Shipping Refunds

[pattimckellip-fowle0]

I had a customer who wanted bundled shipping for multiple items. However, she purchased individual shipping for each item. I do not know how to bundle shipping in this instance. Instead, I sent her items singly. She wants a refund for part of the shipping. I don't know how to do that either. Anyway, both of her items are now shipped and whatever I do is an after the fact kindness on her behalf. I don't know how to give her an after the fact reimbursement either. Does anyone know how or if I can do this?

Thanks,

Pattie

[mamacassidy · Accepted solution]

When someone buys multiple items, I pack them into one box. I then measure it and weigh it and print out a shipping label based on those numbers.

Then, I look at the total amount of shipping they paid, and I refund them the difference of what that shipping label cost. (I use USPS retail rates).

Go into the order and there is a drop down box for refund. Be sure to choose SHIPPING DISCOUNT and then issue the refund amount there. If there are multiple different orders, I just choose one of the items and send the refund. You could split it up between them all if you want, but I don't.

[ratoliprova]

If you go to you orders page for "awaiting shipment," you should be able to click the checkbox to select all items, and then above it, there will be a button that will say  "Shipping" click that and a drop down with "Get Shipping Label" should appear.

From there a different label creator will be opened and on the top right of that label creator will say "Combine" so you will want to select all of the items for the buyer and Combine it from there.  Then you can package everything into one box.

You also can buy a single Label and then add tracking and select it as shipped on the other item... But what happens there is you don't have proper Insurance, so this way, with Combining the order, you're able to get proper coverage from eBay/etc.

[mamacassidy]

I also wanted to add that you are not required to combine shipping unless you specifically agreed to it.

I know in your original post you said you are "doing a kindness on her behalf", but buyers don't just get to decide that shipping is different than what the listing says if you didn't offer combined shipping/ bundling.

Obviously we all want to make the buyers happy, but some of them will see you only have a few sales/ feedback and they'll try to bully you.

[pattimckellip-fowle0]

Thanks for this. If I've already shipped it in two separate packages, is there any way to retroactively figure out how much she would/could have gotten for bundled shipping? I know the combined shipping weight/size based on the individual weights/size and I know how much she paid for each individual package. But I don't know how much the bundled discount would have been.

I'm quite new at selling on eBay and have no idea where all of the information hides for shipping. I don't want to get dinged for late shipping and thought it better to ship individually than to delay shipping while I figured out what I was doing. 

Thanks so much,

Pattie

[pattimckellip-fowle0]

Thank you so much for your answer. I will now know to do this next time. I'm still trying to figure out if I can refund a portion of her shipping since I didn't bundle it. I know there is a small discount from eBay for bundling but I don't know how much it would be. I sent her packages yesterday. I know the weight/size of each and can easily add them together for a new total. I know how much she paid for shipping individually. The missing piece is the bundling price so I can figure out the difference. Then I'd have to figure out where go on eBay to issue the refund. To purchase shipping from USPS for the weight/size of her package would have been about the amount she actually paid. Her refund would be $1 or so. I'm just trying to keep a customer happy and I certainly would never want to cheat her out of any amount of money, no matter how little. If you have any other wisdom, I'd love to hear from you.

Thanks,

Pattie

[pattimckellip-fowle0]

Ahh, thank you so much for this information. I don't have bundled shipping listed as one of my options. Quite frankly, it's easier to not have to deal with. I don't mind bundling but eBay's instructions for doing it haven't been terribly helpful. I kind of accidentally clicked and found it once and went ahead and did it for a customer. But in this lady's case she purchased separately, then emailed and said she didn't know how to bundle it and she wanted me to do it after the fact. I told her I'd try to figure it out and that's what I'm doing. But unfortunately, I'd already purchased the shipping labels and it's turned into a headache. I'd feel differently if it was a larger sum of money involved, but it's a dollar  or so. She gave me an offer for the product and so got the product for a really good price. But she still wants a better deal for shipping. At this point, I think I've done plenty to try and figure things out. I'm not making a fortune selling--and my time is precious. Your affirmation and explanation is very helpful. Thanks so much.

Pattie

[mamacassidy]

As I mentioned above, I refund based on USPS retail prices.

If you google USPS shipping calculator, it will take you to a page where you can enter the to-and-from zip codes and then the weight (and size if it's an oversize box). This will tell you what the USPS rate would have been. For example, if each box you sent was 2lbs, then you can see what a 4lb box would have cost.

I don't know what this label would have cost with the ebay discount. 

Whenever I send a shipping refund, I always type a little message saying something like: I combined your items into one 4lb box for a shipping cost of $10. You paid a total of $15, so I am refunding you the difference of $5.

On a side note, you might consider giving yourself an extra day or 2 handling time if you feel rushed to get orders shipped out.

[wastingtime101]

Hi @pattimckellip-fowle0 - looks like you already got a lot of help, but I'd also like to direct you to the eBay help page as it provides a lot of information for different scenarios and how you can handle this in the future.

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

It explains combining both before and after payment, and offers information on invoices, combined shipping labels, and more.

Companion article about creating shipping labels for multiple orders to the same buyers (see the "tip").

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/posting-items/labels-packaging-tips/buying-printing-postage-labels...

[stephenmorgan]

---

@pattimckellip-fowle0 wrote:

 is there any way to retroactively figure out how much she would/could have gotten for bundled shipping?

Thanks so much,

Pattie

---

Try  using the eBay Shipping Calculator.

Click here and you can see the Retail Rate and eBay's discounted rate.

https://www.ebay.com/shp/calc/rates

[ratoliprova]

It's hard to know because you sent out 2 packages, so technically you did what you were supposed to with regards to that, but I don't know the actual rules with how this gets handled.  I would assume you would have used the total amount for each for both packages?  How big are your items?  I can usually put 2-3 items in one package that would be the same price as if it was 1 package, but many items are a lot larger, so I don't know what your use-case is.

Buyers can also request combined shipping from within the checkout area themselves, so I don't know if you are at fault because they didn't request that.

I've never had a buyer purchase like this, and then request a refund....  Normally I will be the one to offer to combine items by creating a new listing for both items to combine into a single price, so issues don't arise with shipping concerns, especially since the sizes of the package can vary, so I figure out the totals and then make a listing for them to purchase.

You also should be able to handle this within the Combined Shipping Option I mentioned in my previous post... However, since you sent out 2 packages, and didn't combine anything, I'm not sure how that would work out for you...

Hopefully someone who knows the rules will be able to help you more.