It's an interesting discussion. I don't think that this - what amounts to a subscription - fee is all that expensive (approx. the same cost as IceTV or less over 36 months), but of course it adds to the shipping cost overhead. For some it might not be ultimately worthwhile if sales are very low per month, but there are non zencart alternatives where the shipping costs can be manually added. I did this for years. I'm thinking low sale merchants could also work out some kind of range of shipping item buttons or something if they can't live with the static post charges.

But has anyone else noticed that sales have slipped since the latest round of Australia Post increases hit?

It's getting to the point where customers look at the cost price of the item and see the shipping cost ever creeping towards it (I haven't had the courage to increase the purchase price in ten years), and I guess it depends on the kind of customer you attract, but mine have little money (students). So in my case they just fileshare instead of buying the books...but that's another story.

What I am getting at is trying to keep the shipping costs artificially down in order to maintain/increase sales.

But the ozpost shipping costs are naturally *exactly* what the shippers charge.

I am thinking that it might be better for me to absorb some of the increases.

So I wonder in the distant future if Rod could consider a way to tinker percentage-wise with the shipping estimates displayed (yeah, I know I could give discount coupons, but that's messy).

Something like, a choice of percentage to apply between the estimate given by the source and the amount displayed, and shown to the nearest 50c.

I am sure Rod you have enough on your plate at the moment, but somewhere down the track?

Incidentally, those Fastway Courier charges always look a bit on the low side to me (obviously, that's not an issue with me), so I'm wondering exactly where they come from.