Flat $5 shipping fee vs free shipping: +5.56% revenue per visitor
Test run byDave DiederenSyntra Labs
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsDave Diederen tested flat $2, $5 and $7 shipping fees against free shipping, and the $5 fee lifted revenue per visitor 5.56%. It also raised conversion 2.37% and profit per visitor 7.50%. The $7 fee did worse than free shipping, so the price point mattered.
- $5 fee, revenue per visitor: $1.41 to $1.48 (+5.56%). The range ran from -7% to +20%, so this is not yet certain.
- $5 fee, profit per visitor: $0.99 to $1.06 (+7.50%). Fee income added margin.
- $5 fee, conversion rate: 1.42% to 1.45% (+2.37%), and AOV $99.04 to $102.11 (+3.11%). Small gains on both.
- $2 fee: about flat (CR 1.42%, RPV $1.42). $7 fee: lower on conversion (1.32%), RPV ($1.36) and profit ($0.98). A fee that's too high cost sales.
The change
Free shipping replaced by a flat $5 fee (best of $2, $5, $7)
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
Free shipping.
Variant
Three versions charged a flat shipping fee of $2, $5 or $7. The rest of the store stayed the same.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- a small fee may make the product feel worth more than one that ships free.
- the fee adds revenue on every order, which helps profit even if conversion holds flat.
- at $7 the fee crossed a line where it put people off, so the right number is store-specific.
Caveats: The test started Jul 14, 2025 and had no end date in the screenshot, with 3,417 orders across 243,725 visitors split four ways. The $5 confidence ranges include a loss. The post says every fee beat free shipping, but the $7 fee did not.
Who ran it
Dave Diederen (@DaveDiederen) shared this test on X. The numbers and screenshots are theirs.
View the original post on X
How to run this test on your store
- Hypothesis
- If we replace free shipping with a small flat fee, then profit per visitor will rise because the fee adds margin without cutting conversion much.
- Primary metric
- Profit per visitor
- Guardrails
- Conversion rate
- Checkout abandonment at the shipping step
- Average order value
- Who should test it
- Stores offering free shipping on all orders with AOV around $100 and thin margins. It probably won't work if competitors all ship free or your brand promise is built on it. Test several fee levels, since one was too high here.
Questions
Is free shipping always better than charging for shipping?
Not in this test. A flat $5 fee beat free shipping on revenue and profit per visitor, while $7 did worse.
How much should I charge for shipping?
Here $5 worked best for a store with AOV around $100. $2 was flat and $7 lost sales, so test a few levels.
Does a shipping fee lower conversion rate?
At $5 it didn't: conversion went from 1.42% to 1.45%. At $7 it dropped to 1.32%.
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