Why can't IPR and free shipping items get a combined shipping quote?

[sg51]

Maybe you can help me out here @Anonymous , even if it's just to understand why this can't logically be done. I sell nearly all BIN/IPR these days. There was a time I was a 99c auction guy, but that time is long in the past.

So I care about shared shipping.  I use the combined shipping mechanism provided by ebay, but it's really limited (and buggy).   While I can combine most of my items, and I'm willing to forego anything I can on the 2nd item,  I can't combine all, and some combinations just don't yield any savings.  Like for most sellers.

So why can't a buyer put some collection of IPR items, maybe even some free shipping items,  into the cart and request a total, to see what I could do?  I'll give the quote, and buyer can IPR the quoted cart.

It would almost always work for both me and buyer.

If someone bought one or more of the items before buyer did, then, that offer would disappear.

[sg51]

 Each seller could *choose* to enable IPR 

The only real reason for sellers to not choose IPR is because combined shipping in the cart is so carpy.

Get the cart fixed, that goes away.

[lookng2015]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@dtexley3 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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Hey @sg51, I can see how adding free shipping items to a cart with items with shipping cost from the same seller could be of benefit to both parties if the items can be shipped together. The way I imagine it, if I purchased three items from you with item A being free shipping, and items B & C both having $2 shipping, but you can ship all three together for $2, this could be easily tracked through the combine shipping process. Since we don't allow this currently, the buyer has to remove the free item, request a total, and then purchase the free item separately. I'll go ahead and pass this along for consideration, as I'm currently discussing other cart/combined shipping discount suggestions with the appropriate team and am happy to tack this on.

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Ha! This was exactly the situation I was trying to describe in the other thread.  As soon as one item in the cart has either free shipping, OR *could* have a discount (but doesn't yet) the buyer can't request an invoice.   The example I couldn't come up with on that day, Buyer wants two $9.95 items + shipping and one $14 item (qualifies for a 10% off if you buy 3 or more above $12) plus shipping.  The buyer would like to invoice me because I can ship these for less than my built in shipping discount, but they can't because of the $14 item (or an item with free shipping).

<soapbox on> How does this improve the buyer experience?  How does this help the seller?  How much is eBay losing in fees because the buyer gives up in frustration?

Please, Please, Please remove the eBay imposed IPR on items under $1000.  When sellers complain about UPI, *teach them* how to set *their own* items to use seller chose IPR.  Let the rest of us run our businesses in the way that benefits us the most.</soapbox off> 

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Hey @dtexley3, I'll definitely get these suggestions reviewed by the appropriate teams. I do want to clarify that it is seller's complaining about UPIs that lead to this change, but eBay identifying that the Unpaid Item process was a top contributor to buyers leaving the site. A buyer not paying on time is not automatically a sign that they are a bad buyer or fraudulent in any way - sometimes they simply get distracted or don't realize they need to pay promptly. By requiring Immediate Payment we are drastically reducing this experience for buyers and subsequently increasing sales for our sellers. Creating more streamlined experiences for our members strengthens our brand and benefits everyone. While I know there are certain situations pertaining to shipping discounts and invoices that I am working to have reviewed for improvements, the IPR changes are something that have benefited the site by helping to retain and grow our customer base.

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But they totally missed that MOST unpaid items are either auctions or FP where the seller hadn't added IPR. I don't see how the forced IPR helps anyone except those too lazy to check their selling options and choose IPR if that's what they were concerned with.

But NOTHING - especially NOT this forced IPR on FP listings - is going to solve the unpaid AUCTIONS thing.