Questions on shipping costs and the 'eBay International Shipping Program'
If a seller has say 5 items, all small lightweight items and they're all of more or less the same size & weight, but each has a different shipping cost i.e. item 1 is $16.99, item 2 is $17.99, item 3 is $18.99, item 4 is $19.99 and item 5 is $20.99, my questions are:
1) How can each item have a different shipping cost when they're all the same size & weight?
2) If I bought all 5 individually that would be $94.95 in shipping cost! So as the buyer I'd want all 5 shipped together to save shipping cost, what then would the shipping cost be? Would it be the lower of the amounts i.e $16.99, the higher of the amounts i.e. $20.99 or some other amount?
3) If the seller only ships to the eIS Hub how do I do a 'Request total from seller' as this option appears unavailable, i.e. is 'blanked out', with the eIS Program.
4) Is it free for the seller to ship to the eIS Hub or does it depend on their location or state? So for some it could be free and for others not?
5) If I have all 5 items loaded into my Cart can the seller see all items in the Cart? If yes is it possible to request the seller manually send me an eBay invoice, where presumably the shipping cost can be 'combined' on it to get around the 'Request total from seller' option not being available?
6) Is it possible for a seller to manually send me an eBay invoice without having any items in my Cart or buying any items? e.g. in situations where the original total paid was either incorrect or charged to the wrong account and I want a 'corrected' invoice to pay on or the original invoice 'resent' so it can be charged to the right account? The original charge then being refunded.
7) How do seller's arrive at an item's shippng cost? Are they most likely entering an item's dimensions & weight into say a USPS shipping calculator? If so how can you have a situation where items of the same or similar size & weight have different shipping cost?
Is it possible, or it appears to me, eBay may not have thought through certain aspects of their International Shipping Program where a buyer may wish to combine 'multiple' items to save shipping cost. It seems eBay's International Shipping Program is geared toward buyer's purchasing only a 'single' item from a seller. Would this be a fair assessment?
twyngwyn
·2 years agoeBay Explains a Shortcoming of International Shipping Program (ecommercebytes.com)
*sons_n_daughters*
·2 years agoMy head hurts. Too early in the day to be yelled at. I'm done.
padi*0409
·2 years ago.............or how to get yourself on as many BBL's as possible 101.................
2486buffyslay
OP2 years agoI think the best thing to do as the buyer is to just reset everything! That is dispute the transactions and have the seller re-do the transaction, this time for combined shipping. The seller has similar versions to what I bought (same size & weight anyway) so I'm sure they could just enter the combined size & weight into the eBay shipping calculator and tell me the exact shipping cost to ship this 'one' item. I can then repay on this new invoice then have the original charges refunded or something like that.
Though it's not just the shipping costs of these transactions I have an issue with as the seller has also charged more for the item price on one of the items than the 'agreed to item price'! e.g. if an item is listed for $51.99 and I use 'Buy it now' the seller can't then charge $52.99! So this needs to be corrected too!
davewil1964
·2 years agoThat is dispute the transactions and have the seller re-do the transaction
Go for it!
I suspect, if the seller has a couple of braincells to rub together, you will never be able to buy from them again. Hopefully.
sugar249
·2 years agoHopefully already on the sellers block list.
I once had a clown like this, and when they persisted, I offered them a higher postage rate. No rules against it, and it got rid of them.
eol-products
·2 years agoThere is a lot one can learn from these forums not sure if name calling is a good one though.
springyzone
·2 years agoI am confused. On what basis could you dispute the transactions?
As far as I know, the main reasons would be if an item did not arrive or if it was either not what you ordered or else damaged in some way.
But even if we move past that and say, okay, you dispute the transactions, I am putting myself into the shoes of the seller. I'd be royally upset that some random buyer agreed to buy 5 of my items, pushed the commit to buy button, then started up making trouble because he didn't like the postage amount/option.
I'd say it might be on the cards the seller might cancel & refund or I probably would in his place. Just to avoid a bullet with an international sale.
