Why is eBay telling my sellers I do not combine shipping? I can find no place to check this. I alwa.

[chapeau-noir]

Go to your Shipping Preferences page, select edit, then "Allow combined payments and shipping".

More on combined shipping.

[shipscript]

Fixing the link to the combined shipping help page:

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/shipping-items/shipping-rates/offering-combined-shipping?id=4169

[deltilogical]

Is there a problem with international customers combining orders while using the website, now? 

I have a customer with the same problem.  I have the setting "specified" but the actual specification doesn't show it on the page. not a problem until recently.  But some buyers don't have a problem. This a longtime customer who has combined orders repeatedly, but ebay keeps changing things so I don't know what to tell the customer anymore. 

[buyselljack2016]

Just to note:

for your international shipping,from what I have read EIS (replaced GSP) does not do combined.

[deltilogical]

"for your international shipping, EIS does not do combined."

All I know is the buyer cannot combine shipping now.  Just tried again.  2 weeks ago there was no problem. 

Are you saying now international buyers cannot combine shipping.  I don't know what EIS is.   WHat setting is that -, thanks.

[shipscript]

@deltilogical 

eBay International Shipping (EIS) is the replacement for eBay's Global Shipping Program (GSP).  Neither allows combining orders because the tariff rates may differ by item type. If you have multiples of the same type of item to ship internationally (ephemera in your case), I would recommend cancelling the sales and relisting the multiple items a single listing (as long as the total value is under the $500 limit for EIS) so that the buyer can repurchase.

[pjcdn2005]

You're not using EIS so the comments about it don't apply to you.

What do you mean by the buyer not being able to combine shipping? They can't request an invoice or ??

[quicksilverdiecast]

