Free Shipping

Free shipping is one of the biggest shopping trends to emerge in recent years. Nearly 50 percent of online sales for 2010 had a free shipping offer, up 10% from 2008. Things look even better for 2011, as more merchants buy into these popular promotions. Not all deals are the same, however. We take a look at the seven most popular forms of free shipping deals.

As one evil villian on Batman used to say: "Riddle me this." Apparently Sierra Trading Post wants to riddle us all to provide lucky winners with free shipping on their order. If you answer the riddle correctly, delivery is free. Answer it wrong and you pay. You'll hear back from Sierra Trading Post within 24 hours.

You might have noticed textbook prices have increased at four times the rate of inflation since 1994 and they continue to climb. An average college student now spends roughly $900 a year on books some will barely crack -- or approximately 20 percent of tuition at an average university.

With the big news last week that L.L. Bean was joining an exclusive list of retailers offering free shipping on all orders every day, we thought it only appropriate to bring you our list of the top 20 merchants offering this great deal on a regular basis.

Some merchants offer free international shipping in as little as three days, while others give shoppers free overnight shipping or free return shipping. Here's our "cream-of-the crop" free shipping offers.

1. L.L. Bean
The outdoor clothing and equipment outfitter is the most recent retailer to join the ranks of the merchants featured below.

Offer: Free shipping and returns on all orders to the U.S. and Canada.
Delivery: Orders should arrive within two-to-five business days of purchase.

L.L. Bean announced today it will offer "forever free shipping" to U.S. and Canadian customers. You don't have to make a minimum purchase and there's no expiration date to the deal.

Walmart joined the ship-to-store revolution, which offers free shipping on products delivered to a local store. They're now offering a "Pick Up Today" option, which lets you order an item online and pick it up that same day. The chain expects to offer the service at all Walmart stores by June.

FreeShipping.org proudly announces we now have more than 4,000 merchants offering free shipping deals to shoppers. That's a long way from the 500 retailers with which we started in 2007.

Etsy.com, that haven for homemade products, is now offering free shipping coupons for all or specific sellers products. The cyber-boutique is allowing shop owners the choice whether to offer the deal or not. The program started last week and will be extended to all participants by the end of this week.

Macy's has jumped on the free shipping bandwagon with a new delivery policy for its online stores. You'll now receive free shipping on almost any purchase over $99 and pay just a flat $8 fee for those $98 and under.

The best shopping day of the year is here. Today at midnight kicked off Free Shipping Day, which runs until 11:59 p.m. EST. The one-day event allows consumers to order online from more than 1,700 merchants and receive their purchases by Christmas Eve.