But there is no way on earth I'd be re-doing the whole transaction for the buyer. I'd be thinking I was well out of it after the refund and walking away & that buyer would be on my blocked list.
Sometimes you can make a private arrangement with a seller about a combined listing but disputing the original sales isn't how to achieve it, in my opinion.
sugar249
·2 years agoI think 99.99999% of the population would agree with your opinion,
countessalmirena
·2 years agoIn a land far, far away, cheerful little elves ride on little dodgem cars throughout the delightful yellow city where all the children are well-behaved and graffiti doesn’t exist. The elves speak in cute little voices, share adorable culturally appropriate jokes, and go from house to house picking up parcels that are gaily wrapped and hand-addressed. The dodger cars run on prune juice and the elves fill up at prune stations where this fuel is free.
As the elves run up to each house, their shoe leather does eventually wear out, but not to worry - there are sweet little deer that offer themselves up for the city’s leather requirements as needed. No payment required; the deer are happy to do it.
Over the well-maintained roads (cared for without cost) drive those delightful elves, driving driving driving as they sing sing sing. The parcels are handed over to the Hub Master, and the elves are fed honey and gingerbread and green macarons.
But… no… alas… there is no free labour for everyone must live and pay their bills. No free lunch, no free prune juice, and no free postage or shipping. The elves are just a pleasant figment of imagination. When a seller says “free shipping”, it is a misnomer, because of course there is no such thing. It’s code for “buyer is not charged a separate fee for domestic shipping”. The seller can’t offer this unless the total transaction allows the seller to absorb the postage component - which is CHARGED TO THE SELLER BY THE COURIER/ DELIVERY COMPANY.
No elves or deer were harmed in the course of producing this tale.
2486buffyslay
OP2 years agoIn other (less) words the seller ALWAYS lies about shipping being free! So why don't sellers just state the 'true' shipping cost instead of always trying to 'hide' it within the item price? I mean it'll still come to the same total e.g. Item price $60.00 with free shipping and item price $40.00 + $20.00 shipping still totals $60.00 so why try to trick the buyer? I always look at the 'total' anyway as that's all that matters. Or is it that most buyers are so clueless they just can't see past the words 'free shipping'?
davewil1964
·2 years agoBecause NO online shopping site has a field for 'shipping included', the actual case.
Live with it.
In the amount of time you've posted about things you don't understand you could have looked up those things, or even, as suggested many times, negotiated with the seller to reduce your postage costs.
springyzone
·2 years agoYou're right, it is the total that matters.
Sellers aren't telling lies, all companies use the term 'free shipping' to denote that the buyer will not be up for a separate postal charge. I'd say they use it as it is easy to understand, very straightforward.
Anyway, it seems to be the universally adopted term, the one everyone readily understands.
No, shipping is never free as such but the seller isn't lying, they are covering it.
Ebay itself encourages sellers to use the 'free shipping' option/term where possible. My own theory is a lot of buyers don't like to have to do the mental maths involved. They see an item at, say, $15.79 and postage is eg $11. 55 and firstly, it is a little bit of a drag for them to do the sum to compare with other ads and secondly, they notice that postage is quite a big part of the total price. For some buyers, that is a turn off.
If someone else sees the same item with another seller for $27.40/free postage, I suspect they sometimes feel the item is better quality.
You'd be amazed at how often buyers underestimate just how much postage costs.
The other incentive with 'free shipping' of course, is that a lot of companies only offer it for purchases over a certain amount. And it works, for sure. I have quite often gone back to a site to see what else I might want to order to push my purchase into the free shipping zone. If I can buy an extra something for eg $10 and get the $9.99 shipping cost removed, why wouldn't I? It certainly feels like a win to me.
ci3432
·2 years agoThat's free shipping for you. It's not free for the seller, of course.
