Buyers do nat have access to the combined postage feauture

[thecardeffect]

To add to the difficulties of being unable to sell into the Sydney Metro area, buyers are unable to avail themselves of the combined postage which is offered.

I don't like to dwell on how much business has been lost through potential buyers who put 4X $5 cards in their cart and are then asked to pay $17 postage. I expect most just walk away without contacting us.

There are only two ways around this. The buyer does make contact and provides a list of the cards they wish to purchase. A bulk custom listing is then made with one postage amount. This is very time consuming for both buyer and seller. The buyer takes screen shots of sometimes 40 cards and we have to go through them, one by one, unlisting the individual listings  and then creating one custom listing. But as labour intensive as this is, it's preferable to option two.

Option 2 is where the buyer goes ahead and purchases 30 cards which at $4-$8  postage per card adds up to $150 postage. The buyer is refunded $142 but ebay still charges sales commission on the refunded portion of $142 which at roughly 14% is around $20. Even for smaller amounts this hurts. Say the buyer pays for for cards all $3 each the postage is $16. The buyer is refunded $12 but ebay still take 14% of that $12.

The most likely scenario, however, is where the buyer just walks away after seeing that the postage is cumulative. I don't blame them. I'd also be **bleep** off if a seller is offering combined postage but reality is different.

I've just got off the phone to ebay customer service and they said it's likely the buyer's fault for not requesting a total. However, a long standing customer who runs his own store says that he can not access this feature at the checkout when buying cards from us and as a result sends a screenshot of the cards he wishes to purchase. He is not the only buyer who has stated that they can not see any "request total" at checkout.

In short this is another wholly unsatisfactory situation where the majority of those who came across our store and would buy multiple items walk away because there is no combined postage. 

I would like to grow the store but only getting access to 30% of the market is ridiculous.

I hope others have more success selling on ebay.

[countessalmirena]

You’re not the only one to experience this. There are at least a few others - all experienced sellers - who have reported that on their listings, no matter what they do, the combined postage option is simply not appearing for their buyers.

The usual advice - don’t use the app, use the cart, etc., - which can help some buyers on some listings simply doesn’t change this.

Your first option of creating special listings for interested buyers is probably the best one, considering that the situation is a long-standing eBay glitch that appears only on some accounts (and I think it must be hard to replicate and not of sufficient concern for eBay IT).

You might want to include a short blurb in the listings… along the lines of

“For combined postage, we are aware that an eBay technical glitch may affect buyers’ ability to request a total. For multiple purchases, please contact us with the item numbers, and we will create a special 2-day listing for you with your requested items and the combined discounted postage.”

[sugar249]

I just added 3 items to my cart,  and the request total option is there,  obviously I'm not going to do it, as I dont want to buy

But it is there for me.  

[davewil1964]

The buyer is refunded $142 but ebay still charges sales commission on the refunded portion of $142 which at roughly 14% is around $20. 

Hasn't been that way for a couple of years. Pays to keep up with current policy.

eBay now refund ALL fees (except flagfall) for ALL refunds. The flagfall could be $10 if the buyer purchases individually rather than as a single transaction. In that case I refund less those costs.

30% of the market? I thought you had only blocked sellers from Sydney. Last I heard Sydney is less than 25% of the population.

[brickworksmarket]

I can't see your items and if I add one too my cart I get this message "Unfortunately, this seller won't post to your location. Please update your delivery address and try again."

If I where you I would open another account and check to make sure the issue is gone then run it as a duplicate store to it gets more sales then the original.

As far a having multiple sales I have one offer that if you buy 3 items postage is set at $17 automatically.  Or for items that use a non calculated postage amount there is say a $3 charge then $1 for every item extra purchased using the postage rule which is easy to set up.

I rarely get multiple purchases so have not bothered too much with fine tuning for those buyers but ideally I would just have a set postage amount of say $9 then $2 extra for each item after that. Factor in extra cost on the item price then the buyer knows what shipping is for multiple items easily.

[davewil1964]

You are obviously in Sydney metro. The subject of a previous thread. Try not to cherry pick what you read.

[brickworksmarket]

100kms away but in the  metro delivery area still so I can't  see any listings if logged in. What did I cherry pick as from my understanding of the term it would have meant I used parts of other posters answers. Considering I did not read any posts after the OP's as they did not come from any one with any real experience.

[davewil1964]

If you didn't read them, how would you know?

I, for one, and I doubt I'm alone, have relevant experience. Your prejudice is showing.

[*sons_n_daughters*]

I am one of those where immediate payment is forced, regardless of whether the buyer uses the app, the desktop site, or adds items to the cart. Thankfully most of my buyers only buy one thing, so it's not that big an issue, but when someone does decide to buy multiple, it can be a real pain for them. I just refund the difference.

For the OP, if a buyer sends a list of item numbers they wish to buy, you can bulk end those items to create a single listing for them. Takes about 15 seconds.

[sugar249]

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@davewil1964 wrote:

If you didn't read them, how would you know?

I, for one, and I doubt I'm alone, have relevant experience. Your prejudice is showing.

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I do wonder what they consider ''real experience''