Combined shipping rules/profiles

[jcummings0976]

I have been sending out revised invoices in the past, but I was hoping there was a way to automate them. All of my items are the same size (comic books), but I am restricted by the weight and stacked height. Items 1-3 can ship together for $6, but once they add a 4th item I have to change my shipping from an envelope to a parcel, $20. When they add an 11th item, I have to switch from a parcel to a box, $25.

Under shipping preferences I have combined payment and shipping "specified" to allow buyers to combine payments.

Under flat shipping rules I have created 10 profiles. Book 2 adds $0, book 3 adds $0, book 4 add $14...book 11 add $5.

When I go to business policies and select my default shipping, check the box that says " Apply my flat shipping rule with profile name", it only lets me select one of the ten profiles I have created. So Book 2 add $0 will be connected to book 3, 4, 5, 6, so it won't add the $14 at book 4.

I feel like I'm missing a step?

Thanks in advance!

[pjcdn2005]

  I'm in Canada as well but you've posted on the .com board and the way that they may set up shipping isn't necessarily the way we would or could do it on ca with Canada Post.   I'm not aware of any way to do what you are suggesting as you can only associate one rule with a listing.  But I don't use business policies so perhaps you can more there than I'm aware of.

You can set a mamimum  shipping cost if you use a promotional shipping rule on .ca but I'm not sure if that would help you.

Are the rates that you are suggesting for shipping to Canada or to the US? You can set up a shipping rule for domestic and one for international.  For international you may want to use calculated shipping.  I'm not sure why your rate for one comic book to the US is at the rate that you use but you could use calculated shipping and ship a comic book up to 251g  to the US  for approx $8 if you use ebay shipping labels.  251g up to 500g would be around $10.  Or you could use tracked packet prices but set your own rates since their prices are based on weight, not dimensions or distance like expedited is.

Are you using higher rate for one comic to encourage people to buy two or more?   I'm not certain what a comic weighs but you might want to set your rate for shipping one within Canada for slightly cheaper than what you have it at now, then add $2 for each one so that it gradually works up to a parcel rate. Approximately how much does 1 comic weight?

There is a Canadian sellers board where you could get more idea about shipping when using Canada Post so you might want to post there too.      https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/bd-p/213Some

[whitewaterford · Accepted solution]

@jcummings0976 You have an interesting situation, mainly because there is such a gap in cost between book 3 and 4 from $6 to $20.  Keep in mind there is nothing preventing you from sending multiple envelopes for the same order.  For example, let's say someone orders 6 books ... why not mail them two envelopes @ 2*$6 = $12 instead of $20?  As a buyer, I'm sure I'd much prefer getting a lower price rather than the big jump.  OK so, keeping in mind that you can send multiple envelopes if necessary to keep the cost down for you and the buyer, a simple solution is doing something like this:

Set up a simple flat profile that specifies $6 plus $2 for each additional book.  That way both you and the buyer are getting a bonus for multiple purchases.

# Books	Buyer Postage Paid	Seller Postage Paid	How
1	$6	$6	1 $6 env
2	$8	$6	1 $6 env
3	$10	$6	1 $6 env
4	$12	$12	2 $6 env
5	$14	$12	2 $6 env
6	$16	$12	2 $6 env
7	$18	$18	3 $6 env
8	$20	$18	3 $6 env
9	$22	$18	3 $6 env
10	$24	$24	4 $6 env
11	$26	$24	4 $6 env
12	$28	$24	4 $6 env
13	$30	$25	1 pkg

[jcummings0976]

Thanks for the answer. The US rate is higher because it includes the tracking and insurance. I set that up before they had their new collectibles lite pricing. 
my rates are set up using CanPost guidelines of 500g max, and 2cm max height. So basically 3 comic books. Sometimes I can get 4 in under the limit, for $6. Once I go over that limit, CanPost charges ~$18, hence the jump in my pricing,

[jcummings0976]

This sounds like a very logical approach. I’ll make a profile for my shipping and see how it goes. 

Thanks!