Bad rollout of a bad feature. Most sellers don't seem to be aware of the change and its impact.
I asked a seller I have bought from in the past if he would combine shipping on multiple auction wins and refund the excess shipping now that auto-pay is required. He responded that I should just bid and wait to pay as usual. I told him it's no longer possible, and he would need to change his seller preferences. He was skeptical and suggested I'm doing something wrong as a buyer. This is a seller who uses auctions exclusively with good stuff at low starting bids. He gets a lot of buyers of multiple items. His listing language still says that he will combine shipping on multiple auctions wins within the same week. Impossible, but I guess he's going to have to hear it from more than one person.
Bottom line: You can try to educate sellers, but they have to want to jump through eBay's hoops.
