eBay BLOCKS combined shipping for items on sale or offers sent by sellers
I am hoping other sellers will see this and get eBay to change a ridiculous policy they have. Whenever I run a markdown sale, of course I want buyers to buy as many items as they'd like. The problem is, eBay will add up each individual S&H amount, so it makes me look like I charge outrageous S&H. I do not refund partial S&H because it takes me time to figure out how to enter any refunds in my detailed spreadsheets I keep for my tax records as well as figuring out the fees eBay keeps. If a buyer goes to the cart, the Request an Invoice link is greyed out so they can't ask for reasonable S&H. eBay reps have told me the buyers are already getting a discount with the sale, and they consider asking for reasonable S&H another discount. I am losing sales because there are buyers that will just give up and move on, plus eBay obviously loses money.
I have also noticed this in my Items Eligible for Offers that I check every morning and a few times a day. I can tell if a particular "buyer" all of a sudden puts a few related items into their cart or on their watchlist. If I send offers for 3 items, they will have the same problem in that the shipping will be added for each individual item. If I charge $4.50 per item, 3 items would ring up to $13.50 in S&H, where if buyer could request a total, I could adjust S&H to $5 or $5.50.
I am hoping other sellers are experiencing this problem and will reach out to eBay. I have talked to eBay on the phone, filled out surveys mentioning this, emailed them and even talked to a rep at a big card show. There is a local sports card shop manager who has an eBay rep; he forwarded my concerns and then told me the eBay rep knew about the problem, but they were basically not doing anything about it. I know this is costing me a ton of opportunity and eBay money as well. Not sure what else to do, so figured I'd post this and maybe other sellers will reach out to eBay to get this changed. Thank you
tobaccocardyahoo
·9 months agoI have had some success invoicing multiple unpaid orders from awaiting shipment recently.
But my buyers trust me to refund.
12345jamesstamps
·10 months agoI got tired of this and went to free shipping domestic a couple of years ago.
It did keep me from getting more sales.
I sell stamps so combined shipping should be easy...right?
And I finally broke down and went to free International shipping.
I was getting the endless emails from some potential buyers they can't combine shipping lots.
The endless emails stopped after giving free shipping.
I had no problems giving buyers refunds on combined shipping...that was easy.
As far as tax purposes...I have enough of deductions where I don't need to bother keeping track of shipping refunds or any refunds.
You know you can deduct your wi-fi monthly and 50% of your monthly phone bill X 12 months as a deduction
for year end deductions...plus other expenses.
One can't sell without wifi and I have my eBay APP on my phone so it's consider a part of my business.
H and R Block does my taxes every year so it's considered legal.
I commented about this combined shipping thing for years.
relicpeddler
·10 months agoYou have to set up your combined shipping rules in seller settings. You can set it up to subtract the weight of packaging on each additional item.
kibble-net
·10 months agoNow that ebay will be collecting millions in extra revenue from their updated attribution rules for promoted listings, maybe they can use some of that cash to code in a proper combined shipping calculation when Offers are involved. Fingers crossed.
ittybitnot
·10 months ago@azducats
For offers you SEND and for COUNTER OFFERS you accept, eBay has removed the "accept" button from the buyer's side, so each of these must be paid for separately withl full shipping. There will be no requesting a total or invoicing for combined shipping. It is by design.
You also retain the default settings of BUYER RULES eBay awarded everyone that serve to enact "auto-pay". This is basically for BUYER generated offers and auctions. This limits the payment options a buyer can use and will auto-bill the buyer separately for each listing at full shipping price. No invoicing allowed for the items are basically paid for already. This is NOT popular with buyers. Turning them off, however, will free up one of the combined shipping killer components, for multiple auction wins by the same buyer, or multiple offers you accept.
https://www.ebay.com/bmgt/buyerrequirements
Buyer Rules:
*Require buyers to provide a payment method before they place a bid.
*Require buyers to provide a payment method before they make an offer.
Click submit or save.
Also visit this page:
https://www.ebay.com/ship/prf
Scroll down and make sure this setting is enabled and set to yes Allow invoice requests
There have been issues with the cart since its inception. There are many things that will negate the ability to request a total, or have it throw an error message. There is a long list, but some examples that will make the cart malfunction are:
at least ONE of the items in the cart is 'on sale' OR
at least ONE of the items have free shipping OR
the items are of a different shipping class OR
etc. etc.
There are more things that would not allow it to appear or throw an error message even if it was there. Then eBay added a preference for the seller to 'allow buyers to request a total'. If it wasn't checked the buyer was told you don't allow combined shipping or other such message. Not to mention, of course, that the app never had the request feature at all.
eBay likely is not interested in making combined shipping easy. They make more money this way and have a higher gmv count for individual listing sales.
azducats
OP9 months agothanks for note.... actually I would argue eBay Loses money in that there are people that won't buy 5 of my light items at $4.50 S&H per item ($22.50), they probably just move on without buying thinking I charge ridiculous shipping that I would surely adjust, so eBay makes nothing if that is the case.
I don't refund partial amounts because it takes me 15 min to figure out what eBay keeps in fees and how to enter into my spreadsheets for taxes..... I see this as an easy fix for eBay, but they won't. Maybe they think they'll make more money, but I don't see it. I am certain it costs me sales, and therefore eBay loses commissions
jlckp
·9 months agoeBay needs to do away with this unnecessary select payment method auto pay garbage that they unethically install without informing the sellers and go back to the simple way it used to be.
whitewaterford
·10 months ago@azducats It sounds like maybe you don't have eBay combined shipping set up. Although it isn't perfect, it does offer options that work pretty well both for flat shipping as well as calculated shipping. It looks like you mostly sell flats, so it should work pretty well for you. That would eliminate the need for buyers to request for and wait to receive an invoice. Go here to start:
https://www.ebay.com/ship/prf
azducats
OP9 months agoThanks for the note, problem with setting up some automated combined shipping, I do not trust if I sell a heavy book and a light ticket stub that eBay would appropriately charge a shipping where I do not lose. I realize the customer wants to click and buy, but with a short delay, I wish they could request an invoice where I could assess fair s&h where I don't lose.... eBay has told me they see combined S&H as another discount, which I do not agree with.
legacysoundsandsights
·10 months agoJust had this issue on offers I made. The request combined total, which I knew was always there... wasn't. I had to go the refund route. You simply go to ( I forgot but it's easy to find) refund and put the amount in. it shows as partial refund given - I understand your accounting issues but seems there's no way around it. I'd just keep a log. Every portion is broken down as to what your share of the refund is ( it's netted out)
I've been a seller since 1998. Boy did they mess up a good thing. I used to sell expensive guitars and have moved it to a different platform.
Hope that helps. Best of Luck to you. 🙂