Buyers are starting to get the message and getting aggravated

[quicksilverdiecast]

Buyers message

"Thank You for letting me know this information and adjusting the shipping. Yes I did try and click on the link to request a total for combined shipping and it would not let me. EBay has a real situation here that they need to address as this is not the first time I have run into this problem. Fortunately, honest sellers like yourself have combined the shipping and refunded shipping overcharges. Hopefully enough complaints will help resolve the problem"

[heckofagame]

You could just bypass the issue and send an invoice to the buyers when you notice that they have multiple items. 

[quicksilverdiecast]

That does not work...1 ebay does not advise sellers a buyer has a cart, nor can you see what is in your buyers cart in your store..2. Ebay does not provide a way to send a buyer an invoice...so if a seller is unaware of the buyer and his items and if the buyer cannot make the "request a new total" button(if they even have one) how does a seller send and invoice(that ebay won't let you do) to a buyer whom the seller does not know? THE only way a seller knows is if the buyer actually messages the seller to ask what is going on...

a Basic analogy is: You go to the grocery store grab the shopping cart go thru the store picking out what you want and head to the check out lane unload the groceries on the conveyor and suddenly ebay jumps in the middle and says to the cashier sorry we cannot let you see the item or give a total...you have to buy each item separate..you being the shopper get disgusted and simply push the cart out into the foyer and walk out of the store..never to come back, nor get good word of mouth...

[mr_lincoln]

Hi @quicksilverdiecast 

-If Immediate payment is required Buyers can purchase multiple items but cannot requested an update invoice for those multiple items

-I occasionally get the request for an updated invoice from buyers winning multiple auctions but others (for some reason) just pay outright and I have to refund the shipping overage.  This past weekend I had a buyer win 4 auctions and paid immediately.  I would have preferred sending them an updated invoice but wound up refunding over $ 20 after combining the items.  

-On a side note, the partial refund process was a one page process prior to a recent eBay change (last month or early this month) ... the new and improved "enhancement" for processing partial refunds makes the process like 4 pages, more clicks, etc.  

[12345jamesstamps]

The only one who might profit...well...there is that .30 or .40 fee for every time a buyer pays.

And if the seller refunds a partial shipping discount....that .30 or .40 fee is still a profit for someone.

I seriously doubt anything will change.

I have a "require immediate payment when buyer uses Buy it Now"...next to my drafts...and it is not turned on...but buyers still cannot send me to get a total for shipping.

I got around this offering free domestic shipping...but I charge International Shipping and I might do the free International shipping to get around it also...and I might save a little of those .30 and .40 fees per transactions.

[ittybitnot]

That does not work..

@quicksilverdiecast 

This has been an ongoing issue since eBay removed the option to "commit to buy and continue shopping with this seller" in favor of the cart system.  There is a list of reasons why the "request total" (if available at all) does not work.  It seems to be functioning on occasion for computer users for totals of auction wins, but again not always.  eBay has always proclaimed all is "working as intended" and sellers continue to think it is the fault of the buyer and buyers are just too stupid to make it work. 

First, mobile users have no option to "request a total or revised invoice" at all.  Secondly, there is a list of things that will cause an error message to be thrown when a computer user tries to request a total.  As far as I can tell, it is not posted anyplace on an eBay policy page.  As you know, there is the "one or more items on sale" contributing to this, but it still allows a combined invoice to be sent for multiple accepted offers (sometimes when the planets are aligned LOL).   It is very likely if there is an "auction win" involved at the same time, it probably will malfunction as far as requesting, but it may still work for a seller to send one from the hub.  

Not too long ago, there was a post by a board blue (I think it was elizabeth@ebay ) who provided a list, and hopefully the tag will alert her that we could really use that information again.  

From what I remember things that cause an error message to be thrown include when there actually is a 'request total" button: 

Seller has the "allow buyers to request invoice/total" turned off or not selected in preferences
One (or more) of the items is IPR

One is already on sale/discounted/marked down

One is already paid for

One is of a different shipping class

One is free shipping

Fixed price combined with auction wins

One item in cart is from a different seller

There are probably more, and some in the list above may not be accurate, but I forget.  If elizabeth@ebay  could refresh our memories, it would really help. 