You should get used to it and not try to change it. It's a marketing technique that works. And it will be used.
twyngwyn
·2 years agoeBay Announces International Shipping Will Replace GSP and EISD by July - EcommerceBytes
2486buffyslay
OP2 years agoThanks for posting this link about eBay's eIS replacing the GSP and eISD. The part of course that applies in my case is the very first part stating 'No combined shipping'. Well wouldn't this 'increase' shipping costs for the poor international buyer who already has to contend with dramatically increased costs due to crashed exchange rates and import taxes! to give an example say a buyer wishes to purchase 5 small lightweight items from a seller where the shipping cost on each item is stated as $20.00. Without being able to combine multiple items to save shipping cost this would cost the buyer $100.00 in shipping cost compared to just $20.00 presumably if all 5 items could be combined together. So in this example could the buyer then make a claim against eBay for an $80.00 refund + taxes citing eBay cost them $80.00 in extra shipping charges by 'deliberately' preventing them from being able to combine multiple items!
davewil1964
·2 years agoSo in this example could the buyer then make a claim against eBay for an $80.00 refund + taxes citing eBay cost them $80.00 in extra shipping charges by 'deliberately' preventing them from being able to combine multiple items!
NO!
You really need to investigate how eBay works, given you don't think other members with actual experience have any idea.
ALL you can do is negotiate with the seller to either set up a specific listing for what you want or to use another carrier.
You have no other choices, and you cannot sue eBay as they clearly state the terms, which you explicitly accept when you purchase using the service.
2486buffyslay
OP2 years agoSo then the eBay rep was right in 'advising' me I need to seek the refund of half the shipping cost from the seller. Tell me then why is the seller getting the money for the shipping cost if they're not the ones doing the shipping? Remember the seller told me all shipping by them to the eIS is FREE! So again why then are they getting the money for the shipping cost?
repentatleisure1952
·2 years agoThe eBay rep was incorrect... as usual.
The seller only receives the cost of domestic shipping (paid by the buyer) to the EIS Hub.
2486buffyslay
OP2 years agoYou say the seller receives the cost of domestic shipping (paid by the buyer) to the eIS Hub. However shipping to the eIS Hub is free or is with this seller anyway (seller and eIS Hub in the same state).
So what does the seller do with the money from the buyer that's to cover shipping through (not to) the eIS? Do they immediately forward this to eBay so presumably when the items arrive at the eIS Hub eBay has payment for shipping. I mean the seller isn't surely going to keep the shipping funds for themselves!
This is how I understand it works, that the total payment by the buyer gets split with the portion for the items going to the seller and the portion for shipping going to eBay.
padi*0409
·2 years agoi-once-was-bump
·2 years agoGenerally when buying through eBay the buyer accepts the terms as dictated by the seller and if not happy with those terms does not buy from that seller.
You cannot ask for combined shipping but you could ask the seller to put all items in one listing with one postage cost for you. If you are still not happy with what the seller is offering you don't buy from them.
It is that simple.
You don't need to know how or when the money is split up or anything else you just agree with the total cost or you don't agree.
countessalmirena
·2 years agoYou are incorrect on essential points.
1: You will not be reimbursed by anyone for what you presume is an overpayment on shipping costs by eBay International Shipping Program. There is no combined shipping. Buyers pay separately for each lot of shipping. Repeat: there is no combined shipping; if you buy several listings, they either can’t be or won’t be combined.
2: Therefore there is no overpayment. It’s irrelevant that the items can be sent more cheaply if combined postage were possible/offered. As Judge Judy would say, shoulda woulda coulda.
3: What makes you think that sellers get paid the portion of the shipping charge that comprises the international shipping fee? They do not. That portion is paid separately to the shipping provider via eBay. The seller has nothing to do with it.
4: Apropos of the above, I can well imagine that the seller “didn’t take kindly” to your request.
5: You could have asked the seller to make a special listing for you which included all of the items you wanted. In that way, there’d be only one shipping charge. You didn’t, therefore the point is moot in your respect.
