Global Shipping Program buyer not able to Add To Cart and Request Invoice for USA combined shipping

[cinema_visions]

Hi everyone- I am an American seller with a buyer in Japan who uses the Global Shipping Program and wants to buy 4 items from my eBay Store. I charge $8 shipping but always combine shipping to a flat rate $8 for any number of items as they are all the same size small flat movie posters.  My USA customers are easily able to Add To Cart and Request Invoice for me to adjust shipping.  When the buyer in Japan tries this, they get an error message saying they can't do that.  The 4 items are currently in the "Awaiting Payment" part of my Seller Hub, and when I try to send an invoice I also get a red warning error that I can't do that.  This makes no sense.  I should be able to ship the package of items to whatever airport inside the USA that eBay uses for Japan, whether the one in Kentucky or wherever, and then eBay can deal with the international shipping charges however they want with the buyer.  I have sent many items via the GSP to buyers in Europe but that was one item at a time and they paid the flat $8 fee for my part of the shipping, but why this buyer can't request an invoice for combined shipping from me for the USA leg of the shipping journey is just wrong.  Advice?  

[evry1nositswindy]

You cannot combine shipping with the global shipping program.

[cinema_visions]

Hi- Thank you for the reply.  But according to this buyer, they can normally request an invoice from a seller for combined shipping.  I've checked the buyer's feedback and they have bought large quantities, 5+ to 20+,  of film posters and photos at one time from other sellers that they say had combined shipping for the USA part of the shipping journey.  Right now eBay wants to charge this buyer roughly $16 per item to ship to Japan, and the items they want to buy from me are all in the $5.99 to $7.99 range, so I tend to believe that the buyer has been able to receive combined shipping before, so I don't know why it won't work from me as I enable combined shipping, or there is a glitch in the eBay system or in my seller settings...???? 

[evry1nositswindy]

Maybe someone else will have a work around, but as far as I know, you cannot combine shipping. 

I had this come up and I made a separate listing with multiple items for the buyer as a work around, but this won't work if the buyer has already purchased the items.

[donsdetour]

If you desire to lose your protection with global: ship in a single package;

Other wise ship separate.

[cinema_visions]

Hi- Thank you for the additional reply.  Combining all items into one listing specific to that buyer is a creative idea, and the buyer has not paid for any items yet as the items are still in his Cart though I advised him to empty the cart until a solution is found.  

I have been checking other threads on this topic and most indicate that combined shipping even for the USA part of shipping is not allowed for buyers using the GSP, so now I am wondering if maybe the buyer is misleading me and all those other multiple purchases with combined shipping were from sellers who had agreed to ship directly to Japan and thus bypass the need for the buyer to use the eBay Global Shipping Program, in which case I have wasted probably now a couple of hours' worth of time trying to find a solution to a problem that has no solution as it is not possible, all for set of transactions worth less than $30.  

[donsdetour]

"all for set of transactions worth less than $30. "

The less it is usually the more trouble... LOL

Yep the suggestion of relist em as a lot would be the correct way by eBay and global to do such...

[cinema_visions]

Hi- Thank you for the reply.  The buyer has not actually paid for the items yet,  I have advised the buyer to not buy the items unless we figure out a solution because I don't want to have to pack 4 separate packages and ship them to the GSP airport for the same buyer if there is any way to figure this out.  It just seems ridiculous to me that eBay won't allow combined shipping within the USA if the shipping address is just an airport in Kentucky.  

[stephenmorgan]

Since you already made the sale you can not change the shipping. 

What you can do is relist the 4 items into one listing with the correct shipping and sale it that way.

[cinema_visions]

Hi-  Thank you for the reply.  The point of this post is that the sale has NOT been made.  The buyer has not paid for anything yet.  The 4 items are in the buyer's Cart awaiting payment.  The buyer was able to put multiple items into their Cart all from the same seller, the seller being me, but is unable to request an invoice (for combined reduced shipping), which makes no sense. If Ebay forbids GSP buyers from receiving combined shipping, they would not allow a buyer to Add To Cart, which is normally what buyers do when requesting combined shipping, eBay would make buyers pay for each item and not allow the Cart option.  But because the Add To Cart option is there we are presuming there is a way for the buyer to request an invoice from the seller, but there doesn't seem to be, either from my end or the buyer's end. 

[stephenmorgan]

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@cinema_visions wrote:

Hi-  Thank you for the reply.  The point of this post is that the sale has NOT been made.  The buyer has not paid for anything yet.  The 4 items are in the buyer's Cart awaiting payment.  The buyer was able to put multiple items into their Cart all from the same seller, the seller being me, but is unable to request an invoice (for combined reduced shipping), which makes no sense. If Ebay forbids GSP buyers from receiving combined shipping, they would not allow a buyer to Add To Cart, which is normally what buyers do when requesting combined shipping, eBay would make buyers pay for each item and not allow the Cart option.  But because the Add To Cart option is there we are presuming there is a way for the buyer to request an invoice from the seller, but there doesn't seem to be, either from my end or the buyer's end. 

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The sale not being made yet is better than if they had already paid and wanted a refund.

Some reason the Global Shipping Program will not allow you to combine shipping.  It may have something to do with Import Taxes, I do not know?

There is also eBay's Standard International Shipping and I have been allowed to combine shipping with it.  So maybe this is the program your buyer used before to get the combined shipping.  Or maybe their seller used some other shipping service.

Just list the items together as a single listing.  As long as your package size and weight is correct they will be billed the correct amount for shipping.  You can check the shipping cost by scheduling the listing to start in the future.  Open the listing and input into the shipping box the country where you will be shipping to and you will see the price.  

With that price you may want to add another 14.55% of the shipping cost as a handling fee so you come close to breaking even.

It is no big deal.  I have done this many times and have sent 50 to 60 individually listed items that were relisted into one listing.  It makes it easier and I can get one insurance to cover everything.

[cinema_visions]

Thank you for the detailed reply.  This is all very good advice.  Basically, it comes down to the answer to my original question is that buyers who are using the eBay Global Shipping Program CANNOT request combined shipping and I as an eBay seller cannot combine shipping into one invoice for such buyers even though in my Seller Hub right now for the 4 items currently in that buyer's Cart in "Awaiting Payment" status there is literally the drop down menu that says "Send Invoice" but when I click it the big red NO YOU CAN'T bar shows up.

You have detailed other shipping options.  The items in this case are for about $25 in total and I frankly don't want to go to that much work and wind-up risk losing money based on whatever it costs to ship to Japan, but for potential sales in the $100+ those other shipping options might be worth the labor. 

[stephenmorgan]

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@cinema_visions wrote:

in my Seller Hub right now for the 4 items currently in that buyer's Cart in "Awaiting Payment" status there is literally the drop down menu that says "Send Invoice" but when I click it the big red NO YOU CAN'T bar shows up.

Yep, you absolutely are right, you will get the message you can not do it.

This has been going for a while, three years that I know of.  I have spent time on the phone with eBay about this issue.  The best they could do is to agree with me that I will relist the items combined into one listing and cancel the original listings.

[rfmtm]

Combining with GSP can be done, but not always, using the cart and a single payment.  Although you can't adjust the invoice for the USA part of the shipping, because ebay controls and sends a GSP invoice, the buyer still saves on the expensive international part of the cost.   One way around this is to put everything the buyer wants into a single listing.