Is it worth adding an item to get free delivery?

Only if you wanted the item independently. Adding something unwanted to avoid a fee usually costs more than the fee, which is why thresholds are set above the typical basket.

Why do shops set thresholds instead of charging everyone?

A threshold increases the average order value. It converts a cost into a target, and people work towards targets more readily than they avoid charges.

Do I have to pay return postage in the UK?

It depends on the retailer. Distance selling rules give you a cancellation right for most online orders, but who covers return postage is set by the trader’s policy — check it before ordering.

Free delivery thresholds

You are a few pounds from free delivery. Whether that is worth closing depends on one thing.

Updated 2 September 2026 · 2 min read

It is one of the most effective devices in online retail, and one of the simplest. Set a minimum spend for free delivery, place it a little above the average basket, and tell people how close they are.

It works because it reframes the decision. You stop thinking about whether to spend more and start thinking about how to avoid a charge — and avoiding a charge feels like winning even when it costs you.

The arithmetic

There is only one question: is the thing you are adding worth its price to you?

If yes — you needed it, you would have bought it soon anyway — then closing the gap is straightforwardly good. You get something you wanted and drop the delivery fee.

If no, the sums are unforgiving. Adding an unwanted item to save a delivery charge only pays if the item costs less than the charge, and even then you have swapped a small known cost for clutter. In practice the gap is usually larger than the fee, which is exactly how the threshold is positioned.

The comparison people skip

The choice is presented as: pay delivery, or spend more here. There is a third option the page will not mention — buy it somewhere else entirely.

A rival retailer with a lower price, or a lower threshold, or free delivery outright, can beat both options on the page. The threshold works partly by making the decision feel local to that basket, when it is actually a choice between shops.

When closing the gap is genuinely worth it

You have a running list. Something you were going to order within a few weeks anyway is a free win.
Consumables you always need. Cleaning products, pet food, batteries. Timing shifts, spending does not.
The gap is smaller than the delivery charge. Rare, but it happens, and then almost anything useful works.
Splitting the order costs more. Two deliveries with two charges beats one, occasionally.

When it is not

You are searching the site for something to add. That search is the answer. Nothing you find in it was needed.
The filler is the shop's own suggestion. The "add this to qualify" strip is chosen for margin, not for you.
You are buying a larger size only to qualify. Check the unit price — the bigger version is not automatically better value.
The total is now well past the threshold. The device worked.

A note on returns

Free outbound delivery and free returns are different promises, and the second is worth more on anything you might send back. A retailer with a charge to deliver and free returns can easily cost less overall than one with free delivery and paid returns, particularly for clothing and shoes where returning is normal rather than exceptional.

For UK online orders you generally have a cancellation right under the distance selling rules, but who pays return postage depends on the retailer's policy — so it is worth reading before ordering rather than after.