I recently asked a UK seller who was only selling through the GSP if she would be willing to combine three items that I wanted in a single listing to bring the UK-AUS postage to a reasonable cost. She did; I purchased. That’s how it’s done: negotiation prior to purchasing, separate single listing that includes all the items.
sugar249
·2 years agoOP has being told that a few times already, they either cant comprehend or just don't want to listen to how it works,
2486buffyslay
OP2 years agoWHY IS THERE NO COMBINED SHIPPING WITH THE EIS?
2486buffyslay
OP2 years agoYour post has been changed because invalid HTML was found in the message body. The invalid HTML has been removed. Please review the message and submit the message when you are satisfied.
2486buffyslay
OP2 years agoYou say I coul've asked the seller to make a special listing for me which included all of the items I wanted. That way there'd be only one shipping charge.
Well, I DID ASK THE SELLER TO COMBINE THE ITEMS TO SAVE SHIPPING COST!
Now I may not have used the words 'special listing' as you put it, but the seller clearly knew I wanted the items combined to save shipping cost. Remember I messaged the seller saying I had 2 items in my Cart, but was having trouble with the 'Request total from seller'
,.
The seller replied "Thank you very much for your business. But eBay has taken over shipping. I am not charging you anything for shipping. I am mailing these CDs to a central location and eBay will ship them to you. Have a nice day"
I replied "So would you then as a matter of URGENCY send me an eBay invoice with these 2 CDs on it TO BE SHIPPED TOGETHER to save shipping cost. Thank you"
So I used the words 'send me an eBay invoice' instead of 'make me a special listing', but as I say the seller knew I wanted the 2 items combined to save shipping cost. Now if the seller was unable to do this why didn't they as an alternative offer to simply make the shipping cost on the 2nd item 'nil' which would've had the desired effect cost wise as combining shipping?
springyzone
·2 years ago2486buffyslay
OP2 years agoAGAIN - WHY IS THERE NO COMBINED SHIPPING WITH THE EIS? ANYONE WITH AN ANSWER?
springyzone
·2 years agoYou would need to ask them. We can only guess.
My guess is it is to put a stop to any complications before they can happen. This shipping company is not actually selling the products, just shipping them on after they sell.
All pretty straight forward.
Even if you buy from the same seller, there is nothing to say that seller is going to send each and every separately sold item to the shipping company at the same time. That would cause complications then & delays for the company.
So why can't the system allow you as buyer to combine multiple items from one seller at the time of purchase?
I would guess it is because working out the actual postage cost might be complicated. You're assuming that a postage cost is what it actually costs to post something. But in this case especially, I would practically guarantee it is not. The cost of materials-boxes, bubble wrap etc would be built in, as well as an extra charge for handling and labour. This is a middle man type of operation and they aren't working for free. They are a company performing a service but they still need to make a profit.
Once something is sold & it is on its way to them, there is no benefit to them in trying to combine anything. In fact, quite the opposite.
Of course, I am just guessing and maybe in the future there will be some way to combine at time of purchase. Things change all the time. But for the moment, you'd be better off asking the EIS than people here as we can't make it happen.
sandypebbles
·2 years agoHere's an idea YOU research and find out the answer and then YOU post here to let everyone know
And I mean proper research, not asking eBay reps who type from pre-written scripts and who have no proper training or experience using eBay. Real world research
Rather than constantly yelling at other members to find out for you
And blaming the seller on top of it, calling them a lier (sic) the seller knows more about their listings and what they are charging that is for sure, so lay that one on the eBay rep
No wonder this one got fed up with you
If they have the sense they will cancel the order and block you
sugar249
·2 years agoAnd we as sellers can't see what you have in your cart (question 5), I often get this query, and it is not till you purchase or do a request total (not possible in this case), do we see what you are buying.
2486buffyslay
OP2 years agoSo if I wanted a seller to create a special listing just for me with the multiple items I want then I'm going to have to describe each item to the seller since you say sellers can't see what's in a buyer's Cart. That's not a problem as each item has it's own unique description so I could just do a 'copy & paste' and send the list to the seller and say here's the items I want. Please can you create a listing for me with all these items on so when I make the purchase it's treated as if I'm purchasing just 1 item.
