Error code: 80016 - The seller doesn't offer combined postage discounts.

[dlsreviews]

Why oh why does eBay always make life so difficult for both buyers and sellers? It's beyond me why they would put the default setting to "does not combine postage" and then flat out prohibit a buyer from easily requesting a combined invoice for multiple item purchases.

Prohibiting an invoice request makes life much harder for a buyer to make payment, and ALSO much harder for a seller to send an invoice.

I'm both a buyer and seller on eBay (mainly buyer though tbh), and often find this incredibly frustrating. Not allowing a "Request Total From Seller" to go through unless the seller has amended their settings is quite frankly an idiotic move. Instead I've got to send a "general message about the item" to the seller requesting a combined invoice and then the whole process is that much harder for the seller to send the combined P&P invoice too!!!!

Grrrrrr...so annoying! Can't eBay fix this issue please?

[shirleys809304]

I'm a buyer and the last 2 times I tried to submit 'request total from seller' I get a message telling me it failed to go through and to try again later.    So, not to tie up my cart and pay for my widgets before someone else nabs up the item, I go ahead and pay.  Then she has to refund my overpayment.   What a hassle for her and me. 

[cardsforauction]

And don't you love it when the seller mentions in their item description they offer combined shipping but when you click "Request Total from Seller" it says they don't ?!   lol  jokes on us I guess.

A few sellers told me they change the setting on shipping because they are worried eBay will mess up the total amount, so they have to turn off the combined shipping setting and then send a new invoice.  Yes, it's annoying until you get the combined shipping invoice from the seller.  I really hate that too, because sometimes it take days for the seller to respond and correct the total.   In some cases, it was very complicated to fix for some reason.

[bauble-babes]

I'm mainly a seller here and yes, This is a HUGE PROBLEM!

Unbeknownst to most sellers:

a) If the items in buyer's cart are on sale, can't request total!

b) If the seller selects the Require Immediate Payment box on the listing page, can't request total.

Totally ABSURD and completely COUNTERPRODUCTIVE and it's been going on for years!!!  You'd think that ebay would do everything in its power to facilitate ease of payment, but NO.

WTH ebay, can no one fix this MAJOR ISSUE???  Instead of spending so much effort in breaking things that aren't broken, how about fixing things that actually are?

[stainlessenginecovers]

I, for one; am glad that if I choose 'immediate payment required' that it does not allow a buyer to 'send' me an invoice. Why?

1 item might weigh 14 oz and ship 1st Class for $6.

2 Items now go in a Priority Box and weigh 2 lbs and shipping now costs $14.

Buyer paid $12 for shipping.

Am I supposed to send back the invoice with the shipping cost INCREASED?? 

Leave the system as is. A pre-checked 'no combined shipping' is much better to find it out (that it is prechecked) and fix it, then to have buyers sending 'invoice requests' so seller can 'pre guess' what something might weigh or tell them the bad news that it costs more and you, the buyer, gets no discount. 

[bauble-babes]

@stainlessenginecovers  "I, for one; am glad that if I choose 'immediate payment required' that it does not allow a buyer to 'send' me an invoice. Why?

1 item might weigh 14 oz and ship 1st Class for $6.

2 Items now go in a Priority Box and weigh 2 lbs and shipping now costs $14.

Buyer paid $12 for shipping.

Am I supposed to send back the invoice with the shipping cost INCREASED?"

I'm a bit confused with your response. In your above example you say Buyer paid $12 for shipping.

But, if a Buyer has several of Your items in their cart and they click Request Total, then Buyer has not paid yet. They are wanting to pay and simply need a Combined Shipping Total.  They are unaware as to what that actual total is, thus the reason for the request. 

It is then up to you, the seller, to provide that unknown total to the buyer via an invoice so your buyer may pay and complete the transaction. If your potential buyer is unable to click Request Total because you checked the Require Immediate Payment box on the listing page, then buyer may become frustrated, remove your items from the cart, and move on to buy someone else's items.

