How to collect shipping charges for each like item when someone purchases multiple like items.

[earnie-50]

If you have a listing for multiple quantity of one item, how do you make sure shipping is collected for each.  For instance, if I listed 20 available of item Y and someone bought 5, all that is collected is 1 shipping charge, say $4.  Yet, it will cost $20 shipping because they can not be bundled in the same $4 box.

[richard1rst]

You have 2 choices to make.

If you list the shipping as a flat rate, then you can specify $x for each additional item. If you prefer you can list $4 for the first item and $4 for each additional item. Bear in mind that distance also comes into play so the actual shipping may vary depending on the buyer's ZIP code.

OR

If you list as calculated shipping based on weight (not a set specific amount) AND you accurately insert the size and weight of the package then eBay will add all the weight together and bill based on whatever weight that is. (They tend to ignore the size of the box).

You mentioned that 5 will not fit the $4 box. But can they be put into a box of whatever size without exceeding one cubic foot? If so then the second choice would seem to be better. But I have some items that are large enough that even 2 exceeds the cubic foot so you might want to go back to the first option.

Hope this helps.