Charge Shipping & Handling for Product Giveaways
Many businesses send free products, coupons, or gift cards as a small thank you to their customers.
Offering a free product sample sounds like a straightforward acquisition play — but sending it completely free, with zero friction, can actually work against you. To help reduce the burden of this marketing expense, our giveaway feature now supports (optional) Shipping & Handling fees. Charging a small shipping and handling fee, typically anywhere from $1.99 to $7.99, does several important things at once.
First, it filters out low-intent claimants — someone who won't spend two dollars to try your product for free was never going to become a paying customer anyway.
Second, it dramatically reduces fraudulent or repeat claims from deal-hunters who would otherwise claim multiples with different email addresses, costing you product and fulfillment with zero return.
Third, and perhaps most importantly, it creates a micro-commitment. Behavioral psychology is clear on this: when someone pays even a nominal amount for something, they are significantly more likely to use it, form an opinion on it, and follow through on leaving a review or making a future purchase.
A completely free sample with zero skin in the game is easy to ignore once it arrives. One that cost the customer even a few dollars carries just enough psychological weight to get opened, tried, and remembered. The small fee doesn't undermine the generosity of the offer — it protects the ROI of the entire campaign.
If you'd like to charge your customers a small amount to help process the gift, you may now set this up in just a couple of minutes.
Step 1 - Enable Stripe Connect
Inside GetReviews, visit your account profile from the top-right dropdown. Then select Shipping & Handling on the left side navigation.
Here you'll connect an existing (or new) Stripe.com account, which is a payment platform we use to securely transmit all shipping & handling fees to your bank account.
Click "Connect Stripe Account" to be guided through a quick connection wizard on their website.
During this process you'll be able to set a statement descriptor for your customer's payment records - we suggest "S&H" or your brand name.
Step 2 - Update your Giveaways
Back inside GetReviews, visit a (product, not coupon/eGift) giveaway for which you'd like to charge shipping & handling fees.
Scroll down to the Shipping & Handling section.
Here you can specify an amount, say 2.99, and a currency. We currently support USD, CAD, AUD, and EUR.
Any amount is allowed, and 100% of all revenue will be sent directly to your bank account specified in Step 1 above.
Step 3 - You're Done!
Going forward, customers who fill out your GetReviews survey connected to this giveaway will be charged a fee to process their gift.
This heading text ("Shipping & Handling Fee: { { amount } }") is customizable via the Survey > Edit > Additional Settings > Survey Strings section.
If at any point you'd like to update or remove the shipping & handling fees for an item, simply change the amount to "0" inside the Giveaway edit form.
Other Resources
Here are some other resources to help you in setting up your GetReviews account and surveys:
What is GetReviews.ai?
GetReviews.ai is a tool designed for e-commerce sellers on Amazon, Walmart, and more to increase post-purchase customer engagement platform through QR codes, and survey flows and help generate more authentic, compliant product reviews and build stronger relationships with their customers after every sale.
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