ebays idea of combining items is not a real world situation, as they do not combine they add, but before we go any further you all should read in ebays customer service area at "How to combine shipping and why" and once you read it, it is lengthy, you will find out that ZERO none nadda works as they way they instruct you. But after being here on ebay for 27 years you begin to see things that once what worked fine no longer work and some even go as far as hindering commerce costing you sales and them a substantial amount of fees lost across the entire platform. With that being said lets take a look. 1 ebay's shopping cart: this is a joke and was not needed as things worked near perfect before the cart...So here is a scenerio that is not some convoluted situation, but is actually the 1st and most common sense one and it is combining shipping....answer is you cannot! The buyer comes to your store and finds numerous items he wants, ebay forces the buyer to use the cart(that does not work). Ok being a buyer using a shopping cart in a sellers store 1st thing that is common sense and rightly so is that the buyer ASSUMES the seller can see the items he has chosen, since after all he is in one store and using the cart....well the answer is NO the seller cannot see what the buyer has from your store in the shopping cart....HOWEVER ebay also does NOT mention in any way shape or form that you the seller has a buyer(who s ready to spend money in your store) with a shopping cart full of items he wants to buy and get a combined shipping total(common sense also as well as a strong positive business practice that a customer appreciates greatly) so here sets a buyer who now assumes you are either ignoring him or do not offer combine shipping and sooner or later will get annoyed by lack of response, but you as the seller are none the wiser, since ebay fails to inform you. The seller then simply goes away leaving a bad taste in his mouth (wrongly) about the seller, resulting in loss of sales and loss of ebay fees associated with the transaction that was just lost...... While I do not sell on other platforms like Amazon etsy Walmart to name a few I do buy on there often and they have no such problems in shipping getting it right from beginning to end. Back to the why transaction was lost.... Now your probably thinking that my cart works ok....and I say do you really know for sure it does? No you do not...because unless the buyer actually sends you a message regarding his order...you WILL NEVER KNOW or be the WISER leaving you the seller no way to try to salvage the sale, due to problems caused by ebay and not the seller....you most likely will also never see this potential customer come back to your store again either...So lets go further and say your buyer has inquired directly to you and ask to combine his order, however you cannot again since you cannot see what the buyer has in his cart from your store it makes it really really hard to combine accurately anything! I will offer you an analogy of this. You go grocery shopping and fill your cart with stuff you wanted, you finish up and head off to the checkout and suddenly ebay jumps in the middle and will not let the cashier see what the buyer has!!!! SALES LOST!. So the buyers comes back and asks to just send him an invoice so he can pay for the item he wants....ebay will not let sellers do that either. The ebay instructions declare for the buyer to hit the request a new total button to send to seller to combine items and send back the invoice for buyers to pay...NOPE cannot do that either because most claim there is no button present, nor easily found, and if there is one it is not operable until the buyer commits and pays for the items...now if you have been with ebay any amount of time you know that ebay blocks sellers from making any changes once an item is paid for....so ebay you contradict yourself (to coin phrase from you) "I guarantee it". So the buyer lets say has his cart with 4 different decals and as well all kniow decals do not weigh much and you can put a lot of decals in one hardback mailer and still be with the 1-4oz 1st class USPS shipping rate. So in the real world the buyer would pay a total of roughly 4-5.00 depending on location(USA) FOR HIS COMBINED TOTAL. In Ebays world they force the buyer into this, they add each decals shipping total together, so if 1 decal calculates within that 1-4oz class and shipping is 4.00, then ebay adds the second decal another 4.00 and so on, so for 4 decals what should be 4-5.00 in the real world, now costs the buyer 4.00x4 decals and has a total ADDED shipping amount of 16.00.   Now when a buyer is aware of shipping things they will go as far as saying "it is a decal, how much can it weigh, stick a forever stamp on an envelope and mail it(nope ebay doesn't like that either)" So you can see why their hair catches on fire expecting them to pay 16.00, roughly 11.00 more than what it should have been, again all the while assuming the seller has created this mess...end result sales lost as they buyer refuse to be ripped off on shipping, nor would I. Now lets take it further down the rabbit hole...if by chance the buyer simply goes ahead and pays the absurd shipping total, the seller now is at risk of getting both a neg feedback and or a ding on the star chart that leads other buyer to judge if your shipping costs are reasonable!( I disagree with this aspect as well as it is ebays fault and not the sellers. and ebay should have a public feedback record on how well they perform with their customers(sellers). I have had ebay techs tell me they are aware of this problem(yet does nothing about it for 2 years now) to telling me to have the buyer call them and they will help them figure it out(another contradiction since ebay no longer provides a phone number for customer service) unless of course you are a special person who has a concierge number. So far what you have read can be backed up as I have saved the many questions of buyers on this issue. however the ones with the cart that no one knows exists gets away unknown. You wonder where sales are going. And if ebay would change it back before the cart which was very plain and simple and could be calculated accurately and reasonable to generate sales, repeat customers and good ebay experience.....No the way it USED to work was great, a buyer could choose as many items as he wish and as long as he did not pay for any of the items, they showed up on the seller hub as sold but not yet paid for with a notice to send a combined invoice, so if you clicked on any one of the items of that particular buyer it would automatically pull each piece he wanted to buy and the seller could check the boxes at what could and could not be combined and since you beig the seller and knowing your products since you listed them, you can zip down thru and give a combined shipping total send em back the NEW invoice, they paid it I shipped it and all was well in Oz..seller made a sale ebay gain fees and customer was happy....using the "KISS" theory keep it simple stupid! So now tell me on the lords green earth what was the idea of putting a cart that does not work, is very confusing for both buyer and seller, AND losses sales and fees a good thing? Also do not tell me to create shipping rules as it cannot be done when you have 3000+ listings and range in size from 2oz up 50lbs from a bubble mailer to a large shipping box, how one goes about it in any way that makes it even reasonably close to being accurate, not counting time lost revising and trying to figure out each different rule for each combo of 3,000 different items.....you can't the same as ebays new ebay motors guaranteed fitment mess they are creating and know NOTHING about the autoparts industry....Hey ebay where is my guaranteed fitment chart app for my 1909 Hupmobile(yes they made them), and while you are at it I need a starter for a 1969 Dodge Charger R/T with as you compat chart say was made witha 318 v8(Nope sorry Chrysler never made a 69 Charger R/T with a 318, only 440's and Hemis!) and THAT I CAN GUARANTEE! 

