7 Free Shipping Deals for Last-Minute Online Shoppers
Whether you're on a budget this holiday season or not, there's at least one offer no shopper can turn down: free shipping.
Going to brick-and-mortar retailers used to mean saving on shipping
costs. Now, many online retailers are making it more cost effective to
simply shop from your couch. (Consider money saved on gas and time
waiting in long lines.)
We've all struggled through the last-minute mall excursion before.
You spend more time looking for a parking space than you do shopping,
and the store almost always has the perfect thing — at a different
location "nearby." It's not like shopping in person helps with getting
the right size, either. Unless of course, you're buying for yourself, in
which case you should remember they call it the season of
giving for a reason.
So before you spend your weekend trudging through the mall, consider
these free shipping options for the U.S. and Canada this holiday season.
They could save your sanity as much as your pocketbook.
Free Shipping Day: Dec. 18
In its sixth year of existence,
Free Shipping Day
marks a 24-hour stretch in which thousands of online retailers offer
free shipping in the U.S. to customers with guaranteed delivery by
Christmas Eve. Some of the offers and merchants won't be revealed on the
Free Shipping Day website until 12:01 a.m. ET on Dec. 18, but 448
merchants have already signed up to participate, including REI, Sports
Authority, and Neiman Marcus.
Free Shipping Day was the brainchild of Luke Knowles, the co-founder
of FreeShipping.org. The day is something of a win-win, benefiting
consumers but also driving sales and traffic to participating retailers.
According to the website, Free Shipping Day helped produce more than $1
billion in online sales in 2011.
The site also includes
Free Shipping Day in Canada, which takes place this year on Dec. 12 for those consumers looking to send gifts within the country.
Nordstrom
The upscale retail chain
offers free standard shipping
on all its orders in the United States, and not just around the
holidays. Year-round free shipping delivers orders within three to six
business days after processing. Known for having a stellar return policy
—
legend has it
a customer in Alaska once returned a set of car tires to Nordstrom even
though the retailer doesn't sell tires — Nordstrom allows users to ship
returns back to the company free of charge. Buying an expensive piece
of jewelry? Watch and jewelry orders over $1,500 are expedited in one or
two days and insured at no additional cost.
The only bummer — free shipping doesn't apply to items purchased at Nordstrom Rack, the retailer's off-price chain.
Amazon
If you have an Amazon order totaling $35 or more,
you may qualify for free shipping
in the United States. Not all items on Amazon are included, and we've
reached out to Amazon to see if there's a system for why some items are
eligible for free shipping while others are not. Those items that are
eligible — it will be clear at checkout whether or not you are receiving
the deal — ship five to eight business days after the order is
processed.
If this number seems higher than you remember, you're onto something.
Amazon offered free shipping on orders of $25 or more for nearly a
decade
before bumping it up to $35 in October.
Best Buy and Target
Like Amazon, you have to spend money to save money with these retailers.
Best Buy has the best offer of the bunch, offering free, four to eight business day shipping year-round on
orders of $25 or more.
That's a pretty easy threshold to reach at Best Buy. A movie on Blu-ray
(or two) should bump your shopping total over the necessary $25 limit.
Target offers free shipping on orders of $50 or more. If you
use your Red Card at Target — also known as your Target credit or debit card — your shipping is free on all purchases.
The free shipping includes pre-orders on items like
Xbox One games, which will automatically put you over the $50 total.
L.L. Bean
L.L. Bean, which sells clothing and outdoor gear, offers free
shipping all the time, with no minimum on how much your purchase costs.
The company even ships to Canada for free, a rarity for any type of
international shipping. Items shipped to the lower 48 take two to five
business days,
according to the website.
Zappos
Zappos, the e-commerce shoe retailer, also
offers free shipping
on all orders shipped to the United States, regardless of total cost.
Delivery takes four to five business days, and if you don't like your
item, the company also offers free shipping on returns.
Barnes and Noble
For those who still love to curl up with a good book that isn't on a tablet, Barnes and Noble offers
free shipping on orders of $25 or more anywhere in the United States. Of course, you can still get your Nook, the e-reader developed by Barnes and Noble, shipped for free, too. Shipping takes two to six business days.