Users want to be able to put all the stuff in one box, get paid or pay, and have shipping commence. It is not that hard of a concept.  There is no logical reason why you can't ship my socks (that were on sale at half price) with the three sweaters, a book I want to buy from you.   "Logical thinking" is not an honorable attribute sometimes.  

[chapeau-noir]

---

@12345jamesstamps wrote:

The only one who might profit...well...there is that .30 or .40 fee for every time a buyer pays.

And if the seller refunds a partial shipping discount....that .30 or .40 fee is still a profit for someone.

I seriously doubt anything will change.

I have a "require immediate payment when buyer uses Buy it Now"...next to my drafts...and it is not turned on...but buyers still cannot send me to get a total for shipping.

I got around this offering free domestic shipping...but I charge International Shipping and I might do the free International shipping to get around it also...and I might save a little of those .30 and .40 fees per transactions.

---

That's going to cost considerably more than the 30 or 40 cent fee, though.

I use IPR and beg my customers to use the shopping cart then refund shipping overage - they're good about it but, guess what - the shopping cart does not always work.

[mr_lincoln]

@ittybitnot 

wrote:  "...  eBay has always proclaimed all is "working as intended" ..."

The lack of cart order processing flexibility has been a long standing issue as you mentioned and as others (including myself) have posted about for a very long time.  It works as intended or at least as well as they have been able to program it and as such Sellers and Buyers are stuck with its current functionality ... if I shop on say a Walmart or Target online venue ALL products come from the same "Seller" ... I can't add Walmart items to my Target cart and with individual Sellers on eBay a similar issue forces the cart to lose flexibility.  The shop more "with this Seller" would be a solution for each Seller but maybe not for Buyers.  But as you described the process has changed from that.  

[pjcdn2005]

You post regularly about this sane thing so you obviously have a lot  of multiple sales.  It is in your best interest to set up combined shipping rules for your buyers so that they are not aggravated or walking away.  I realize that for various reasons combined shipping rules are not always 100% accurate but if set up with some thought, they should work out most of the time.  Or, shipping promotions may work better for you.

Setting up combined shipping may also result in more international buyers.  The EIS often does not give any combined shipping discounts on the international part of the shipping unless there are domestic combined shipping rules set up.  So instead of paying $31 for 2 diecast to to Canada,  a buyer may end up paying a lot less.   Setting up combined shipping costs doesn’t guarantee cheaper EIS rates but they do increase the chance of getting them since you are not able to combine them otherwise. 

eBay wants buyers to be able to make a purchase without having to contact a seller and wait for an invoice.  That is  why they have taken away the commit to buy option without having to pay first and that’s probably why the cart has worked  (or not worked) the way that it has for years.  It is extremely unlikely that they will go back to the way things used to be so it is in your best interest to spend the time setting up combined shipping rules rather than waiting for something to change. 

[ittybitnot]

ALL products come from the same "Seller"

@mr_lincoln 

LOL... I understand that.  However, if you go shopping at Target, they don't make you pay separately for items that are "on sale".  Nor do they make you put them in separate carts or bags.   eBay will let you pay for all your items at once from the same seller in your cart,  BUT  you pay the full shipping on each included in that ONE payment unless you can get a revised invoice. After all these years mobile app users can't even ASK.   I can ASK, but then be denied because "this seller does not combine"......DUH...they did last Tuesday, they did last month, and for the last two years......I figured out this error message is often thrown if I ASK too quickly when the auctions won have ended.  

I am thinking if eBay continues with their plan to make ALL seller generated offers IPR, we will again here more about this.  There is no reason (other than eBay wants more bank) for me to accept offers for ten pairs of earrings with shipping of $5.00 each, without the ability to combine the order for one more reasonable shipping price.  $50 for shipping is not reasonable and sort of negates any benefit of accepting offers in the first place.  

/rant over...LOL. 

