Many customers wonder why shipping costs in online retail often seem higher than what's stated on the DHL label. Especially with small orders, there's quickly an impression that shops are charging "too much." We want to transparently show how the actual costs are composed – using a real example from our shop.
The order consisted of two items:
- 2× NOMO Christmas Selection Box Total merchandise value: €17.97
- Merchandise value of the two items: €9.98
- Shipping costs: €7.99
- Total order amount: €17.97 (incl. shipping)
This item was therefore ordered twice:
 |
 |
Sounds like a small, straightforward order. But the actual costs are different.
1. Shipping Costs: What DHL Actually Charges Us
For businesses, additional surcharges and VAT apply:
- DHL basic price: €4.19
- Energy surcharge: €0.04
- 19% VAT: €0.80 = €5.03 actual shipping costs
- Before Christmas, a peak surcharge of 50 cents is added. (ignored here)
2. Packaging & Material
- Shipping box: €1.39
- Packing material & tape: €0.50 = €1.89
3. Fulfillment Costs
- Picking & packing: €3.00
4. Payment Fees
- Klarna fees: €2.23 (PayPal would have been cheaper)
- Shopify fees: €0.69
5. Purchase Price of Items
- Total purchase price: €7.47
6. Fixed Costs Allocated Proportionally to Each Order
- Google Ads: approx. €8,000 per month → proportionally: €1.50–€2.00
- Shop costs (Shopify, apps, hosting): approx. €600–€800 → proportionally: €0.30–€0.50
6. Total Order Costs
Let's add everything up:
| Cost Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| DHL incl. VAT | €5.03 |
| Packaging | €1.89 |
| Fulfillment | €3.00 |
| Payment Fees | €2.92 |
| Purchase Price | €7.47 |
| Fixed Costs | €2.15 |
| Total Costs | €22.46 |
However, the selling price including shipping was only:
➡️ €17.97
This means: We made a loss of at least €4.5 on this order alone.
AND MANY MORE COSTS ARE STILL MISSING! Shop maintenance, updates, software in use, product pages, adjustments, etc.
7. And then Customer Service is Added
For this example order (the customer had complained about our shipping costs), we additionally:
- researched all figures
- transparently itemized the costs
- formulated a detailed response
Duration: 30 minutes
Minimum wage incl. ancillary wage costs: €15.88
➡️ approx. €8 additional costs
Actual loss: ➡️ approx. €13 ➡️ realistically closer to €18 (returns, damages, misdeliveries)
Why Large Platforms Can Do It Differently
- extremely high margins
- huge order volumes
- in-house logistics
- subsidization by other business areas
A specialized shop like ours cannot do this. That's why many allergy-friendly shops had to close – FoodOase, nomochoc.de, etc.
Why We Continue Anyway
Our shop only exists because we run it as a passion project. I myself work on it unpaid so that people with allergies can continue to get safe chocolate.
Our Tip: Bulk Orders Are Worth It
- try several varieties together
- make small bulk orders
- save on shipping costs for orders over €20
- get completely free shipping for orders over €99
This way, it pays off for our customers – and we might even break even.
Greetings from the Chocolate Wonderland
Your Kim‑Rudolf Mayer
