Dilemma about shipping costs

Hello everyone,

I am having trouble trying to figure out how to hand shipping costs on my website.

I am selling very heavy products and their shipping cost can vary ALOT depending on where it is being shipped.

I am trying to decide do I include free shipping on all my products or charge based on where it is going.

For example(based on one of my products):
Product A cost $1500.00 before shipping.
Shipping cost can vary anywhere from $800-$1500.

If I were to sell the product with free shipping I would go a little above the average shipping cost and sell it for ~$2700.

My question is, would it be better for customers to see just one price for the product, which could potentially hurt my sales for customers that live close by (as they would be paying an unfairly high amount for shipping).

or would it be better to have a shipping calculator. My fear here is someone could see the price of their product double (1500price +1500 shipping) and i feel they would most likely abandon cart. However those that live near by would see a cheaper cost than the $2700.

Thus I am in a dilemma. What would you guys do? Include shipping in the price or charge for it separately?

Thanks in advance

My suggestion is to go and do some market analysis, which I am sure you do, but... see what your successful competitors (if there are any) are doing. For instance how much is the product alone selling for through other people, and how their shipping policy works... you have to beat out all competition... as long as you can offer an equal or better product at a lower cost you will have the advantage as long as all the other aspects of marketing are not being detrimental to sales (although in any situation they can always be further optimized).

I would charge just your price for the product. The shipping is whatever it is. You can't control the shipping costs. I think people know when they are getting screwed on shipping. Just like on ebay when someone includes the shipping which they jack up, you know what they are doing already. I don't personally buy from sellers like that. Good luck.