Of course there's a complication with this seller.
davewil1964
·2 years agoWhat is the complication?
That they don't want to submit themselves to the vagaries of International shipping?
Have you asked, or are you assuming?
It's your choice - pay the freight, negotiate with the seller or look elsewhere.
2486buffyslay
OP2 years agoI can't speak for the seller on how they feel about being 'drafted' into the eIS. I can ask them, but whether they feel delighted or unhappy, what would it change? You say to negotiate with the seller, unfortunately engaging with seller proved too 'high risk'! You say to look elsewhere, unfortunately the items were so rare this seller was the only one with these items - at least in the condition I was seeking. Anyway I'm not complaining about the item prices, but the shipping cost and on that point I feel my complaint should be directed at eBay, least of all who's rep, gave me poor and unhelpful advice regarding reimbursment of the 'excess' shipping cost - advice the seller did not take kindly too! Mind you the seller was not forthcoming with help either and I as the buyer got caught in the middle. Anyway I still feel eBay is ultimately responsible for reimbursing me. eBay is stated as 'the seller' on my card statement.
sugar249
·2 years agoDealing with a seller is ''too high risk'' wow, thats a new one, if you find it to high risk why are you dealing with the seller. Maybe its an internal issue rather than and Ebay or seller issue.
And your comment about combined postage above, yes it is a pain, but at the end of the day, a seller or platform providing a service (Ebay), can decide themselves how they deal with a client, and not be dictated to by a client. The customer is not always right.
If you have problems with the seller or Ebay, you are not forced to use either.
sugar249
·2 years agoWow maybe I answered my own question, this buyer likes buying from sellers with shocking feedback ratings, so I guess any issues are self imposed.
2486buffyslay
OP2 years agoNo. The seller has an extremely high feedback rating. It's just they apparently didn't take kindly of my request they give back half 'my' money I paid them for shipping cost. Remember the seller doesn't pay shipping cost. It's the buyer! However I presume in cases where the seller is shipping by eIS, as this seller is, they then hand over to eBay that money the buyer paid for shipping cost. So I would've thought eBay should be the ones to refund half the shipping cost, not the seller? eBay though said no you need to seek the refund on the shipping cost from the seller. So tell me who gets to 'keep' the money for the shipping cost under the eIS - the seller or eBay?
2486buffyslay
OP2 years agoWhat I meant by 'high risk' was the seller became somewhat hostile toward me after I'd ask them to refund half the shipping cost. So It became difficult after that to continue to engage with the seller. I was only following what the eBay rep had told me, that yes the seller should rightly refund the excess shipping cost, that is give back half of what I'd paid them for shipping and so I simply told the seller what the eBay rep had told me. Remember the seller isn't paying for shipping. The buyer is! The seller only gets the money for the item costs. Presumably the money for the shipping costs goes to eBay in this case as they're the ones shipping the items.
sugar249
·2 years agoWell dang if I has a pesky seller asking me to unjustifiably keep hassling me for half the money back, I would get a bit anti as well.
Have you read anything on the thread, or only cherry picking what you want to hear.
*sons_n_daughters*
·2 years agoYou can't combine postage with sellers that use global shipping. All you can do is as suggested, ask the seller to create a single listing with all the items you want. The only other thing you can do is ask the seller if they could change their shipping to USPS, BEFORE you commit to buy. Some might say yes, a lot will say no, because if they change out, they lose a lot of their seller protection.
A seller may not even know they are opted in to the GSP, so could be surprised when there is a query from an international buyer.
The seller doesn't set the postage cost, GSP sets it. The seller needs to input the weight and dimensions to get a more reasonable shipping cost. It appears they may have done that, otherwise the shipping could show as $200. The variation in costs could be because they put this item in at 100g, the next item in at 120g, the next 180g etc. While to you they may seem exactly the same weight, there could be slight variations.
