How Important is Free Shipping?

With online shopping being what I do the most, I thought I would write about my thoughts on free shipping.  How important is it to you?  Well for me it is the difference in where I am going to buy from and where I am not going to buy from.  Most of the online stores I shop with all have the same outfits & shoes for pretty much the same price, what sets the store apart (for me) is whether or not the stores offers free shipping.  For example, I recently bought these Saltwater Originals Sandals (which, by the way, these are THE BEST sandal, they are almost indestructible and fairly inexpensive),

Several stores have them for pretty much the same price so shipping costs & customer service are the only things that set one store apart from another.  I ended up buying these from Berry Styles (http://www.berrystyles.com/) along with a few other pairs of shoes and was very happy with my purchase, the free shipping and their customer service. 

I also like when there is no minimum purchase price for free shipping.  Sometimes, I just need ONE shirt and I certainly don't want to pay $6.95 to ship ONE tiny little shirt, I would rather pay $6.95 to ship a $150 order than a ONE tiny little shirt.  I bought this Persnickety Clothing Company (http://www.persnicketyclothing.com/) Hannah Top over the weekend from Katiebug's Kids (http://www.katiebugonline.com/) because there was no minimum purchase price to receive free shipping, several stores had it in my size but were charging shipping or I had to buy at least $100 to receive free shipping but I wasn't spending $100, I only wanted to spend $25 for this shirt..

Shop around for free shipping when you can. Several smaller boutiques offer it, you just have to look.