ebay CART and combined shipping

[gsn13579]

I am so tired of the CART working SOME TIMES, and NOT working other times to combine shipping...

I had to give 2 partial REFUNDS yesterday on shipping because of the CART!

Ebay needs to quit saying the CART works fine,and FIX the dang thing!

[quicksilverdiecast]

I guess the 1st point would be this

I fail to see what the point of having a cart where buyer enter all the number of item they want to buy from a seller, and yet the seller has no way of seeing or knowing what the buyer wants...this kind of defeat the entire point of having a cart, when a buyer does enter the items into the cart, it is common sense that the buyer would like to combine all these items(from an each separate seller basis)into 1 parcel where possible to save money by reducing shipping and related costs! Pretty much a no brainer, yet ebay fails! Today Tried to purchase 3 small items from one seller, put em in the cart, and was BLOCKED by ebay from using the "request a total from seller" button! This is rediculous! #1 who knows best how to combine ones products? The seller or ebay?...my vote goes to the seller! Being a seller for more years that I care to admit I cannot even begin to tell you how many times customers ask and want combine shipping, as ebay just screws it up and make the customer mad and that results in lost sales and or neg feedback, then if you decide to refund the buyer some of the EBAY overcharged shipping, ebay will not refund you! Yet they caused the issue. Now I have found a work around ebays red tape, but this applies ONLY to buyers who request combining shipping for multiple items(this works for the glorious global shipping system also) You need to get the buyer to give you the item numbers and qty of each item they want, then you create a special listing just for that customer with all the items he wanted as a package deal with shipping and send them back the item number so he can purchase the items he wants all at one time REASONABLY. This will NOT work for the buyer who have already bought and paid for numerous items.  It is NOT rocket science to provide a cart where the seller can see what all a buyer wants to purchase from him and be able to combine all into one parcel(where possible, as not everything can be simply combined- but the buyer know what can and cannot - SIMPLE!) 

[newview]

Here's what I send a buyer who requests if I combine shipping ...

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I will do combined shipping provided that the items can actually be combined and shipped safely. I cannot safely ship heavy items with fragile glassware for instance. Please do not ask.

Also, the vast majority of my items are listed as Immediate Payment Required and eBay's software is broken and will not allow those items listed as such to correctly be combined, so we would need to follow this procedure:

1) Message me a list of items you're interested in (Item Numbers, please), and I'll determine if they can safely be combined.
2) Once we have a combined list, I'll remove the Immediate Payment Required so you can then Add to Cart.
3) Add to Cart all the items we've determined can be safely combined, and then DO NOT PAY yet.
4) Click the Request Invoice button and I'll combine your items safely into a single shipment, calculate the lowest combined shipping, (Parcel Select or Priority Mail) and send you an invoice.
5) Upon successful payment of the invoice, the items will be shipped at the calculated invoice shipping rate.

I'm sorry this is such a problem, but eBay's software does not allow me to predetermine items that can be combined and those that cannot, so I've found the above to be the simplest & safest method.

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Ebay never seens to concentrate on fixing the BROKEN parts of their teetering-on-the-brink systems ... only the parts they can spin the media and shout "look at us, see how cool we are!" ... as a way to impress the stockholders.

[papermoneyforme]

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@gsn13579 wrote:

I am so tired of the CART working SOME TIMES, and NOT working other times to combine shipping...

I had to give 2 partial REFUNDS yesterday on shipping because of the CART!

Ebay needs to quit saying the CART works fine,and FIX the dang thing!

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Ebay could care less as this has been a reported issue on both chats over at least the last 3 years. They make the FVF's on the additional shipping.

They also will not devote staff to fix errors as they are more interested in AI garbage and searching by images!

If you call Ebay in the morning and get a US rep, and tell them you want a refund for overcharged shipping refunded due to the cart not working, you should get a credit for your refund.

[sg51]

The cart has been problematic since day one.

What seems clear is that ebay did not see combined shipping as the primary reason to have a cart.  The cart was for other, far less useful things, such as paying multiple sellers with the same payment.

The cart should aways allow getting a combined shipping invoice from seller.  Always.  Seller can take the default no-discount path if desired.

If the items sold meantime to someone else, that quote would become invalid, and a new quote could be obtained.

[oaklandmaryland]

This has been going on for several months already. I am one of the "CHOSEN" sellers who are not allowed to combine shipping resulting in my buyers needing to pay postage for each one. NONE of my listings has ever been IPR so that is not even a factor. All I know is that my sales from former buyers are decreasing since this occurred. I really can't blame them for wanting to save postage money. Sadly Ebay claims this new tactic will result in increased sales. JOKE TIME!!!!! It's just another one of Ebay's dreamth up efforts that doesn't work and they are too blind to see or admit it is wrong.

[dtexley3]

probably a futile effort...  alan@ebay   This really affects us as sellers I refund excess shipping for combined orders on a regular basis because the buyer was unable to request an invoice.  

Is there anything that can be done to make fixing this a priority?  

It's resulting in lost sale which means lost income for eBay.

[oaklandmaryland]

Do you thinks Ebay would ever admit in the lost revenue caused by any of their so called improvements? Their ego is too large.