Shipping costs and what a price comparison can honestly tell you

A comparison that ignores shipping is not a comparison. But a comparison that invents shipping is worse, because it looks authoritative while being wrong.

The problem

Shipping depends on where you are, what you are buying, how heavy it is, whether you cross a border, and whether the retailer runs a free-shipping threshold you may or may not hit. Most of that is not in any published product feed. It is calculated at checkout, against your address.

What we do instead

Where a retailer publishes a shipping cost we can rely on, we show it and include it in the total. Where they do not, we show the item price and say shipping unknown — plainly, on the row.

We deliberately do not:

• assume shipping is free because it was not stated;
• apply an average shipping cost as if it were the actual one;
• rank a "$189 + unknown" offer as though it were "$189 delivered".

That means our table sometimes cannot tell you which offer is cheapest delivered. Saying so is the correct answer; a confident wrong answer is not an improvement.

How to compare properly

• Put the item in the basket at the two cheapest stores and read the checkout total. It takes a minute.
• Watch free-shipping thresholds. Adding a small item to clear one can genuinely be cheaper than not.
• For heavy or bulky goods, shipping can exceed the entire store-to-store spread — check it first, not last.
• Cross-border orders may add duties that appear only at delivery.

Why we say this out loud

The whole value of this site is that its numbers mean what they say. The moment we start filling gaps with plausible estimates, you can no longer tell which figures we measured and which we guessed. So we leave the gap visible.

Where shipping actually changes the answer

Shipping does not matter equally everywhere, and knowing when to check saves the effort of always checking.

It rarely changes the ranking on small, light items. Consumables, gaskets, baskets and tools mostly ship for a few pounds or free above a threshold. The item price is usually the whole story.

It frequently changes the ranking on machines and grinders. These are heavy and often bulky, and delivery on them can be a meaningful sum — routinely more than the gap between the two cheapest stores. For anything over about ten kilograms, check delivered price before deciding anything.

It almost always changes the answer across a border. Duty, handling fees and carrier brokerage can add substantially, and they usually appear after the order, not during it.

Free-shipping thresholds are worth arithmetic

A store with a threshold you nearly reach is a different proposition from its listed price. Adding a bag of coffee or a pack of filters to cross the line is frequently cheaper than paying delivery — and you end up with something you would have bought anyway.

The inverse trap: a threshold you cannot reach makes an apparently cheap store the expensive one. The listed price is the same either way; the total is not.

Returns are part of the price too

For a heavy item, ask who pays return shipping before you order, not after. A store with a slightly higher price and free returns can be the cheaper outcome on any order you are not certain about — and espresso machines are frequently an order people are not certain about.

The short version

Compare item prices to build a shortlist. Compare delivered totals to make the decision. Our tables tell you the first honestly and tell you plainly when they cannot tell you the second.

Read the rest of our methodology, or see what a price comparison should check before you pay.