Ebay no longer permits combined shipping.

[quicksilverdiecast]

Here is a sample of the messages I have been getting from buyers, at least 10 so far this week...

Now since ebay has it so screwed up I have no real answer at how to complete the transaction, I know back before the cart and when problems cropped up sellers could still use PP to salvage a sale.

I also have all the shipping preferences set up correctly.

Anyone have a work around or tool to disable the cart, that way sales will begin to increase, I read thru the forums of everyone who is disappointed in lack of sales...a big part of that is ebay.

(Ebay buyer)

"Hi, I am interested in doing "Buy It Now" (BIN) on 3 of your 1965 El Camino items and I would like to have them shipped in one package to save on shipping cost. How do I go about doing this? How do I avoid paying the upfront shipping cost when I try to do a BIN for each item? Also, doing the "cart" thing doesn't seem to help much in this matter. I'll await your response. Thanks, Greg."

I have gotten messages from buyers saying they have stuff in the cart and need a combine total, yet ebay does not let sellers see what is in the cart! 

[quicksilverdiecast]

and here is today ebay rip off Charged the buyer double shipping! Since ebays shopping cart provides NO WAY for sellers to combine and adjust shipping to accurately reflect a fair shipping cost amount....see ya again tomorrow with another report

 

 

What buyer paid:

Item subtotal (2)

$11.96

Shipping

$10.55

Sales tax*

$1.66

Order total**

$24.17

[pjcdn2005]

"What I am saying is on those 2 items ebay will not let them be combined, as you cannot request total without paying in advance of the request, now this is about as stupid as it can get....Buyer chooses 2 items and put them in his cart, if the button is there, the buyer cannot use it until he pays for both items first"

----------------------------------------

That isn't how it works.  If the buyer is using a computer rather than using an app, they should see the request total button.  Clicking on that request total button does NOT require the buyer to pay right away.  It does 'commit' them to buying which means that if they don't pay they can get an unpaid item strike. But once they request total/commit to buy the seller can see the items in the cart and can send a combined shipping invoice.    The request button does not work in the app or if some of the items in the cart are on sale, have free shipping or if the seller set up on their listings 'requires immediate payment.'

[mystic.mana.crystals]

@quicksilverdiecastonce you have set up combined shipping rules they will be shown to potential buyers under the "shipping, returns, payments" tab of your listing. by setting up combined shipping rules it allows buyers to add multiple items to their cart and the shipping will automatically combine/discount according to the rules you have set for those items (this makes it so buyers no longer need to request an invoice to get combined shipping and can use the cart quickly and easily to checkout)

[mystic.mana.crystals]

I hope you dont feel that I am hijacking your post with my response - didnt want to start another thread all together because this comes down to the same basic problem that ebay needs to address regarding combined shipping & their shopping cart.

The biggest problem I face as a seller with combined shipping/discounts is when a buyer wants to purchase multiple items to take advantage of my free shipping offer (i offer free shipping on orders for 3+ qualifying items meaning only some items in my store are part of this offer, others are too big/heavy so i do offer a combined shipping discount but cannot offer free shipping no matter how many items are bought) and much like @quicksilverdiecast I receive messages all the time from potential buyers asking me how to do this or to help them because of x, y, or z that prevents them from combining shipping. This is not only a waste of my time, as well as their time but often results in losing sales because ebay lacks a simple way for buyers to place multi-quantity orders in order to save $ on shipping.

sometimes it is quick, easy & straightforward for buyers to place an order and the shipping will do what it is supposed to do according to my rules and all is good for me and my buyer -- this happens if they add 3 qualifying items to their cart and then go to their cart and checkout since my combined shipping rule kicks in and automatically discounts the shipping cost for the order if the order has 3 items in it that are part of my free shipping offer...         HOWEVER there are many instances when it does not work easily or as it should...    i am hoping someone can suggest a GOOD workaround for these instances that I have not thought of or even better maybe one day soon ebay will address these glitches so I do not continue to lose sales and/or repeat buyers because of it. This may sound like Im jumping to conclusions but just like  @quicksilverdiecast  said these problems cause us to lose out on sales. there is no question that i have lost both buyers as well as sales due to ebays oversight on the way combined shipping works - sometimes buyers even think i am trying to rip them off or other times they really want to place an order, so they will reach out to me, asking what they are doing wrong but unfortunately i dont have an answer for them which usually means i lose the sale yet again...