[pjcdn2005]

The .30 and .40 cent fees are charged for each transaction if the buyer doesn’t use the cart and pays separately each time.  That happens whether or not you have free shipping.  A friend of mine always uses free shipping and they still have a certain percentage of people that don’t use the cart and pay for each transaction separately. 

[wastingtime101]

---

@ittybitnot wrote:

Not too long ago, there was a post by a board blue (I think it was elizabeth@ebay ) who provided a list, and hopefully the tag will alert her that we could really use that information again.  

---

I can help with that @ittybitnot elizabeth@ebay .

This is a screenshot Kyle shared with us here:

I strongly agree with @pjcdn2005 's post above. Quicksilverdiecast has been struggling with this for a while and posting new threads every week about the topic for months on end. eBay's clearly not going to change the request total process, so the best option (in my opinion) is to set up combined shipping rules.

I made the switch to combined shipping rules years ago and, while not perfect, it eliminated a lot of headaches I was dealing with on the manual request total process. It's one of the best business decisions I made that year.

[mr_lincoln]

@ittybitnot 

Another part of the equation is Seller metrics and eBay's desire to rate them (subjective as the Metrics are) against other Sellers in similar categories. That may work for 1000 Sellers ALL selling Fruit-of-the-Loom Men's Large White V-neck T-shirts in a 12 pack but NOT (and never will) for 50 Sellers selling 1955 Lionel Diecast 2-6-4 Steam locomotives ... nope, while the titles and categories may be the same I can assure you the locomotives are not. Handling time and late shipping defects should go out the window when Sellers need to construct a deal with a customer who wants to buy more than one item from them.  

So Sellers don't fit in a nice neat little box (shipping pun intended of course) for comparison.  Sellers should be able to construct their own deals with Buyers and not have to worry about Metrics or Handling time on multiple sales that need to be worked out with their customers.  

On your list of scenarios that you tagged Elizabeth on I had one just this past weekend.  It happened to be a repeat customer.  They won one auction Saturday and paid right away then won 3 more Sunday and requested an updated invoice.  Well, that was only for the 3 items not paid for.  So they paid that invoice Sunday and I was able to combine the 4rht item for shipment after dropping the shipping cost on the 3 item invoice for them to pay.  Now, had they NOT paid the 3 item invoice Sunday until say Tuesday I would have had to ship the one they did pay for Monday or risk a late shipping defect.  This is where Seller metrics get in the way of Sellers trying to do what is right for their customers ... and of course the really embarrassing part is when Sellers have to EXPLAIN to their customers why they have to do things a certain way or eBay will penalize them in some way. 

[ittybitnot]

This is a screenshot Kyle shared with us...

@wastingtime101 

Thanks for that.  I should have copied that when I saw it the first time.  I see that I got the name of the "blue" wrong, that just served to increased my inability to try and find it myself.  As much as it aggravates me because I stink at searching here, I did give it a gallant try!   

Maybe someday eBay will explain to us me why items that are on sale or one with free shipping cannot go into the same box for a reduced shipping charge?  I tried it once when I still sold here....placed the free shipping item in the same box with the others going to the same buyer on the same day...I was prevented from adding the tracking number to that one because it was "already used for another order".    That was fun (not), but my buyer was a long time customer and had no problems.  

[wpt05]

As a buyer, having to pay extra shipping and then hoping the seller will refund the correct amount is extremely frustrating.  It also makes a mess of credit card or bank statements.  It makes me not want to buy from that seller.  

@pjcdn2005 

@wastingtime101 

I think some sellers don't even know where this page is or how to find it.  

Shipping Preferences (ebay.com)

In the past, I referred some sellers to update their combined shipping rules, but they did not.  Most have lost my business as a buyer.  

There are two sellers that I buy from on a regular basis.  Both have fixed priced items and auction items.  When the auctions end, I can pay for all the items right away and all shipping is combined.  If I buy fixed priced items by putting them in my cart, shipping is combined on all of them.  If I buy auction items and fixed price items together, shipping is combined.  

I understand the items that I am buying are different from the items that you are selling, and it may be harder to set up shipping rules that work better with your items, but hopefully you can find a way to make it work better going forward.  

Best of luck with your sales.