Giant Bicycles’ ‘Shipping Fee’

On its website, Giant – the world’s largest bicycle manufacturer – showcases its inventory of road, mountain, gravel and electric bikes. But once you get to checkout, you might find that the initial advertised price has changed gears.

That’s because Giant fails to account for a “shipping fee” in its advertised prices that is automatically added to online orders despite being potentially avoidable. And despite its name, the fee does not cover the full cost of home delivery. To get the bike delivered to your home, there is an additional charge, which is also not disclosed in advertised prices.

For example, Giant advertises on its homepage that its Revolt 2 bike costs $1,500. This same price appears on the gravel bike’s product page and when consumers add the bike to their cart.

However, once consumers get to the final checkout page, the company suddenly adds a $75 charge and calls it a “shipping fee.”

Giant says this shipping fee “reflects costs incurred in transportation, logistics and other associated fees” and is “non-refundable or negotiable.”

However, as Giant further explains on its website, the shipping fee just covers the cost of getting the bike delivered from the warehouse to a local retailer (the fee increases to $95 for e-bikes). If you want to get the bike delivered to your home, there is an additional $50 charge.

Avoiding the shipping fee

On its website, Giant says that the “shipping fee” only applies to bikes that are shipped from its warehouse and not to bikes that come from a local retailer. To check if the bike you want is in local stock – and therefore doesn’t come with the extra $75 or $95 charge – you can click “Show retailers that have this size in store now” on the product page and put in your location. Of note, depending on where you live, there may not be local stores or stores that offer home delivery. (See walkthrough video for how to check for this.)

It appears that Giant used to refer to the shipping fee as a “destination fee” but changed the name following a class-action lawsuit alleging the company failed to include the mandatory fee in advertised prices and snuck it in at the end of the checkout process. The company settled the lawsuit in June.

Giant did not respond to a request for comment.

The bottom line

Consumers should be on the lookout for hidden fees as these surprise charges cost consumers billions of dollars every year. If you’re shopping online, always make sure to double check your order summary for any additional charges before completing your purchase.

Find more of our coverage on junk fees.