Editor's Note: "Notable Views” is a series where we ask leading experts to address critical, ecommerce-related topics. For this installment, we corresponded with John Lindberg, president of eFulfillment Service, a Michigan-based ecommerce fulfillment company. He is also a Practical eCommerce contributor, addressing shipping and fulfillment matters.

When comparing shipping rates from FedEx and UPS, don’t forget to include fees and surcharges. Each shipper has an extensive list of additional costs. So rather than just comparing ‘standard rates,’ determine your shipping needs and then calculate the fees.

Here is a list of 2012 fees and surcharges from FedEx and UPS.

Drop shipping is an order fulfillment strategy where the retailer does not keep products in inventory, but relies on wholesalers or manufacturers to actually ship orders to customers.

Shipping costs are an ongoing challenge for ecommerce merchants, who compete head-to-head over free shipping and seek to avoid shopping cart abandonment. Given this competitive environment, knowing which carrier is best can be a huge advantage.

In March, L.L.

Accounting, purchasing, marketing, and operations are all areas that online and multi-channel merchants must manage.

Most customers can deal with miniscule shipping mistakes. The majority are forgiving when damaged shipments are quickly addressed or replaced, and most will even return shop if their issues are fixed expeditiously.

But what if the order is never fulfilled due to lack of inventory?

Last month HP discontinued the TouchPad — the company’s tablet that runs on the webOS operating system.

The U.S. Postal Service has redesigned USPS.com to make it faster and easier to do business. The site is organized into five sections: Ship a Package, Send Mail, Manage Your Mail, Shop, and Business Solutions. Each section is organized by what you want to do and features a Quick Tools menu.

Here is a list of services on the newly redesigned USPS.com.

Online retailers purchase and manage inventory. The prices they pay for the inventory, the quantities they carry, and the inventory commitments they make can drastically affect their profits.

We recently asked three seasoned ecommerce merchants for money saving inventory tips.

The United States Postal Service offers a number of flat rate boxes that may help online stores reduce shipping costs while improving shoppers' buying experience.

Shipping can be a significant challenge for online retailers. There are packaging materials to purchase, and carriers' fees and fuel surcharges to contend with.

Merchants know that the effort it takes to fulfill and ship out orders can be very time consuming. Oftentimes, because of this, cost is the last thing to be taken into consideration.

For many merchants, third-party order management software helps expedite the shipping process. Others rely on fulfillment companies to do it for them.

Editor's Note: Chad Weinman is owner of Cat5 Commerce, a seasoned ecommerce firm in St. Louis, Mo. that operates HikingBoots.com, TacticalGear.com, and MilitaryBoots.com.

He wrote us recently, stating, "I was writing a memo to my vendor relations manager that illustrated some techniques on how to approach suppliers that are less than enthusiastic about opening pure-play online retailers.

Many ecommerce merchants are attracted to selling products to consumers in other countries. But the complexities of international sales can include tariffs, customs and export laws. For United States-based merchants, the U.S. Department of Commerce can help. It has just published a free PDF guide called Preparing Your Business for Global Ecommerce to help merchants with export sales.

Shipping, tracking, and calculating time and cost of shipments are at the heart of ecommerce businesses. Merchants are usually tied to a desktop to make all these choices for shipping their inventory.

Many ecommerce merchants sell products from large manufacturers and suppliers. Increasingly, those manufacturers and suppliers also sell — on a retail basis — the same products. Shopatron is a company in San Luis Obispo, Calif. that refers sales from manufacturers' ecommerce sites to retailers, to fulfill the orders to customers and to profit from the sale.

Free shipping is often touted as a surefire way to get more sales, but rolling shipping costs into the product price can also take a big bite out of a profit margin. During the rush of holiday sales, we wondered how many of our readers offer free shipping and if you think it is a worthwhile ecommerce strategy.

UPS, FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service all do a good job of getting orders to your customers, but there are some simple things you can do to lower the costs involved.

Understand How Delivery Costs Are Calculated

When you start shipping in volume it is vital to understand how each carrier bills for its services, including all the potential surcharges that may come into play.

Free shipping can lead to increased conversions, and there is no doubt that consumers seek out free and discounted shipping offers. However, free shipping offers can quickly eat into profits, making it critical for merchants to keep an eye on the bottom line.

The holiday season has us wondering how many of our readers offer free shipping and how effective it may be in increasing profits.

Autumn provides a not-so-subtle reminder that the holiday season is in swing. I recently moderated "Manage Inventory and Drop Shipping for the Holiday Rush," a Practical eCommerce webinar, on this very subject.

Setting your shipping and handling fees too high or too low can wreck your ecommerce business model. If you charge too much, your cart abandonment rate can skyrocket. If you charge too little, your profit margins can quickly disappear.

For most online merchants, cost of goods sold and operating costs are fairly easy to capture.

Holiday sales are vital for most ecommerce merchants. But the selling process can be a management headache when a merchant is juggling many different suppliers, sales channels, and stocking requirements.

Online merchants are often caught between the increasing demand for free delivery and rising shipping and fulfillment costs. Thankfully, there are some simple ways to reduce the cost of shipping and order fulfillment. Here are ten of them.

1. Rate Shop

Rate shop your parcels among all available carriers and delivery methods.

Shipping supplies, such as corrugated cartons and bubble wrap, are the third highest overhead cost (after labor and facilities expense) in most order fulfillment operations. No matter if you outsource your order fulfillment or do it in-house, keeping shipping supplies affordable is a top priority for those who ship in volume.