Why is delivery more than the goods?
A buyer adds items from three suppliers to their basket: a few boxes of screws, a pallet of plasterboard and some sealant. At checkout, delivery comes to more than they expected. One supplier charges a pallet rate. Another charges a small-order fee below its minimum. The third charges a remote area surcharge because the site is on an island. The basket shows one delivery total with no explanation. The buyer abandons it and phones a local merchant.
Your support team gets the same question every day: why is delivery so much?
Why delivery pricing is so messy on a marketplace
Every supplier ships from its own location, with its own carriers and rules. Trade goods are awkward: heavy, long, fragile, palletised, sometimes hazardous. Rules include free delivery thresholds, minimum order charges, pallet rates by zone, surcharges for tail lifts, timed deliveries or remote postcodes. Many platforms offer simple shipping rules designed for parcels, which cannot represent any of this, so suppliers set crude flat rates that overcharge some buyers and undercharge others.
| Delivery factor | Typical supplier rule |
|---|---|
| Order value | Free above a threshold, fee below a minimum |
| Pallets and heavy items | Pallet rate by zone |
| Remote or offshore postcodes | Surcharge or collection only |
| Site requirements | Tail lift, timed or site contact charges |
| Mixed baskets | Each supplier charges separately |
What confusing delivery costs
Abandoned baskets, first. Buyers who do not understand the delivery total leave. Suppliers lose money on flat rates that do not cover pallet deliveries to remote sites, and then ask to increase them for everyone. Support time goes on explaining charges. Disputes follow when a buyer is charged a surcharge they did not see coming.
Trade buyers compare against their local merchant, who often delivers on their own vans. Marketplace delivery charges that look arbitrary make that comparison harder to win.
The data problem underneath is that nobody can see it. Without delivery charges broken down by supplier and reason, you cannot tell whether baskets are abandoned because of one supplier's pallet rate or because of remote surcharges in general.
The delivery pricing we build
- Supplier delivery rules: each supplier's rules, including thresholds, minimums, pallet rates by zone, postcode surcharges and service options, are captured in a structured form, from their existing rate cards.
- Product data: weight, dimensions and whether items ship as parcels or pallets are recorded per product, with gaps flagged to suppliers.
- Basket calculation: delivery is calculated per supplier from their rules and the buyer's site address, including surcharges, and shown as separate lines with a short reason for each.
- Nudges: where adding a small amount would reach a supplier's free delivery threshold, or where another supplier offers the same item with cheaper delivery, the buyer is told.
- Site options: buyers can choose services like a tail lift or timed delivery where suppliers offer them, with the charge shown before checkout.
- Carrier rates: where suppliers use carrier accounts with APIs, live rates can replace static rate cards for the items they cover.
How delivery is priced is each supplier's decision within your marketplace rules. The system makes their rules accurate and visible.
Checkout with delivery that makes sense
Buyers see delivery per supplier, with reasons, before they commit. Suppliers charge what their rules say, so remote pallet deliveries stop losing money and nearby parcel orders stop overpaying. Support questions about delivery drop to the unusual cases, and abandoned baskets caused by surprise charges become visible in the data.
Are delivery charges losing you baskets?
- Buyers ask why delivery costs so much.
- Suppliers use flat rates that do not fit pallets or remote sites.
- Delivery charges are shown as one unexplained total.
- Product weights and dimensions are missing.
- Buyers abandon baskets at the delivery step.