Combining items for shipping

[myboardid]

OK, this is going to sound really stupid from a seller who has been here for many years, but please understand that I have used 3rd party services, most lately Six-Bit, for at least the last 14 years and have not had to work directly through eBay in that time. 

Long story short, my computer is damaged, the one with the Six-Bit program on it, and it is now being repaired.  In the meantime I am trying to operate my eBay sales without it.  I went to ship two items to the same buyer today and could not for the life of me figure out how to combine them on eBay so I could print one label.  I know, a really basic question, but now I have an item that says it isn't shipped when it is, and I can't add the tracking number to it. 

I don't want this to happen again - how do I combine them? 

[lou2cat]

In the past I have just done a copy and paste of the tracking number into the UNSHIPPED item.  But you say you are not able to do that.  Perhaps Ebay has changed something again.  If you can't get the tracking number in, I would at least mark it as shipped.   I also recall an option in the shipping module to combine purchases into a single shipment; but that may be gone too.  Since being put into MP, I have noticed that things don't always work the same.  

[itsalright2buythis]

You can print  label for one listing, cut and paste the tracking number on the other listing, check option for item shipped on the second item, it will ask for the tracking number.  One label, two items on same tracking. 

[myboardid]

When I tried to enter the tracking number on the 2nd item, I got a notice that the number had already been used for another item, so I couldn't enter it. And the "combine" option in the shipping section was greyed out, so unavailable.  

[scpete8755]

Are you sure it was the same user ID? Could be the same name and address but using a guest account, so each purchase would be a different ID?

[myboardid]

Definitely the same user ID. 

[scpete8755]

I wonder if this is a new wrinkle with the Managed Payments way of doing things?

I've always been able to print one label for the combined shipment then add the tracking to the other transactions.

[myboardid]

I'm sure I could print one label if they were combined - I just don't know how to combine them in the first place. 

[jayjaspersgarage]

I just copy paste the tracking number into the info after clicking "Mark as shipped" for each additional item when this happens.  The tricky part is getting the weight correct for all the items if they are smaller before printing the label for the original item.  Be sure to refund the extra postage to the customer if they buy several items and pay double or triple postage.

This is a great example of why I keep my previous albeit slower and much older ebay computer on hand as a back up in case something happens to my primary ebay office set up.  Last year this came in handy when my newer printer stopped working for a while.  All I had to do was go to my old ebay computer and fire it up, cook breakfast, go for a three mile jog and get cleaned up afterward so that the older computer was booted up and ready to use.  I also have an older color laser printer connected with the backup system so it is seamless just like when it was new in 2010. 

Maybe you can use the new QR code system ebay rolled out?   Or go to a neighbor's house and ship it from there?  Plenty of work arounds.

[kako_5344]

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@myboardid wrote:

When I tried to enter the tracking number on the 2nd item, I got a notice that the number had already been used for another item, so I couldn't enter it.

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If it's USPS @myboardid, enter an alias tracking number instead for the 2nd item:

420 + last 5 digits of eBay item number + tracking number

Check the alias tracking number at the USPS.com website to see that it works.

[glyph01]

Or 

420 + 5 digit zip code of shipping address + tracking number