The following are situations when my combined shipping rules dont work or cant work (if buyers are unable to get all the items they want into their cart before being forced to pay for things individually)

a) a buyer accepts an offer on an item that i sent them but also wants to purchase 2 more items so they can get free shipping... if an offer is accepted but has not yet been paid for isnt it supposed to show up in the buyers cart? i know that it does some of the time (in which case the buyer can then just add whatever other items they want to buy from me to their cart and then choose "pay only this seller" and combined shipping rules will kick in) - but other times buyers say that they do not see the item that they accepted the offer for in their cart- what then???

b) a buyer has accepted an offer i sent them and have not yet paid for it because they want to purchase 2 more items at the same offer price (which is fine by me) in order to also get my free shipping on 3 items.

What is the best way for me to proceed in this instance???

   (I have come up with 2 ways to proceed but they are both very inefficient and have problems)

       #1) I can send a new invoice to the buyer and add on "additional charges" in the amount that 2 more items would cost. This at least gives the buyer an invoice for the correct total amount that they can pay for right away, BUT it does not show that the qty changed (i usually just put a note on invoice saying what the additional charges are for but imo this looks ghetto and very unprofessional) or officially show the buyer what 3 items are being purchased. EBAY - WHY NOT ALLOW SELLERS TO EDIT/CREATE INVOICES FOR BUYERS WHEN REQUESTED? (i know that sellers can "edit" invoices but lets be real - currently this option is very limited - sellers should be able to add additional items to an invoice for a buyer if a buyer wants them to - even if it is a different item that the buyer has not already "agreed to purchase" aka accepted an offer for- sellers should also be able to change the qty on an invoice!!! This would make my life SO much easier and INCREASE MY SALES - AND MAKE BUYERS HAPPY - buyers dont understand when they ask you to do this why you cant do this for them since on any other platform or any other store this could be done no problem. this causes sellers to look unprofessional and may even make buyers not want to purchase from you because they think you are lying to them if you say you cant do this and/or that you are trying to scam them or over charge them - plus by the time they message you and you respond (saying you cant do the simplest thing such as add more items to their invoice) it has become more of a hassle than its worth and give up on placing an order with you because its too complicated...

     #2 I can tell the buyer to go to the item page and put in an offer for qty 2 at $___/ea but to be sure not to pay for them until I have accepted the offer and sent them a combined invoice for all 3 items with free shipping.

This presents several problems -

1) people are in a hurry and dont want to have to go put in more offers and wait ect so sometimes they just dont follow through and the sale is lost

2) this requires too many steps on the buyers behalf and they accidentally do something wrong during the process (sometimes they only put in an offer for 1 more even though they want a total of 3-othertimes they put the offers in correctly but they complete the sale and pay for 2 of them (even tho they want a total of 3 and want free shipping)- or sometimes they are told that when they submit an offer they must provide payment info before submitting the offer and ebay takes it upon themselves to automatically charge the buyer for the 2 items (plus shipping) when the offer is accepted which means the buyer has overpaid and now it is too late for me to combine those 2 with the other 1 that they accepted an offer on.

Sorry for writing a novel - just really hoping that these issues can be addressed as it would benefit many sellers and buyers and boost sales and revenue for ebay as well!

[quicksilverdiecast]

your posts are welcome as they only way ebay will address this is if it becomes a firestorm from both buyers and sellers.