[deltilogical]

That is what the buyer tells me, I asked for a cropped screenshot showing this but didn't get it.  This is a knowledgeable buyer who just did a large combined purchase last week.  I'm going to take a deep breath and log off tonite and sign in in the morning and hope I connect to a server that is not running experiments and tests.   I have a bunch of auctions closing and normally combine winning auctions - we'll see what happens.  

If I have to do as shipscript suggests I should be getting a fee waiver. I know, this is not the humor forum. 

[quicksilverdiecast]

Those instructions do not apply as they no longer work. Here is why...the shopping cart is faulty in design. Buyers put items in cart and then TRY to request a new total, however the button in many cases is not there, and then if it is there it will not work UNTIL the buyer commits and pays for the items which are NOT combined, but shipping is added for each item.  And since the buyer was forced to pay for items beforehand, we all know as sellers the ebay policy blocks sellers from making any changes....the instructions you listed the link for USED to work Before the cart, and worked near flawlessly, was very simple, easy to use and provided the buyer good customer service on shipping....but the shopping cart does fit ebays image..."if it isn't broke we will fix it"

[ittybitnot]

Buyers put items in cart and then TRY to request a new total, however the button in many cases is not there, and then if it is there it will not work UNTIL the buyer commits and pays for the items which are NOT combined, but shipping is added for each item. 

@quicksilverdiecast  @shipscript 

As a buyer I have had the same issue for YEARS.  The only time it works for me without a problem is when I have multiple "wins" on AUCTION items from the same seller.  Those auction wins are put in my cart (by eBay and not by me), and I am allowed to use the "request total button".  

Ever since eBay went to the cart system in lieu of the old "commit to buy and continue shopping with this seller" it has been nothing but drama otherwise.   Even if the seller allows 'combined shipping' which infers combining items into one parcel for lesser shipping costs,  it does not work. 

The "request total button" does not function.  If it is clickable at all it will throw an error message saying the seller doesn't combine (even if they do). 

Yes, you can pay for all the items at once, but the assessed shipping will be charged for each item.  So, purchasing ten items that had a shipping fee of $5 each (that combined weight is 3 ounces) results in a $50 shipping charge for the three ounce parcel.   The buyer needs to pay it, or they don't get the merchandise.  The seller can refund the difference, but they are NOT required to do so. 

The "request total" button does not function. 

I use a computer, but if one uses a mobile app, last time I checked there is no "request total" button at all, much less a non-functional one. 

There are other reasons why the 'request total' button does not function as well.  For fixed price listings, the button will by greyed out if any of the following apply.  I am sure this list is not all inclusive. You will not be allowed to request to combine if

any of the items are "on sale" 

some are auction wins/others fixed price/accepted offers

items are of different shipping classes

any item is already paid for

etc. 

eBay is aware of this, but has been insisting for years their cart system has been working as intended.  When they did not return final value fees for partial refunds on shipping or the added 30 cents each, I imagine this was intentional as a monetary issue.  I don't know if it is related to their "making items under $1K immediate payment required, even if the seller did not select it" deal they had going either. 

We know as well, that for some when offers need to be 'pre-funded' combined shipping to save on postage is totally off the table.  Seller who now use the new eBay international shipping program will have to send everything separately. 

Again, as a buyer, it is generally NOT a happy buyer experience. 

[sextons-sweet-deals]

I rechecked my settings and bumped it from 5 days to 7 day period. 

I really don't think buyers are even aware. Maybe I'm missing something, but when I look at things to possibly by on eBay, I never see anything that tells me the seller offers combined shipping. 

I would guess that I have had only one buyer ask about combined shipping in the past five years. 

[quicksilverdiecast]

eBay is aware of this, but has been insisting for years their cart system has been working as intended.  When they did not return final value fees for partial refunds on shipping or the added 30 cents each, I imagine this was intentional as a monetary issue.  I don't know if it is related to their "making items under $1K immediate payment required, even if the seller did not select it" deal they had going either. 

I was unaware that ebay did not credit me back the partial fees after I have refunded some of the buyers whose shipping was way off...but you can bet tomorrow I will find out and they will be issuing credit.

[ittybitnot]

I was unaware that ebay did not credit me back the partial fees after I have refunded some of the buyers whose shipping was way off..

@quicksilverdiecast 

They may do it now.  I don't know, but remember reading about it.