Is ebay in the business of calculating what fits in flat rate boxes now?

[monty1964]

Sold 5 auctions of dishes. I had asked in the description for any possible buyers to ask for an invoice to calculate combined shipping. They did not do that. Now I have been shorted $37.60 on postage. Three auctions would have been at the $16.10 medium flat rate. Two auctions would have been at the $21.50 large flat rate. This is what happened:          Three auctions were combined on buyer's end - they bought 2 lots of dishes at a $16.10 rate each and one more auction also at the $16.10 rate. Was paid only $32.20 for shipping when it should have been $48.30. They also bought 2 lots of dishes at the $21.50 rate for each lot. I received only $21.50 when it should have been $43.00.  Again, that is a total of $37.60 that I am short on postage.  I received only enough postage for 3 packages rather than 5.  I can combine as planned but I am not sure that I can safely pack everything  for the money I received for shipping.  Why did this happen?? I checked the listings and I don't see anything unusual. TIA

[monty1964]

I did check my settings and I couldn't find anything anywhere that says buy a second one and get free shipping. I do not offer a discount in my account settings. I do say in my descriptions that I will combine on shipping if possible. That is as far as it goes. Nothing should be calculating the shipping the way it is.

[pennpicker]

Problem continues to exist as I added a few of your similar active dish listings to eBay's cart and discovered the same issue.

Go to My eBay>Account>Selling>Shipping preferences and remove any and all discounts until someone more knowledgeable than moi can help you set them up correctly.

[monty1964]

I did check these shipping setting last night. No discounts are offered. Will try ebay chat in just a bit.

[rfmtm]

Assuming you have combined payments enabled:

In your examples, do all auctions specify Flat Rate shipping?

Do you have your combined Flat Rate shipping rule set to "Do Not Offer"?

And no listing has been associated with any other shipping rule?

If all the above is correct, then buyer should be charged the full Flat Rate shipping cost specified for each and every auction made with the single combined payment.

[pennpicker]

Appears they were able to resolve their issue.

[monty1964]

Not resolved. Just busy all morning and  afternoon trying to pack 5 boxes worth of dishes into 3 boxes without taking a beating on shipping costs. Will check out your suggestions this evening when I have more time. Ebay chat tells me it has something to do with business policies.  Didn't even know what business policies is until this AM.  Still looking into that. Funny how I never had a problem before. Nothing different showed up on the screen when doing the original listings. I'll just be listing multiple separate auctions now instead of dealing with the **bleep**. I honestly don't think the ebay chat people know what they are talking about.

[rfmtm]

It would only have something to do with business policies if you have them set up and associated with any of the listings such that it has overridden your basic shipping rules.

[monty1964]

Shipping programs

Status

Global Shipping Program

Not enrolled

Edit 

Shipping settings

Status

 

Use shipping rate tables	Domestic:0 International:0	Edit
Set same business day handling times	2:00 PM Pacific Time(Monday - Friday)	Edit
Allow combined payments and shipping	Combined payments Specified Edit Flat shipping rule Not specified Edit Calculated shipping rule Not specified Edit Promotional shipping rule Not specified Edit
Offer carrier-specific discounts for buyers	Domestic shipping discount0% International shipping discount0%	Edit
Exclude shipping locations	Domestic:3 International:227	Edit

[monty1964]

Does any of this look wrong? Flat shipping rule is do not offer. Combined payments is up to 30 days.

[monty1964]

Thanks for the quick editing to my comment Mr./Ms Moderator!

[rfmtm]

Your screen shot looks ok.  However, are you sure none of your listings use Calculated Shipping.  If so, you need to edit that, because "Not Specified" shown in your screenshot defaults to add weights.  You want to edit that and select "No Discounts".

[monty1964]

The only thing I can figure out is that I offered 3 shipping options - ground, priority, and flat rate box priority.  And when the buyer chose to purchase both lots/amounts offered it failed to calculate correctly. I checked the calculated shipping again, it says no discount. Is it possible when doing the original listing the box to the right of the shipping where it says cost for additional items was not shown if I chose the flat rate box shipping as the first option?? So confused about this. I don't want this to happen again.

[rfmtm]

Make sure all the listings themselves have no other discounts or combined rates showing on them.  Make sure any Flat Rate shipping options show a shipping cost for the first item and the same full cost for additional items.  If so and no discounts are enabled for Calculated of Flat Rate in your shipping preferences, then the shipping amounts for each item sold will simply be totaled as shown in each listing as selected by the buyer.

Note that USPS labels like Retail Ground or Parcel Select, can not be printed from ebay.

Post an Item Number of a listing you think may have a problem.