I buy on reverb quite a bit and with expensive music grear I’m suspicious of free shipping. I’d much rather pay for shipping to ensure they actually package and ship it with care.
With free shipping, if it’s packed like shit I can’t really complain, if I spend $30, on shipping and it’s packed like shit, I’m gonna question it
As an Australian, I was trying to buy a record (only available from the US, from a small independent artist). The record was about $60AUD, very reasonable. The shipping was $70AUD. I didn’t buy it.
Or another small artist manufactured a super cool colour splitting lamp. Lamp was about $140, quite reasonable. Shipping was about $110. I didn’t buy it.
Supporting any small american artist is just not justifiable.