Delivery at no charge does often matter initially (7)
I believe the answer is:
freedom
'delivery' is the definition.
(deliver can mean to free or rescue)
'no charge does often matter initially' is the wordplay.
'no charge' becomes 'free' ('free' can be a synonym of 'gratis').
'initially' says to take the initial letters.
The initial letters of 'does often matter' is 'dom'.
'free'+'dom'='FREEDOM'
'at' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for freedom that I've seen before include "novel" , "Liberty, civil liberty" , "Power to act without restraint" , "Release" , "Political militant" .)