[quicksilverdiecast]

Hi but that is how it works, as none of my items are immediate payment(as I knew way back when I started buyers would be purchasing multiple items), I Only have about 6 items out of 3000 that have free shipping only because I have not changed those and are not high volume selling items, nor do I use any of the ebay marketing options like sales or promoted etc. as I really have no use for them and know that it will only cause issues down the road(as you can see by everyone else's postings on those issues) I learned long ago writing for a month publication to keep things simple, that way those would read it would be able to understand with the least amount of confusion otherwise they walk away(as they do here) as this has been going on for approx. 2 years now and the buyers whom have contacted me I had them tell me what happens on their end and how they have attempted it. Those who have contacted ebay send me back what ebay has told them, in many cases they give no answers. Numerous IT tickets have been written against this issue, have had ebay actually go thru my setting to see if setting something up differently on my end, including any kind of shipping rules and have come up with no answers. 

The bottom line is simply, a buyer should be able to request a total for a multiple item purchase before they pay, as well as a seller being able to see his stores items in the cart and be notified that a buyers cart exists with items in it ready to check out before being forced to make payment.

For those sellers who have been on here for awhile, before the cart was out in will remember how easy and simple it was to do. However now with the cart it creates confusion on both buyers and sellers points, loses sales, angers both buyers and sellers. When sellers have an large inventory of items ranging from a decal to mufflers etc. with many different weights and dimensions the number of shipping rules would be impossible to do, this was even admitted too by ebays upper level techs. Even some of the techs who are also sellers were unaware of this until the tried it and looked into it. If it was on my end it would have been sorted out and made to work long ago. If I could figure a way to disable or remove the cart from my store it would have been gone long ago.

The Only issue that ever cropped up before the cart was if the buyer had paid for any of the items, that item could not added in with the unpaid items, as ebay policy is once paid for no changes can be made, and even then a seller could work from that shipping cost on the paid item, and the adjust the unpaid items shipping against the paid shipping. example the paid for item shipping was 5.00 (this would be you starting point base) and the rest of the items could be adjusted shipping wise to reflect a combined shipping total and say you would need to add another say 3.00 to the already paid shipping shipping and then once paid on those items, all could be shipped in one package with the buyer getting a fair combined shipping amount and simply copy and paste tracking number on each item in that package. But that was then, now with the cart with buyers being forced to pay for items they are stuck.

[quicksilverdiecast]

3/27/2023 today's ebay rip off of customer on shipping:

(ebay buyer #1)

Here are the 2 item numbers he purchased 360693852390 & 362001781308 which when properly combined by seller would at best be 5.00 ish...however here is what the buyer was FORCED to pay..

--------------------------------------------------------

"What your buyer paid"

Item subtotal (2)

$12.41

Shipping

$10.75<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<(5.75 OVER CHARGE)

Sales tax*

$1.30

[stainlessenginecovers]

...

[quicksilverdiecast]

3/27/2023 

(ebay buyer #2)

Here are the 2 item numbers he purchased 360693751736 & 370931129799 which when properly combined by seller would at best be 5.00 ish...however here is what the buyer was FORCED to pay..

"What your buyer paid"

Item subtotal (2)

$12.83

Shipping

$10.39<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<(5.39 OVERCHARGED BUYER)

Sales tax*

$1.62

[stainlessenginecovers]

Not sure, but I don't believe the system will allow combining on eBay Motors for the simple reason that 

2 items combined would change the weight and increase the cost.

I've been selling in eBayMotors for 12 years, although all my items 'require' immediate payment. When I did charge for shipping, buyers would just pay (or I would tell them to) and then 'refund' what wasn't used.

After all, a 10 lb thing might cost $30 to ship. If they add a 5lb thing, combined is now MORE than $30, but maybe 'less' than the 2 combined. 

Nobody would know until it is packaged. 

Even 'stickers'; buy 1 and it's $4 buy 10 and it might have to go Priority and then it's $14. 

