Combining postage for items with both calculated and flat postage rates

[travelloot]

Hi Australian sellers using Australia Post,

Despite trying EBay does not allow me to:

• Select postage options calculated by Ebay AND local pick up (for some reason local pick up can only be an additional option if my postage option is flat rate)
• Give combined postage discounts for combinations of items, some with postage costs calculated by Ebay (parcels) and others with flate rates (large letters). Combining rules only apply to either flat or calculated posatge, not together.

What I have done is set my postage option to "freight", where no postage price is shown on the listing and a potential buyer has to contact me then I do the looking up with Australia Post. (I am making my items available to ship worldwide, with regular, sign on delivery and express options.) 

I want to have competitive postage rates, especially for combined purchases, but make it easier for myself. Any strategies? 

Thanks!

[digital*ghost]

Is calculated a must for your parcels? By which I mean, is it possible to quote flat rates for the items by using Australia Post's flat rate satchels and/or boxes? If so, then automated postage discounts would become a possibility again, as well as pick-up (I didn't know the postage discounts didn't work across different types of postage, TBH).

The alternative is to maintain the combo of flat / calculated, and just have a note in your listings to let potential buyers know you're happy to combine (reduce) postage across multiple purchases. It would probably be better than using the freight option, as you need to invoice post-sale anyway using that, plus as your listings are effectively regarded as having no postage quote, it affects search rankings and will sometimes put buyers off (many won't even send a message to ask about P&H costs if there are none stated, and will just move on to other listings. Some also misread "Freight" as "free", and it can also show as "free" quite specifically via the eBay app on occasion, sadly, so buyers can baulk when they're invoiced with P&H afterwards).