International shipping - "Invoices can't be sent for eBay International Shipping orders." Why not?

[stiffkitty]

Ebay won't let me send an invoice for multiple items for a customer in Australia. Any info would be appreciated. 

[itscalledapostingid]

With the EIS program ebay is calculating and collecting international shipping charges, taxes and import fees on the item. So obviously the seller can't monkey around with any of that in an invoice.

As far as I know combined shipping is not allowed with the program.

Also ebay sends payment reminders so there's no need to send an invoice.

[itscalledapostingid]

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/shipping-items/setting-shipping-options/ebay-international-shippin...

[heckofagame]

At this time invoices can't be sent, and shipments cannot be combined. Supposedly, this is something they are looking at changing in the future. 

[cardxcraft]

Good points, but that's not why Ebay doesn't allow invoicing through EIS: so you can't monkey around with anything, lol. 

The agreement only allows one transaction or order per package. The way around this is to add both or multiple items to a single Ebay listing. The only problem with this method is that its obviously at seller request.

[ms.rodriguez*]

Luckily for the poster,  your buyer speaks English.  First, is it possible for you to combine those 2 items into 1 parcel?  If yes, immediately email the buyer and explain that you can not combine the listings with EIS but you can  a) cancel both sales with BUYER REQUESTED. B) Rewrite the 2 ads into 1 listing. Retake the photos showing both items.  C.  Figure out the new cost to ship both items to Illinois.  D. You will need to tell the buyer the price (the sum of the 2 items), the new shipping cost to Illinois.  You will have to write a new PRIVATE LISTING FOR HIM.  Make sure you start the ad at a time that the buyer is available to buy.  If you do an auction, you will close it immediately after the buyer bids. The starting price MUST be the price of the 2 items COMBINED.   When you end it, make sure that YOUR buyer is the high bidder. If you get another bidder, cancel that bid first.    This is a pain in the neck but it's the only way to combine multiples into 1 package for the Ebay International program.  

Hopefully your buyer will agree.  Hopefully the 2items aren't too big that will make the cost higher because the box is oversize.  DON'T FORGET TO PUT AN INVOICE INSIDE OF THE PACKAGE.

Before you do this, make sure that the buyer understands and agrees.   The

[greendoorcomics]

This has always been an exceptionally mismanaged aspect of Ebay. In my case, it's me in Canada buying comics from US sellers. I have had hundreds if not thousands of transactions since I started buying comics via Ebay in 2018. If it is more then one item it is common sense that both those small items, being comics in this case, are sent in one shipment if they are bought simultaneously. 1 comic $30 dollars plus $25 shipping plus another comic $30.00 plus $25 shipping plus another comic $30 dollars plus $25 shipping. This should be $90 in comics and 1 shipping of $25 (combined shipping) plus taxes (10) and any other import fees which is zero because it's under $100. So this amounts to $90 (comics) +25 (shipping) +10 (taxes) = $125. What Ebay will do is simply add everything up so $30+25+30+25+30+25+10= $175 so $90 plus $75 in shipping and 10 for taxes? The actual shipping cost to the seller is only $25 US dollars. My order yesterday, 8 comics for $300 and then $220 in shipping not including the custom amount when it crosses the border. $220 in just shipping? What universe does that make sense? Why is Ebay saying that is correct? That's insanity. This is not rocket science. I have had some Ebay US sellers able to, particularly with auctions, send me an invoice with adjusted shipping costs. The few sellers that are able to do that, Ebay is now removing that sellers ability to do so. So not only was it bad, Ebay is actively making it worse. Ebay's answer to seller's when they consult Ebay, now apparently only through an email, is that Ebay will send me, the buyer an invoice with adjusted shipping cost. Never happened once. Or try selecting the "Request Invoice" option. That has not worked for years if ever. If always states Error 80000 or Error, "The seller does not offer combined shipping". They do, and the seller contests this. I'm talking some of the biggest sellers on Ebay with feedback of 60,000 suddenly cannot combine the shipping for me via an auction when they could for years previous. When will this be addressed and why it always ignored/sidetracked by Ebay? Is my value of a customer not worthwhile to Ebay? This must be fixed ASAP. I have experienced this insanity for 5 years now.

Best regards,

Arun

[everlovin]

Just discovered this absurdity! Now you basically must contact a seller to cancel listings and put them into a package deal. But still no true idea what your shipping costs will be, and eBay hits you with more charges once they are in control of the package.

of course, now gave to bring mist furring orders also to post office because of this tariff collecting program, too. Like eBay collecting sales tax on everything in this country, which in the end is nice for the seller but bad for the buyer.

[c574778]

It is not nice for the seller, because we don't make anything from the customs and shipping fees and we lose many international customers. I would be interested to know what customs fees are being paid by international buyers on antique printed matter which is usually duty free in most countries.  The only plus for sellers is that ebay shipping protects us from scams which have increase dramatically. In fact we won't ship outside of the ebay international shipping any more due to the fact that any delay, which are usually due to customs, some buyers immediately begin to request refunds. However, many international buyers are very good people, but about 10-20%, mainly in countries outside of the civilized world, know it is going to be delayed for a month or more or their local mail doesn't even track and they intentionally set us up for a hit. That is the reality from the seller's perspective unfortunately and that is why most sellers now are using ebay international shipping, it takes all the worry out of those shipments.  

[c574778]

Yeah, not being able to accomodate buyers from making mulitple purchases and combining into one shipment is sometimes a problem, especially with best offer negotiations.  Some buyers like to pick and purchase and immediate payment with all the extra shipping per item gets in the way of the sales. One solution is to use the ebay cart system, but then you can't make offers and some people do like to bargain, lol; although, with the ebay cart system shipping fees are automatically adjusted to one reasonable fee with extra items combined for free, at least in our cart setup. When a seller sets up cart preferences there is an option for additional items shipped for free or you can specify an amount such as $1 for each additional item or not at all. It is our policy to always give the extra shipping fee back if the cart is not used, we only charge the one shipping fee, but it could be a problem buyers might have with some sellers, although I believe most sellers are very reasonble in that regard. However, the items we sell, adding a few more too the package doesn't raise the weight much and even if it does it is only a couple of dollars and we just pay it.  Despite the many negatives you sometime read on the forums, at least for us ebay has proven to be a very good market place for both buyers and sellers, although some recent improvements are questionable, lol. You just have to go with the flow, I guess.