Barnes&Noble.com starts free shipping

New York-based Barnes&Noble.com said the free-shipping promotion will include items from every product category on its site and will be sent to any location in the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii. The promotion extends to books, CDs, videos, magazines and electronic books.

The freebie promo by Barnes&Noble.com comes after Amazon.com began offering a similar no-cost shipping service to its customers. Seattle-based Amazon is picking up the shipping tab for customers who buy two or more books, CDs or videos from its site.

But Amazon raised prices on some of its books, videos and CDs. The company at the time declined to say how many products were affected, but did say that the best-selling books, videos and CDs were unaffected.

Barnes&Noble.com said prices for its products remain unchanged.

Barnes&Noble.com said the new promotion serves all orders shipped via standard ground transportation. Domestic standard ground rates for shipment of single items have been reduced to $3.48 for one book or video, and $1.98 for one CD, tape or DVD.

The company said the promotion will be made available to all corporate customers as well through Barnes&Noble.com subsidiary Fatbrain, another online bookseller.