Ebay no longer permits combined shipping.

[quicksilverdiecast]

Here is a sample of the messages I have been getting from buyers, at least 10 so far this week...

Now since ebay has it so screwed up I have no real answer at how to complete the transaction, I know back before the cart and when problems cropped up sellers could still use PP to salvage a sale.

I also have all the shipping preferences set up correctly.

Anyone have a work around or tool to disable the cart, that way sales will begin to increase, I read thru the forums of everyone who is disappointed in lack of sales...a big part of that is ebay.

(Ebay buyer)

"Hi, I am interested in doing "Buy It Now" (BIN) on 3 of your 1965 El Camino items and I would like to have them shipped in one package to save on shipping cost. How do I go about doing this? How do I avoid paying the upfront shipping cost when I try to do a BIN for each item? Also, doing the "cart" thing doesn't seem to help much in this matter. I'll await your response. Thanks, Greg."

I have gotten messages from buyers saying they have stuff in the cart and need a combine total, yet ebay does not let sellers see what is in the cart! 

[customtoyrevolutiononline]

I didn't know until last month, and I was wondering why all my buyers don't take advantage of combine shipping.  It is when some buyers starting to ask questions!

Spend 1.5 Hrs: I was with a Tech (Dhananjay) and guess what he said, "there has no such bug reported; therefore, no issue"  I am like what?  Shouldn't you report it as a new bug.  His reply, "no, we have no issue, I am sorry I can't help"
I then ask for his supervisor (Jennie), she said that she will report this issue, but I won't get an update.   My eyes rolled!
I thought about removing immediate payment and allow buyers to request combine invoice.  But that's a lot of work!

P.S.  I created a new personal account for testing, and discovered the postage eBay charges varies with the same weight (4oz or 8oz for my listings), even after I did an edit!  I lost revenue before some of my sale shipping charges was set to the ebay discounted rate + handling fee.

[patso330]

I just had a buyer purchase 3 of my items and eBay charged them shipping for each. I combined them and changed the shipping and refunded the buy the difference. What a hassle! Pat

[collectiblesagain]

@quicksilverdiecast 

I'm having the same issue.  Combined auto-calculated shipping is not working.  The cart is adding each  item's shipping $ amount and NOT combining their weight to give the buyer an accurate and lower shipping. 

Example:

book #1 (1-lb book media)

$3.99

book #2 (1-lb book media)

$3.99

book #3 (1-lb book media)

$3.99

=====

$11.97 total Media Mail shipping charged to the buyer for 3-lb.

I've set my shipping preference to combine the weight of my items but it's not doing that when the buyer goes to cart/checkout.  I do not have "immediate payment" enabled. 

I also, understand that I can't combine the weight of Media Mail with USPS Ground Advantage but that's ok. 

I had a customer paid over $11 shipping for 3 media mail items, when if calculated properly, it would cost half that much.

I can see how sellers could  loose potential sales because of cart abandonment due to excess shipping combined shipping cost.  As a buyer, I wouldn't take the time to request a total from the seller.  I'll just remove additional items from the cart or go elsewhere. The seller wouldn't even notice.

Fixing the combined shipping calculator to combined automatically by weight would help with increasing multiple items purchased together.

*** Refunding the excess shipping is a hassle.  

Hopefully, this will get fixed. 

[quicksilverdiecast]

I have come to the conclusion that ebay is not going to fix the flat tires on the cart....so each customer that send me a message like this I will explain to them this is an ebay problem along with ebay's phone number to have them do the combined shipping.    And you wonder why sales are down......

"Hi, I have (20) of your items in my cart, but I cannot find a way to request a total for combined shipping. Are you able to view my cart and send me an invoice? Or, do you know how to go about that?
Thanks,"

[quicksilverdiecast]

Oh yeah I have over 100 documented cases of this, and as time permits I will post everyone of them!

[fern*wood]

I can't say what the secret sauce is to allow a buyer to request an invoice, but I just received one overnight for three items.

[quicksilverdiecast]

that works fine if you offer free shipping, otherwise your buyer is getting ripped off by paying shipping full tilt on each item....and if they pay it chances are likely they will never be back

[quicksilverdiecast]

yes the phone app was a futile effort tossed against the wall without fully testing it, so they could keep up with competing platforms-----failed and still not fixed, nor the cart.

[quicksilverdiecast]

that is ebays failure at who approved it and dumped it into the system without making sure it fully worked....but

[quicksilverdiecast]

it is the buyers....now here is the best part and think about it for a minute and like Elon says "let that sink in"  follow with me if you will.

1. the buyer comes to your store and finds a number of items he wants, and of course COMMON SENSE dictates that EVERYONE wants combined shipping as shipping costs just keep going up...(I have zero problems with combining customers orders, good service, keeps em coming back, and spreads the word!)

2. he puts everything from 2 - however many items he WANTS into the Edsel. (Now is where it falls aparts)

The seller is NOT notified that a buyer has a cart and is wanting to check out...NOR if you look on your seller hub in the columns there is one line that states in the overview under orders the bottom line says "Orders eligible for combined shipping" Now I sell anywhere from 20-75 items a day and NEVER ONCE has that line indicated any eligible orders, yet everyday there are buyers who do buy more than one items from me and I have to figure a work around to salvage the sale....there is more! Now lets go back to the stage where the buyer has items in his cart and wants WITH MONEY IN HAND to check out....but he cannot! Why? well there is a number of reasons...ponder if you will...In one day I have refunded buyers approx 100.00 (collectively) of the overcharged shipping they paid because they could NOT make the cart work.(Guess who charges and collects fees on that overage)

A the cart will not let him send a request 1st until he commits and pays for the items(not combined)

B there is NO "request a new total" button at all.(Mostly phone apps)

C The button is there but does not work.

