″ in bold faced font
the same size as the rest of the product information.
A company can’t dummy proof all of thier marketing information, a
consumer has an obligation to understand what he is getting into, or have
his mommy take care of things for him.
You are barking up the wrong tree here and owe Buy.com an appology!!
Comment by Mickey — September 26, 2006 @ 10:40 amI agree with all the above comments. I have never had any difficulty understanding the final invoice including the shipping fees. Also because software is imperfect, I have encountered shipping errors when an item “qualifying” for free shipping combined with a non-eligible item. Solution; place two seperate orders.
Comment by David — September 26, 2006 @ 2:41 pmI disagree with the people who say that the difference between “eligible for free shipping” and “qualifies for free shipping” is obvious.
My dictionary defines eligible as: “satisfying the appropriate condition”
and qualify as: “to be entitled to a particular benefit by fulfilling a necessary condition”
As far as these definitions go, I would expect free shipping after reading either term. If they really wanted to be clear, they’d just say “free shipping” on the one that’s actually free.
Comment by braindead — September 26, 2006 @ 7:12 pmDon’t get the beef on this one. Yeah, the truck color thing could be a bit clearer. But, this is pretty straight forward. The total page before you submit your order clearly shows the shipping amount, zero or otherwise. And, Amazon and other sites do the same thing, although slightly more clearly. Rather stupid mouse print. Must have been a slow day.
Comment by Tom — September 26, 2006 @ 9:05 pmThe other interesting thing about this ad is the fact that the “eligible” product is priced at $24.99 and is only eligible for free shipping at $25, which then forces you to purchase something else or pay the shipping. Now that’s pretty sleazy, but typical.
Comment by Kathryn — September 27, 2006 @ 9:19 amI’ve only ever used Buy.com once. However, the terms are obvious. The first one is “eligible” to be combined with other “eligible” items. Once the total meets the minimum requirements, you get free shipping. The other one already “qualifies” by itself. Seems pretty straight forward to me.
Comment by SC — September 27, 2006 @ 2:59 pmOne cent below eligibility. That about sums up sleazy business practice in my book. The use of the colored trucks is a nice change though. I cant say I have ever seen that one used before.
Comment by Thomas — September 29, 2006 @ 8:29 amI’ve found buy.com to be a good company one of the best I’ve delt with in fact. But watch the free shipping, the default is a step up for faster shipping and it charges shipping. Just click the free shipping and you get free shipping. I bought a wireless card a while back that would not install on my computer. I used the site to return the card, very easy to use, printed out a pre paid UPS sticker and credit was given with absolutly no hassels. Try that with other online merchants and see what happens.
Comment by david K — September 30, 2006 @ 6:20 amMy worst experience with online companies, Tiger Direct, never did get the rebates they promised.
I think half the people commenting on this issue, probably work for Buy.com or maybe there just sheep!
Comment by Kaz — November 14, 2006 @ 12:09 amI use Buy.com on a semi-regular basis. It was obvious to me that you simply must by $25 worth of “stuff” to get free shipping. The first product is $24.99…a penny short. It “qualifies” because if you buy something else for at least a penny you get free shipping. Easy enough to understand.
The real catch here is the free shipping says something like 7-10 days or longer to get it.
Comment by Terry Lee — February 14, 2007 @ 9:21 amI read this article because I ordered from buy.com and got burned by the shipping policy and the company refused to cancel the order 5 mins after it was placed. Best Buy had some customer satisfaction several years back and customer reactions forced them to change. Take time to report devious if legal business practices like rebates that get disqualified etc.
Comment by Joe — January 10, 2008 @ 9:35 pm