Combined Shipping Confusion

[pickers_anonymous]

How is it possible to do combined shipping when the minimum time frame is 3 days? How is a buyer going to make 1 payment for items bought days apart from each other when instant payment is required? I suppose I have to turn instant payment off to use combined shipping?

I'd like to offer combined shipping, but it seems to me I'd just be giving buyers several days to change their mind and end up buying nothing. 

[ittybitnot]

@pickers_anonymous 

Yes, you do have the settings that require a buyer to provide a payment source in order to make an offer on your product or bid on an auction.  These are indeed combined shipping killers as well as limiting the payment options a buyer can use.  But this only deals with offers sent to you.  If you accept, the buyer is auto-billed for each one if more than one item is involved.  So if offers are made on ten of your items, and you accept, they are billed separately ten times as full shipping price.  You don't use auctions, so it won't matter to you, and eBay is not done with the forced compliance for buyer IDs for auctions yet. Sellers that want to encourage multiple sales to the same buyer and combine shipping can TURN THESE OFF.  
See your settings here: 

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.

But now that is only part of the problem. The next thing that eBay has done to prevent invoicing/combined shipping has to deal with offers you SEND.  All seller generated offers now are immediate payment required.  The buyer gets no "accept" button that would allow them to request a total if they would like to purchase more than one thing.  Each must be paid separately for full shipping price. This goes for any counter offers you send as well.  This is for EVERYBODY and nobody can turn it off.  These items remain for sale until somebody pays. 

eBay makes more money this way, counts individual sales for their GMV instead of one that had multiple listings for one shipping price.  Sellers pay more as there is a non-refundable listing fee assigned to each separately paid for listing, instead of combining them for one thirty or forty cent fee. 

Thinking it over, I guess the only way you truly be pretty sure you can invoice your buyer for a multiple item order for a combined shipping price is to use fixed price without immediate payment required and:

Not use the "best offer" feature

Not send offers

Not use auctions

Don't put things on sale*

Don't offer free shipping*

*these prevent a buyer from requesting a revised invoice





Then we have bin listings and a cart that has had issues for years.  Sometimes a buyer can request a revised total for combined shipping, other times it won't work for various reasons. 

[dbfolks166mt]

@pickers_anonymous 

Yes, you do have the settings that require a buyer to provide a payment source in order to make an offer on your product or bid on an auction.  These are indeed combined shipping killers as well as limiting the payment options a buyer can use.  But this only deals with offers sent to you.  If you accept, the buyer is auto-billed for each one if more than one item is involved.  So if offers are made on ten of your items, and you accept, they are billed separately ten times as full shipping price.  You don't use auctions, so it won't matter to you, and eBay is not done with the forced compliance for buyer IDs for auctions yet. Sellers that want to encourage multiple sales to the same buyer and combine shipping can TURN THESE OFF.  
See your settings here: 

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.

But now that is only part of the problem. The next thing that eBay has done to prevent invoicing/combined shipping has to deal with offers you SEND.  All seller generated offers now are immediate payment required.  The buyer gets no "accept" button that would allow them to request a total if they would like to purchase more than one thing.  Each must be paid separately for full shipping price. This goes for any counter offers you send as well.  This is for EVERYBODY and nobody can turn it off.  These items remain for sale until somebody pays. 

eBay makes more money this way, counts individual sales for their GMV instead of one that had multiple listings for one shipping price.  Sellers pay more as there is a non-refundable listing fee assigned to each separately paid for listing, instead of combining them for one thirty or forty cent fee. 

Thinking it over, I guess the only way you truly be pretty sure you can invoice your buyer for a multiple item order for a combined shipping price is to use fixed price without immediate payment required and:

Not use the "best offer" feature

Not send offers

Not use auctions

Don't put things on sale*

Don't offer free shipping*

     OP has nothing listed except BIN items but even with auctions as long as the auctions end on the same day and the auction and/or OBO is not enabled it should not cause any issues with combined shipping. The same would apply to removing the IPR on BIN items. 

     If the seller is offering free shipping it's irrelevant with regards to combined shipping. 

[ittybitnot]

If the seller is offering free shipping it's irrelevant with regards to combined shipping. 

@dbfolks166mt 

I realize I was not clear about the "free shipping" thing and combining items.  If I wanted to combine shipping on ten multiple fixed price listings and (it takes only one) ONE of those is "free shipping" (and the rest paid by buyer shipping) to have the request total feature throw an error.  If only ONE of those items were "on sale", the ten items cannot be combined either. If ONE of those in the cart were IPR and the rest were not, the request total button will not work. 

Another member graciously listed ALL the funky restrictions that prevent requesting a total/combining items in the cart.  I saved it for future use, but presently can't find the file.  Someday I will! 

[dbfolks166mt]

If the seller is offering free shipping it's irrelevant with regards to combined shipping. 

@dbfolks166mt 

I realize I was not clear about the "free shipping" thing and combining items.  If I wanted to combine shipping on ten multiple fixed price listings and (it takes only one) ONE of those is "free shipping" (and the rest paid by buyer shipping) to have the request total feature throw an error.  If only ONE of those items were "on sale", the ten items cannot be combined either. If ONE of those in the cart were IPR and the rest were not, the request total button will not work. 

Another member graciously listed ALL the funky restrictions that prevent requesting a total/combining items in the cart.  I saved it for future use, but presently can't find the file.  Someday I will! 

     Not a problem. Combined shipping has always presented some issues. I use the auction format almost exclusively but do not have the auto-pay feature enabled. All my auctions end on the same day in two week cycles. I don't get a lot of combined shipping but when I do sometimes the combined shipping function will work sometimes not. 

     When it works obviously I take advantage of it but when it does not work I touch base with the buyer and have them pay for the individual items and let them know I will refund any excess postage charges. 

[pickers_anonymous]

Sounds easier just to not bother with it. Thanks!

[dbfolks166mt]

    Sounds easier just to not bother with it. Thanks!

     Quite welcome. Actually no more often than I get multiple sales it's not a problem to deal with it when it comes up. 

[pickers_anonymous]

Even more confused than when I originally posted this question. I thought I had to actually change some settings in order for buyers to make a combined purchase. I never did anything and I have received a combined purchase. I have looked at the combined purchases settings and my question now is:

If I set it up, with every item I list, I would have the option of saying each item is, or is not, eligible for combined shipping?