OR, if Buyer bothers to message you and you advise them to go ahead and pay and you'll refund them on shipping post sale, well what a hassle.  Refunds aren't immediate, it will take days for it to hit the buyer's account, so refunding effectively ties up a person's money and people don't like that. And if you're dealing with heavy items like glassware, for example, the refund may be substantial.

Personally, I won't risk losing a sale by having my prospective buyers jump through hoops. I send an invoice when asked for one, they pay, I ship, and we're done until that buyer comes back to buy again because they're so pleased at how hassle-free the previous transaction was.

Unfortunately, most sellers I've encountered are completely unaware that clicking the Require Immediate Payment renders the Request Total feature unusable and that bad is on ebay. There needs to be a clause by that check box informing sellers how it affects buyer's carts.

[stainlessenginecovers]

@bauble-babes 

All my listings are 'Buy It Now' (no auctions, no 'best offers') with Immediate Payment. 

All my listings have a shipping cost. 

All my items weigh something different; those that are under 16oz ship 1st Class and the 'shipping amount' is $6.

When 2 items are purchased (customers would NEVER purchase 2 of the Exact Same Thing) some MAY expect that they can 'ship together for the price of 1'. 

But, when 2 items weigh more than 16oz, they now have to ship Priority. Priority costs upwards of $12. Customer paid $6 plus $6. They get NO discount. So, don't even bother wasting time with a 'invoice request'... which again, they CANNOT do because I use "Immediate Payment Required'. 

This happens whether they put 4 items in a 'Cart' and then pay, they will pay $6 for each of the 4 items (if they were all items that normally ship 1st Class if shipped by itself); how it cost $16 to ship because they may now weigh over 2 lbs. I will 'refund' the $8...AFTER the package is packed so I know size and weight. (price could vary)

So, I for one, am VERY glad that if using BIN with IPR, requesting an 'invoice' is not possible. 

[niallrmcg]

This isn't very difficult. If a seller issues a request for combined shipping on multiple items, the worst that happens is you have to invoice for each items’ price + postage, multiplied by the number of items. This is how much they would have paid were they to buy individually. You can't end up with less than that total as a seller, unless you choose to invoice for less if, say, the combined postage is lower and you choose to pass on this saving to the customer.

In the limit this is about encouraging people to buy things by making them feel they aren’t being ripped off.

[busterboy13]

I keep getting this when trying to pay. Being an international buyer, without combined postage make it impossible. Have to pester the seller and sit and wait while plagued with waiting for payment from eBay emails

[a_c_green]

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@stainlessenginecovers wrote:

@bauble-babes 

All my listings are 'Buy It Now' (no auctions, no 'best offers') with Immediate Payment. 

All my listings have a shipping cost. 

All my items weigh something different; those that are under 16oz ship 1st Class and the 'shipping amount' is $6.

When 2 items are purchased (customers would NEVER purchase 2 of the Exact Same Thing) some MAY expect that they can 'ship together for the price of 1'. 

But, when 2 items weigh more than 16oz, they now have to ship Priority. 

---

Not any more. The old First Class Package (up to 15.999 ounces) is now rolled into the Ground Advantage service, and Ground Advantage goes up to 70 pounds.

Ref: https://www.usps.com/ship/ground-advantage.htm#:~:text=Features%20%26%20Pricing&text=Our%20best%2Dpr...).

[cptmckiten]

I won an auction for an item that requires freight. The seller said he has sent me an invoice, which initially I thought was different from the checkout screen since I’m used to paypal invoices and I’ve been sick so it did’t click. Anyways, I’m trying to pay, especially since I only have 5 hours now and no matter what I do, when I go to the invoice and click request total/request total from seller, I get the error code presented as just text (can’t actually see the error code listed). 

someone please help. This item would help tons of my family overseas since I can essentially let them connect to a vm I host on them with NAS added too so they can access their work privately and without having to pay as long as they have internet.