Is the "Request Total" function always this broken?

[8492nylonworks]

Hi long time seller here. I get potential buyers asking if I combined shipping all the time and that's okay we all wanted to get the lowest rate possible. However....

Why is the "Request Total" Function so freaking broken? So for some reason buyers can go to Cart and click the button but for some reason you can't on the apps version? Like...why? Hardware/software limitations? I've probably lost a ton of potential sales because they can't request combined shipping rate while they are on break at work (I bet only a small percentage of buyers are office workers who can do causal browsing at work) and would rather buy from someone else.

Second thing that's broken about request total function is that you can only find out if someone had requested combine shipping on your email, not on eBay site and not on the app. Like I have to manually to go to my email and see if they requested it. on the app or eBay site it would just said "Sold - awaiting payment". Again like why? Why are they making it difficult to offer buyer better shipping? Maybe it's just me and I'm doing something wrong with the system preference.  

Worst yet I had customers that likes to go F it I will order it and message the seller to partial refund me, which is fine....until they start semi-accusing me of gouging and demand that I refund an certain amount.  

"Hello sir can you pls combine postage? You charged me twice and I ended up paying X amount, please refund Y amount back to me"

Ah okay bro, ebay charged you twice, not me or any of the other sellers here. Again because of their broken function.

Sigh.....Request total function on ebay suk, rant over.

[wrong66]

It's only been broken for several years.

[tsme35]

Been asking for combine shipping on the app for only about 5+ years, falls on deaf ears. Combine requests show up on my sellers hub and email on personal and ebay.

[ittybitnot · Accepted solution]

@8492nylonworks 

A few years ago, right before the "cart" program, there was a "commit to buy and continue shopping with this seller" function.   You could go through a seller's store, commit to buy and request a total when you were finished shopping.  All was good.  

Right about the same timeframe there was a lot of complaints about non-paying bidders/buyers.  In an attempt to solve some of the non-payer problems, ebay implemented a seemingly invisible strategy that made all fixed price listings under a certain dollar amount (1k?) some sort of "immediate payment required" even though the seller did not select this option, nor was it published for a buyer to see at all.  The function of "commit to buy and continue shopping with this seller" was soon taken away in favor of THE CART. 

Unfortunately, putting something in the cart was very different than "committing to buy and continue shopping" .  When you put it in your cart, it remained for sale until it was paid for.  No leisurely shopping and browsing for you!!!!  LOL.  You want it, you pay for it....thus the individual payments that cost the seller an extra $0.30 each.  eBay says there was nothing wrong with the cart system, and it was working as intended.  eBay did not give fee adjustments on refunds sellers made to buyers who overpaid.  Perhaps that was what 'working as intended' meant.   The fact that the "request total" button rarely functioned was not considered. 

Well, putting items in the cart was just not the same.  Of course a buyer could pay with one payment, but they had to pay for the shipping on each item all added together.   A seller cannot see what is in your cart unless it is paid for...... one can't just commit to buy anymore,  the products must be paid for first.  With this plan, if I wanted to buy 10 items (under an ounce each) with a $3 shipping charge on each, my shipping charge for the ten ounce first class weight parcel would be $30.  

To take care of this problem eBay says to set up "shipping rules" and "business policies"....That would work somewhat on occasion so long as all the items were the same size and weight etc.   The "request total" button, even on a PC rarely works.  The only time as a buyer, I can request a total is for cumulative AUCTION wins from the same seller.    I can pay for my auction wins, but can't request total for two more fixed price items to be shipped together with the order, and if even ONE of the items is "on sale", or of a different shipping class, etc.  there is no way to request a total.  Seller can't send an invoice for my auction wins and the fixed price items I want as well, since they can't see what I want to include.  It is just sitting in my cart with no way to "commit to buy" along with the auctions. 

Make a shipping rule you say.....When you can explain to the seller how to make such a combined rule for a sweater, shoes, fishing pole, anvil,  ax and a porcelain teacup PLEASE POST on the forums and enlighten us.  

So don't feel cheated if you use the app where there isn't even a request total function at all.  I would venture to guess if they posted a "request total" button it would throw an error message 99% of the time even if it wasn't greyed out from the start.