Requesting Combined Postage

[babel_bear]

On three separate occasions, I have tried to purchase from different sellers who list that they combine postage.  On each occassion I have placed multiple items in my cart and then requested a Combined Shiiping Invoice.  Each time I have already had an email conversation with the seller first to confirm a price for shipping, so it is only a formality to request this be applied to the items.  Every time I go to click on the button to request the Combined Invoice it tells me that the 'Seller does not Offer Combined Shipping'  and it will not allow me to proceed further.  

The only option is to accept the full charge if I wish to purchase the items.  They don't even process out of my cart, so the sale has not gone through.  All 3 sellers have confirmed by email that this is not a setting that they have put on thier seller accounts.

One seller I did proceed as I did not want to miss out on a sizes and then they refunded the difference through Paypal.  This worked OK, but is not ideal and I am sure they lost money paying fees on the full amount.  It is so frustrating that this seems to happen every time I want combined postage.  Is this a bug with ebay?  Or just a sneaky money grab??

[lyndal1838]

After I was told the seller did not combine postage I messaged them through one of the listings and waited too.  All that came through was an ebay invoice with full postage.

It was a problem that was discussed on the boards at the time, mostly from the sellers point of view.

[digital*ghost]

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@lyndal1838 wrote:

Digi, in my case the items were not immediate payment and were put in the cart within a 20 minute period.   The sellers both made a feature of combined postage (I have dealt with both of them on a regualr basis for several years).

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I figured it might be a long shot 😄 But thought it was worth putting out there if it could override another one of ebay's favourable (to them) disfunctions. 

[andybal]

I wanted to buy two buy it now items from a seller. I put both items into the cart. Then sent a request to the seller for combined postage (have dealt with this seller many times and seller advised that when he sees the items he will combine postage. So I tried to send an emial to the seller. It said seller does not offer combined postage.

I tried sending him an email. Ebay said we are not going to send that email because you are trying to make the transaction outside of Ebay.  For one or two items it is not a big deal except the seller then usually pays some money back to me. However Ebay takes tax out for Australian GST and they never repay that.

I sometimes buy 30 or 40 postmarks from a seller - each stamp is cheap but each has a postage fee . Even if the seller refunds postage I lose the extra 10% taken from postage (on last order from one seller this was in excess US$26) and Ebay wonders why they are losing users.

You can call the help desk to help but this happens much of the time`and, to be honest this is not a problem with other market software.

[davewil1964]

Nearly SIX YEARS ago you could have called the Help desk. You can't now; it's been closed since March.

I have not experienced any instances of a buyer not being able to contact me to organise combined listings. You must be choosing the wrong contact option.

[agr.anth]

It happens with nearly every seller i deal with on EBay its either a well known scam or a bug Ebay is profiting from.

[fastbuyer777]

The seller has to put the quote for shipping price into ebay then apply it or it wont work.

[davewil1964]

I have global volume discounts set, so eBay won't allow buyers to request a combined postage price.

The smart ones contact me before buying and I set up a listing specifically for the items they want, with correct postage quoted. Works for them and me.

I probably already said this 6 years ago, but I couldn't be bothered going back to look.

[countessalmirena]

Contacting the seller before buying is definitely the best way to address the problem before it is in actual truth a problem.

[2*much*cute*stuff]

It's a bug ebay profit from. They charge the seller on a percentage of the whole sale price, and a flat fee on EVERY item you buy. So if you buy three things, which can be combined in one parcel, and pay three times separately, they get more in fees. They have known about this 'glitch' for YEARS. But they never fix it because it makes them money. Because even if the seller does refund you the excess postage paid, Ebay still keeps the flat fee on each item and never refunds that on any circumstances. So imagine how much they make from that alone every year....

[davewil1964]

Nothing from me.

If a buyer pays for separate postage, they get refunded less fees. So the buyer pays, not me.

Admittedly, eBay gets their pound of flesh.