jonathanbrightlight Volunteer Community Mentor
@kar_1969 wrote:A buyer bought two items and asked for an invoice for joined shipping. Her exact message “Hi there - will you please send me an invoice with join shipping? $30 for shipping is too much. Thanks!”
I assumed she wanted me to charge her for lower shipping but didn’t she already get charged with shipping when she bought both items? I know I can input my own tracking number through a third party shipper but would she pay for it?
It seems like you may be under the impression that the buyer pays for the shipping label, which is a common misconception. The buyer pays you whatever was listed on the listing for the shipping costs, and you buy the label from the carrier (via eBay or via another method), regardless of whether they purchase one item or multiple.
IF you want to offer Combined Shipping, then you do what @chapeau-noir told you to do. If you don't want to offer combined shipping, then don't do anything. But the majority of sellers do offer combined shipping & esp if we're talking a piece of clothing, where it won't add that much. Most of us have a set rate, for example - each additional piece of clothing adds $2 to the shipping or 50¢ if you sell stamps or whatever is fair.
There is however no requirement to offer combined shipping, but many buyers expect it. It's not right that they asked you AFTER the purchase, but I would still do it & do it the way Chapeau reccomend. That said, I would also figure out what you want your policy to be & add it to your listings, as it's a very common
occurence.
ETA: Also, unsolicited advice, your photos need a great deal of work. Buyers don't want to buy something shown on a bed, huge ick factor. Also, you need to get rid of all that extraneous stuff in your photos, it's gonna get you in trouble when an unscrupulous buyer is going to assume they get everything pictured. At the very least, figure out how to use a background burner, even eBay's edit has one now, but there are a million avl online. I like Photoroom, free & the best one IMO. I've heard eBay's is pretty good too, I just don't use eBay for my editing.
Most people come here asking for how to increase sales b/c nothing is selling. I'm glad that hasn't been your experience, but it may be once your 'new account boost' goes away. You're asking for a SNAD with all those items in your photos, which can hurt your account, but hey, you do you. I've been selling on eBay for 29 years & am a Mentor, so I like to point out things that are going to get you into trouble, but you are welcome to ignore the advice. I regularly hear the complaints from buyers about sellers who photograph on floors & beds, so I figured I'd pass it along. Again, you're free to ignore my advice. Just don't complain when you get that SNAD b/c a buyer thought they were getting something else in the photo 😉
@sin-n-dex wrote:
@simply-the-best-for-you wrote:
ETA: Also, unsolicited advice, your photos need a great deal of work. Buyers don't want to buy something shown on a bed, huge ick factor. Also, you need to get rid of all that extraneous stuff in your photos, it's gonna get you in trouble when an unscrupulous buyer is going to assume they get everything pictured. At the very least, figure out how to use a background burner, even eBay's edit has one now, but there are a million avl online. I like Photoroom, free & the best one IMO. I've heard eBay's is pretty good too, I just don't use eBay for my editing.
I went to see the listings you're talking about to see if I agreed (about the bed being an ick thing, TBH all my coins are photographed on my bed, but on the blanket that's at the top (which is my loud background), because the bed is the best place for natural light.
OP is putting clothes on surfaces that have been slept on (I see the duvet pulled back and the item on the sheets). I think that's why the ick factor, it's psychological, I'm sure if it's being used in the photo it's not actually gross and dirty, but buyers don't know that and it's not what comes to mind.
The floor is another place where it's bad to place items, but I've been guilty of that too. At my old house I had a marble bathroom and there was a space for a clawfoot tub that hadn't been purchased yet. We'd wash the floor and put the coins on the marble because it was neutral for taking pictures. I got some criticism for that. I got brand new carpet once and used it as my background for a bit at first after vacuuming.
C.
@sin-n-dex You are absolutely right, the floor & the bed are the 2 that buyers complain about the most! Sometimes we do what we have to do for lighting, but with all due respect, in the Clothing world, it's b/c you wear clothing that people are grossed out. I think if you selli stamps or coins, buyers will not be nearly as critical of where you take your photos b/c they're not putting them on their body. People are such germaphobes these days! I mean, coins prolly have more germs than clothing, but it doesn't have that ick factor LOL.
Clothing buyers are super picky b/c it's going to be on their body. That said, people are critical no matter what you do. I wa accused of taking pics on the floor by a boardie (eons ago) even though the item was clearly hanging on a form, b/c they thought my cream stucco was carpeting due to the texture 🤣 I also once had another seller ask for my 'secrets' of getting clear, bright photos. It's not much of a secret, it's just natural light, so I told her there is no substitute for natural light if there's any way you can swing it. She got all haughty with 'ewwww, you take your photos outside' & I said yeah, that's where you find the natural light. "OMG, what if a bug flies on it" 🙄😆🤣 So, some people just love to be outraged.
All that said, background burners are SO good & so advanced now, a HUGE improvment over even 5 years ago, that it's just plain lazy IMO to not take 30 seconds to increase your sales by cleaning up your background. I don't know why anyone wouldn't do it, particularly when selling Clothing.
