Confused by combined shipping. Read articles, talked to customer & it's worse.
A customer wants to buy multiple items from my store. She wants to do combined shipping (understandable). Most of my items I have changed to flat rate shipping (due to multiple recent changes in shipping policies). My settings are also set for immediate payment due (for some part of it, confusing). Anyways, the articles are confusing and so was customer service on how to do it. They said the customer puts all the stuff into the cart, choses combined shipping (yes, I did change my settings to allow this), and eBay figures out the shipping. Do they do it by the weight that is stated in my listing and add it all up? If the person buys a bunch of stuff, I would have to change to a box instead of a poly mailer. That would change the weight as well and the dimensions. This also changes the cost. I'm at a loss.
jg.mason
·2 years agoAs a small seller if a buyer asks about combined shipping I tell them yes I combine shipping if possible. Then I tell them the only way I do it is they buy the items they want then I'll refund the extra shipping cost.
I don't need sales bad enough to waste time making special listings or digging items out and boxing them up to get a shipping quote, only to have the buyer say never mind I don't want it.
I don't recall ever having a buyer say they had a problem with it.
krazzykats
·2 years agoFor combined orders, I ask the buyer to send me a list of desired items via the eBay messaging system. Next, I package all the items, weigh it, and inform them of the total cost with shipping. Upon their agreement, I remove any necessary listings then create a single listing that includes all the items and images they wanted, and, set up that agreed total on a 'Best Offer' amount known only to the buyer.
I like to have it in writing...😄
tobaccocardyahoo
·2 years agoIf you have your listings set for immediate payment, the only way to combine shipping is to refund excess shipping.
Support did not understand the issue.
If it is too hard for you to determine the proper shipping cost, pass on the sales. If the sale is too profitable to pass up, weigh the items and the appropriate box and packing material and use the shipping calculator to determine the cost of shipping.
IMO the combined shipping rules never get the right result unless the items are small and multiple items fit in the same package as you use for one.
dbfolks166mt
·2 years agoCombined shipping has always had issues or nuances sometimes it works just fine other times not so much. I do not have a lot of combined orders, probably because I use the auction format almost exclusively. When I catch or notice buyer has won multiple auctions I simply do the combined shipping and issue a shipping refund.
I have also had buyers that were interested in multiple items that I combined into a single listing for them with a BIN/IPR and a subject line that would tend to make it not show up in a general type of search allowing them to make the purchase before another buyer could potentially grab it. This may be an option for you to pursue since it would allow you to enter the weight and dims for a single package containing all the items.
ednkarens
·2 years agoWe don't have combined shipping listed on our items and we don't have immediate payment selected. Recently we had a customer buy two items and since they didn't pay immediately, we were able to pack both items together and when we went to Send Invoice we had the option of refunding the difference in shipping.
I would work with your customer and get the order first, that is the most important. The only PITA is that you have to, should, enter a positive feedback to the buyer for each item they purchase and we just copy and paste the same feedback.
whitewaterford
·2 years ago@Anonymous
The following link is where you set your combined shipping preferences: https://www.ebay.com/ship/prf
If your items are flat rate shipping then you need to create a flat rate shipping rule: There are a couple types. I usually use these for light-weight items .... (e.g. add $1 for each extra item) but the items you want to be eligible for this need to specify the combined shipping profile that you want to use.
Similarly, if you are offering calculated shipping, you would specify a a calculated combined shipping rule:
It works pretty well, but it doesn't do anything different with dimensions---only weight. So, don't offer itt for items that won't combine well. And of course it only works for the listings that offer a choice of the same class of mailing (e.g. USPS Ground Adv) for each item.
spendingcents26150
·2 years agoI have that set. Hasn't worked. One buyer told me that she didn't see combined shipping (only one buyer actually contacted me about it).
I might go in and unset/reset mine and see what happens.
Thanks for the reminder!
pjcdn2005
·2 years ago@spendingcents26150
After you set up the combined shipping rule, you need to associate the listings that you want to use that rule. In or below the shipping section on the listing page, each listing should have an area where you can check off that you want it to use the combined flat rate rule. You may be able to do that with bulk editing.
If you are using business policies it is probably set up differently.
tsp8ntball5hnf
·2 years agoYup. Refunding the buyer is the only work around I've found that works.
spendingcents26150
·2 years agoWhat an excellent question since I have had it work correctly ZERO times so far. I have no idea why. I always give a refund for the shipping overage.
isaiah53-57
·2 years agoYes - just like the site wants in my opinion - so they can pilfer more money out of your back pocket instead of coming up with a REASONABLE, ACROSS THE BOARD Combined Shipping solution like just about EVERY OTHER SITE ON THE INTERNET HAS - Pretty sure they dont have a mobile combined shipping solution yet right?
Before they really screwed things up, they used to refund you the fees on refunds you needed to send to customers - Appears they decided they didn't like doing that(haha) and put an end to it - Pretty sure they are still working under those parameters - They have had 15 years to get this figured out, but my guess is they like the undeserved revenue better than they like their customers...
slippinjimmy
·2 years agoYou have this all backwards! Up until the Spring of 2022 eBay did not and never did refund fees for partial refunds. In the Spring of 2022 eBay finally started to automatically refund prorated Final Value Fees on partial refunds. Buyer will also receive a prorated refund of Sales Tax (if applicable).
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/fee-credits?id=4128#section1
isaiah53-57
·2 years agoThank you for that information - I do recall reading something about the site possibly reverting back to giving fee refunds, though I wasnt sure
I was speculating, but you are the one who is wrong in saying they NEVER have done so -
Maybe you haven't sold on here as long as I have, but from 2003 when I started selling, to likely 2008 or so, they ALWAYS refunded fees on customer refunds - And then they suddenly just didnt - My guess is they became aware of some legalities in not refunding and decided to make the change to revert back in 2022(again thank you for the useful information), though most likely not because they were feeling generous - I would guess the only way this site would let loose of a nickle, would be to get a better grip on it...
whitewaterford
·2 years agoFYI: Last time I did a partial refund (2 weeks ago), eBay also refunded my fees. In this case I said to refund the buyer $3 and eBay gave them $2.64 from me and $0.36 back from eBay.