Why do we charge shipping costs?

At Stalen Design, we strive to keep our pricing as clear and fair as possible. This applies not only to our products but also to the shipping thereof.

Sending a package is never truly free. Carriers charge fees for picking up, sorting, and delivering an order. When an online store advertises free shipping, these costs are often incorporated, in whole or in part, into the selling price of the products.

We consciously choose a different approach.

No hidden shipping costs in our product prices

Instead of spreading shipping costs across all our products by default, we keep the price of the product and the costs for shipping as separate as possible.

We believe this is more transparent.

When shipping costs are fully incorporated into every product price, someone who orders multiple products at once pays this surcharge multiple times. After all, one package containing three products does not necessarily cost three times as much to ship.

That is why we work with shipping costs up to a certain order amount. Once the threshold for free shipping is reached, we cover the regular shipping costs ourselves.

This way, customers who combine multiple products in one order automatically benefit from lower shipping costs per product.

Why is there sometimes still a shipping surcharge?

Not every product can be shipped as a standard package. Due to their length or size, some designs are significantly more expensive to transport.

A good example of this is our CORTEN Feeding Pole.

Due to the length of the feeding pole, the shipment falls outside the standard package dimensions of carriers. Extra transport costs are charged for such products. Therefore, a shipping surcharge may apply to these products, even if the total order exceeds the amount for free shipping.

The other products in the order may still qualify for the free shipping policy. The surcharge specifically relates to the non-standard size of the product in question.

Why don't we just incorporate that surcharge into the product price?

That is certainly an option. We could increase the selling price of a feeding pole, for example, and then state that shipping is free.

But in the end, you would still be paying the transport costs.

We prefer to show where the costs come from. Moreover, this way the price of the product itself remains representative of the item you are buying, and any surcharge is only calculated when it is actually necessary.

How we keep shipping fair

Our principles are therefore simple:

• Regular shipping costs are calculated separately up to the free shipping threshold.
• From the specified order amount onwards, we cover the regular shipping costs.
• A shipping surcharge may apply for exceptionally large or long products.
• Any applicable surcharge is clearly indicated with the product in question.

In this way, we try to prevent shipping costs from being invisibly spread across all products. You pay for the product you choose and only for special shipping costs when they are actually applicable.

As clear as that.