D. I also read somewhere that if and item is a best offer item or on sale or any number of other **bleep** reasons cannot be combined....(so if this is actually true) what difference does it make regardless of how it is sold(except immediate payment) does it matter and why it cannot be combined(took a real rocket scientist to screw that one up)!  Moving on same stage with buyer(who by now is getting frustrated and may call ebay and what does ebay tell him "It is the sellers fault"(that may be true in some cases but when you have had NUMEROUS high level techs go over your store settings and tell you everything is ok!  Moving on still and this one is for all of you who think your cart works just fine! I have to ask 1st have you been noticing sales sliding even before economy got sketchy? Here is something for all of you to think about...1 since ebay NEVER lets you the seller know a buyer has a cart and wants to check out, that unless the buyer actually sends you a message inquiring about how to check out.....guess what? YOU WILL NEVER KNOW ABOUT THE ONES WHO DID NOT ASK YOU AND SIMPLY WENT SOMEWHERE ELSE! You just lost a guaranteed sale and did not even know it! .....here is a message from one of my potential buyers today 

"Oh wow... makes sense. No wonder people are going to new places like whatnot, etsy, etc. This is disappointing. I will remove the three items from the cart. I will not pay triple shipping from one seller. I will contact eBay.
THanks for the heads up"

[quicksilverdiecast]

it is the buyers....now here is the best part and think about it for a minute and like Elon says "let that sink in"  follow with me if you will.

1. the buyer comes to your store and finds a number of items he wants, and of course COMMON SENSE dictates that EVERYONE wants combined shipping as shipping costs just keep going up...(I have zero problems with combining customers orders, good service, keeps em coming back, and spreads the word!)

2. he puts everything from 2 - however many items he WANTS into the Edsel. (Now is where it falls aparts)

The seller is NOT notified that a buyer has a cart and is wanting to check out...NOR if you look on your seller hub in the columns there is one line that states in the overview under orders the bottom line says "Orders eligible for combined shipping" Now I sell anywhere from 20-75 items a day and NEVER ONCE has that line indicated any eligible orders, yet everyday there are buyers who do buy more than one items from me and I have to figure a work around to salvage the sale....there is more! Now lets go back to the stage where the buyer has items in his cart and wants WITH MONEY IN HAND to check out....but he cannot! Why? well there is a number of reasons...ponder if you will...In one day I have refunded buyers approx 100.00 (collectively) of the overcharged shipping they paid because they could NOT make the cart work.(Guess who charges and collects fees on that overage)

A the cart will not let him send a request 1st until he commits and pays for the items(not combined)

B there is NO "request a new total" button at all.(Mostly phone apps)

C The button is there but does not work.

D. I also read somewhere that if and item is a best offer item or on sale or any number of other **bleep** reasons cannot be combined....(so if this is actually true) what difference does it make regardless of how it is sold(except immediate payment) does it matter and why it cannot be combined(took a real rocket scientist to screw that one up)!  Moving on same stage with buyer(who by now is getting frustrated and may call ebay and what does ebay tell him "It is the sellers fault"(that may be true in some cases but when you have had NUMEROUS high level techs go over your store settings and tell you everything is ok!  Moving on still and this one is for all of you who think your cart works just fine! I have to ask 1st have you been noticing sales sliding even before economy got sketchy? Here is something for all of you to think about...1 since ebay NEVER lets you the seller know a buyer has a cart and wants to check out, that unless the buyer actually sends you a message inquiring about how to check out.....guess what? YOU WILL NEVER KNOW ABOUT THE ONES WHO DID NOT ASK YOU AND SIMPLY WENT SOMEWHERE ELSE! You just lost a guaranteed sale and did not even know it! 

[quicksilverdiecast]

Yep there sure is and have you ever seen it indicate anything?

[quicksilverdiecast]

11/15 buyer message:

"WOW makes sense. No wonder people are going to new places like whatnot, etsy, etc. This is disappointing. I will remove the three items from the cart. I will not pay triple shipping from one seller. I will contact eBay."

[mudshark61369]

@quicksilverdiecast,

I see you have placed instructions for requesting a comb8ned shipping total on your listings, but it still says add items to the cart.  That may work with people using a computer to buy but I guess it is still not working with the App.  Since you do not have Immediate payment required set up, You could try telling buyers to click on the commit to buy button so that items go into their purchase history in one list which still has a request total from seller button. 

Since I do not use the App I do not know if once items are added to the cart, they would also show up if people logged in the classic way to access the cart.  If the items do, they may be able to request a total from there.  Maybe if you get a friend to try buying a couple of items those ways and once you know for sure what will happen, you tell them to request cancellation then cancel and relist the items.

Since you list items as auctions, and with Best Offer, have you checked your Buyer requirement page lately? (link below)  eBay added Buyer Payment requirements which forces buyer to add a payment option then charges them automatically if they win or have an offer accepted, negating the ability to even request combine shipping and opted sellers into it without really announcing it until after it was done.

https://www.ebay.com/bmgt/buyerrequirements

More an more it seem like ebay is nickle and diming buyers and sellers in their quest to collect more money without having to call them fees, and of course the blame falls on sellers.

[kh-vince]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.