Ebay fixes things that don't need fixing but won't address "Request total" issue on discounted items

[james8728]

I mainly sell 45 rpm 7" records, and offer combined s&h. A lot of buyers like to purchase more than one item, however if I'm running a Sale, they can not request a total for combined shipping.
Countless times, I have lost buyers because they don't want to deal with either having to pay full shipping and wait for a refund back, or provide me with a list of interested records and a special listing just for them with the correct s&h. 
I can only imagine too, the number of people that put a bunch of records in their cart and go to check out but can't request a total... so they just say eff it.
I've talked a few times with CS Reps about this problem, the last one promised she'd get it resolved (months ago) and she'd keep me in the loop... but crickets.

Here's a typical message, sent last night at 3:00 am (EST) buyer in WA.:

Hi James,

I placed 26 of your 45s in my cart.
Your site says you offer combined shipping at 25 cents for each additional item after the initial full ship charge of $3.95.
I requested a new total for combine shipping all the items in my cart but got a message that it did not apply to discounted items? Well if you will please offer the combined shipping of 25 cents for the additional its in my cart then I'll buy all 26.
Thanks for your consideration,

I responded to them:
Hi,

Yes, I do combine s&h. However, there's a glitch with ebay that doesn't allow you to "request a total" on items that are on sale. I’ve spoken to eBay about this problem, but they’ve yet to do anything about it.
Most people pay the full s&h, and I immediately credit back the difference owed. However, seeing you have many, you might want to choose the 2nd option: Supply me with a list of the items, and I'll create a special listing just for you.

Please let me know if questions, sorry for the inconvenience.

Thanks,
James

And like so many times before... I have yet to hear back from them.

FRUSTRATED!

[noclue202]

A possible solution would be to add combined shipping rules for like items.   When the buyer puts multiple items into their "Shopping Cart" that have combined shipping rules set-up in advance (put into the listing template), then eBay automatically calculates the combined shipping amount.  The trouble is to get buyers to use the shopping cart, rather than the "Buy it Now" feature.   (Suggest mentioning this within listings.)

To set up your combined shipping rules, sellers need to go into My eBay / Account / Site Preferences / Shipping / Offer Combined Shipping / Create Promotional Shipping Rule(s).   Manage shipping settings (ebay.com)

You can create multiple shipping rules, giving each a name.  Thus, your 25 cents rule might be called "25", and as long as the listing template for that item references that rule, it will be applied.  

Good Luck!

[theteamsetguy]

You should be able set up business policies to automatically combine shipping for buyers as long as buyers add all their purchases to their shopping cart and check out. 

You can even set up multiple policies for different items. For example you might want to charge $3.95 and 25 cents for each 33’s, 50 cents for each 45’s, and 75 cents for 78’s in your case. You just have to make sure you select the right policy for each listing from the drop down menu of your different policies.

I have it set up this way and it has eliminated the need to have to send updated invoices. 

I still get questions “Do you combine shipping?” from those that don’t read the item descriptions. 

[james8728]

Do you ever run your items on sale? I still don't think this works if you put your items on sale. 

I tried with the C.S.R. and she couldn't figure out what to do either.

[submelar-super]

valuble post

[submelar-super]

thank you

[james8728]

Tried setting this up with C.S.R. but we couldn't get it to work properly. I'll revisit it, maybe can figure something out. I think the problem was it couldn't separate items (45s, Lps, clothing, books) 

[james8728]

Also, I don't see a way to charge differently from domestic & international? 

[neon65]

Morning,

I used to refund excess shipping thru PayPal but no longer have instant access to the funds with Managed Payments.

How do you refund a buyer now with Managed Payments?

TIA 

[bill.purvis2012]

I hear you.  I just had an order for a customer who purchased 3 separate items.  Each of these items will be shipped in a Large Flat Rate box. Can't combine them and customer knows that. However, EBAY would not let me purchase 3 separate shipping labels no matter how hard I tried.  They kept treating it as 1.  I finally got 3 paid & printed, but I hope it works out. They show the same tracking , but if you click on the tracking the other 2 tracking #'s are there, too.  A real mess.

[james8728]

Go to "All Orders" .. click on drop down next to item you want to issue refund.  
Click "Send Refund" 
At Top of Page.. click drop down on "Select Reason for Refund" 
Click on "Shipping Discount" or "Other Adjustment"
Fill in credit amount at bottom of page in "Order Level Refund"

[pjcdn2005]

If you had that promotion set up in combined shipping it would work in the cart whether or not the items were on sale and you can set up different amounts for combined shipping for domestic and international. Or you can just have combined shipping for domestic if that's what you want.  You have to mark on the listing if you want the combined shipping rule to apply to that listing so you could just do it for the records or set up more than rule.

I do agree that the request total should always work in the cart but since we know that it has not worked properly for years, it would best to take some time to set things up so that buyers rarely have to request an invoice.  

[pjcdn2005]

@slippinjimmy 

When ebay announced the 'forced' ipr, they specifically said that when they put ipr on a listing, it would not affect the request total in the cart....so in that  respect it would be different than seller initiated ipr.   Have they changed that?

[james8728]

THANK YOU!  I think I might have figured it out. I have never seen or heard of the "Business Policy" section. I just went to it and adjusted the shipping on "additional items" to .25 cents for U.S. shipping. I hope that works! !! 


WOULD ANYONE BE WILLING TO TEST IT BY PUTTING A FEW OF MY ITEMS IN A CART AND SEE WHAT THE TOTAL SHIPPING EQUATES TOO?  

[sin-n-dex]

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@noclue202 wrote:

A possible solution would be to add combined shipping rules for like items.   When the buyer puts multiple items into their "Shopping Cart" that have combined shipping rules set-up in advance (put into the listing template), then eBay automatically calculates the combined shipping amount.  The trouble is to get buyers to use the shopping cart, rather than the "Buy it Now" feature.   (Suggest mentioning this within listings.)

To set up your combined shipping rules, sellers need to go into My eBay / Account / Site Preferences / Shipping / Offer Combined Shipping / Create Promotional Shipping Rule(s).   Manage shipping settings (ebay.com)

You can create multiple shipping rules, giving each a name.  Thus, your 25 cents rule might be called "25", and as long as the listing template for that item references that rule, it will be applied.  

Good Luck!

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The combined shipping promo works when they purchase it from the store and buy it right away. When I send offers and they get a discounted price, the discounted price overrides the combined shipping promo and I need to send an invoice.

C.

[james8728]

Well, changing the shipping in my business policy didn't help. I'm at a loss.