Anyway, why can't you simply tell customers to 'pay' as shown and you will refund once it's packaged? I've been doing it that way off/on (when I don't have free shipping) for years and never lost 1 sale. 

800 items sold in 90 days is less than 10 a day, maybe 1 or 2 are 'combined' so it wouldn't be 'overwhelming' 

[quicksilverdiecast]

Ebay can not even get this right when you copy an paste information and this RED window pops up 

"Correct the highlighted errors and try again."

LOL apparently they neglect to highlight the errors so you can correct and try again....somehow it does not surprise me...

[quicksilverdiecast]

3/27/2023 today's ebay rip off of customer on shipping:

(ebay buyer #3)

Here are the 2 item numbers he purchased 361142823958 & 362902145140 which when properly combined by seller would at best be 5.00 ish...however here is what the buyer was FORCED to pay..

--------------------------------------------------------

"What your buyer paid"

Item subtotal (2)

$11.96

Shipping

$10.55<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<5.00 Overcharged by ebay

Sales tax*

$1.66

[quicksilverdiecast]

Which is a good reason to dump the cart as this hinderance was not there BEFORE they added the cart,.

The transaction then was simple easily understood buy all and caused little if any loss of sales.

The buyer chose as many items and qtys as he wanted and then sat back until a grand total of items and combined shipping was sent back to him.

When on the seller's side it showed up on the sold chart showing unpaid(as it should) and once seller clicked on any of the chosen items it popped up in a new window with all items under that buyers id and check box before each item, this worked perfect since the seller knows his items and what can safely be combined and what not, those boxes were checked and appropriate shipping was applied. If any of the items could not be combine the seller simply repeat the process and sent a second invoice with the notice stating such to the buyer, then all the buyer had to was make payment, if he does not he then get NPB's from ebay...pretty simple easy for EVERYONE to understand and WORKED FOR EVERYONE without discrimination where buyers using ebays phone app are discriminated against due to ebay providing a faulty app design that eliminated the most important part by not letting buyers request combined shipping, nor even a button to request with....the end result is LOST SALES, not due to anything the seller has done or can change. Lost fees generated to ebay(and they want to raise fee rates to sellers which only increases raised prices to buyers) whereas if ebay would FIX THIS ISSUE would begin generating a great amount of more fees due to increased sales(vs the ones lost because of ebay) I cannot think of a better way to describe one shoot off his own foot. But hey it is easier to raise fees and ignore the problem...rest assured it is growing and other buyers and sellers are becoming aware of this and will become impossible to ignore 

[from_me_2_you]

I have a few cut and paste messages, such as:

I will gladly combine your purchases to save on individual shipping costs EVEN if you do not ask.

Will combine your purchases to save on shipping costs. Once it goes over 1# generally USPS PRIORITY IS USED and insured at no extra cost.

Will combine your purchases to save on shipping costs, over payment refunded.

Use and or combine messages, by the way, buyers generally do not even read them.

Then, of course there is FREE SHIPPING (with the estimated cost added to the auction price(s).

[quicksilverdiecast]

Well I must say there may be a crack in the window so to speak, we will see if it will continue.

The last two days I have had 2 different buyers show up in my seller hub with multiple items he chose...and were unpaid....giving me the ability to check the boxes and combine the items into 1 parcel and fair and reasonable combined shipping costs....and without any issues. Straight forward and simple and buyers paid for their order and has been shipped. 

With that being said I also need to express my greatest appreciation to whom ever has been paying attention and following this thread and made an effort to fix the issues surrounding this matter.

Just so there is no confusion these are sales within the USA and not EIS international sales.

Also know I really disliked having to be this aggressive and posting continuously to get someone to pay attention and actually do something, but the ends justified the means...I only hope it continues to work in this manner going forward...I will keep updating this progress awhile longer until I feel it sticks and does not revert back.

THANK YOU!