2486buffyslay
OP2 years agoWell it's not the 'Pitney Bowes Global Shipping Program' (GSP). From what I've read eBay have now phased out the GSP and replaced it with their own international shipping program (eIS) or they're in the process of doing it. However they may be some shared features, but yes it appears the GSP is no more. A good thing too as Pitney Bowes charged 5% extra on top of the already expensive shipping as their 'handling fee'. At least eBay don't appear to be doing this.
What happened in my case as I wanted 2 CDs from the seller. At this point I had no awareness of the eIS. I put the two items in my Cart and went to click on the 'Request total from seller' and found this was blanked out so naturally I messaged the seller and was told "Sorry, this is not possible with eBay's International Shipping". Anyway I wound up having to buy the 2 items seperately which meant I was charged 2 lots of shipping! By the way the shipping on CD #1 is $16.56 and for CD #2 it's $17.78, despite the 2 CDs being the same size & weight! To complicate matters the order was charged twice and further to the wrong account! So not only do I somehow need to get the charge off the wrong account, but the charge is wrong anyway!
I need to know what the actual shipping total would've been had the 2 CDs been bought together - would it be $16.56, $17.78 or right in the middle at $17.17? I'm assuming these shipping charges are set by eBay and not the seller? But it doesn't explain why one CD would cost more to ship when its exactly the same size and weight as the other? Can anyone figure this out?
Now the CDs have shipped or should've, but that's another complicating matter! The order was cancelled by the seller, but the charge has still gone on! So I had to re-order them! Hence why I've been charged twice, or rather I've been charged the wrong amount twice and to the wrong account twice! In order to correct this mess I do need to know the correct shipping charge if they were shipped together in order to work out the correct total I should've been charged! Once I have this I'm hoping the seller can manually generate an eBay invoice with this correct total and I'll ensure it goes to the correct account this time. Then I can hopefully have the other charges removed/refunded?
Now the other items I'm wanting to order from the seller are 5 8x10 photos so you can see they really are all the same size & weight, yet there's a different postage cost on each! So even if the postage can be combined it'll be wrong anyway! Who should I be asking as to why a different postage cost on each - the seller or eBay? The seller will probably say "I don't set the prices, talk to eBay" and ebay will probably say "you need to ask the seller".
repentatleisure1952
·2 years agoI'll offer some one size fits all observations.
It is not free for the seller to ship to the EIS Hub.
You could ask the seller if they would create one. listing with the multiple items you are interested in buying.
I don't know why the EIS shipping costs vary.
Yes, your assessment is a fair one. eBay (just as they did with the GSP) would have thought this out... they are a business & want to make money.
There is nothing to stop you from asking your questions on the eBay.com Community Boards. You may receive answers from a US seller's perspective.
I'm sure others will be along with more answers.
2486buffyslay
OP2 years agoI didn't think of asking the seller if it's possible to create one listing with the multiple items. Great if the seller can and is willing to? The seller says it's free for them to ship to the eIS Hub because they live in California so maybe the eIS Hub is located there too?
repentatleisure1952
·2 years agoMy apologies... I should have said it is free for the seller to ship to the hub... because the buyer pays the shipping cost.
The main Hub is located in Glendale Heights, Illinois.
There is conflicting information on a California Hub.
2486buffyslay
OP2 years agoYes the seller has said it's free for 'them' to ship as It's the 'buyer' who's naturally paying the shipping cost! I'm wondering though, how is the seller shipping the items to the eIS Hub? I bought the 2 items 'within a minute of each other'. So while I 'had to' purchase them seperately does that mean the seller has also sent them to the eIS Hub seperately?
repentatleisure1952
·2 years agoOnly the seller can answer those questions.
sugar249
·2 years agoDoes it really matter how it works at their end, as long as you get the product.
As for why the different costs for similiar sized items, unless you know what sizes the seller put in, no one can really answer it.