topic Re: Requesting Combined Postage in Buying

Requesting Combined Postage

babel_bear — Sun, 29 Mar 2015 05:41:27 GMT

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??

Re: Requesting Combined Postage

twyngwyn — Sun, 29 Mar 2015 05:48:28 GMT

there's a HUGE BUG with the cart.....don't use it....contact the seller and wait for them to send you a combined invoice before paying...works for me 🙂

Re: Requesting Combined Postage

babel_bear — Sun, 29 Mar 2015 05:59:31 GMT

Thanks twyngwyn,

I tried to confirm purchase with one seller by clicking on Buy it Now and it requested immediate payment or the order did not go through. I will email the seller I am trying to buy from this time and see if I do the Buy It Now can they send me an invoice.

Thanks again, Kath

Re: Requesting Combined Postage

redders_60 — Sun, 29 Mar 2015 06:18:40 GMT

Hi Kath; The phone apps are particularly buggy too! I'd suggest not using the cart (as mentioned above) put the bits you want on your watch list, then contact the seller directly about combined post, await an affirmative reply; then purchase if BIN's, then await a revised invoice after purchase.

Do let the seller know if you're bidding on auctions that you want to add to your parcel should you win.

Ebay has made what should be easy so difficult! This can be overcome with a message to the seller. Any good seller should help you with a combined parcel purchase.

Re: Requesting Combined Postage

lyndal1838 — Sun, 29 Mar 2015 06:18:35 GMT

Kath, it has been happening since before Christmas.

I was trying to purchase some small items from 2 different sellers in the UK who I have dealt with before and always had combined postage.

When I contacted them about the problem they both said that their settings had not changed and there was nothing they could do from their end.....it was either pay the full amount or don't buy. As the postage was minimal (small, light items sent in an envelope) on the items I paid up in full but felt a bit annoyed as the items ended up being much the same price as I could get them for in Australia.

Re: Requesting Combined Postage

digital*ghost — Sun, 29 Mar 2015 11:47:42 GMT

I'd be curious to know what the seller's settings actually are.... I know the cart and eBay apps can be very buggy, so it's highly likely that's the cause, but there is also a setting in a seller's site preferences that is about offering combined postage. Before the cart etc, it didn't matter so much because it mainly applied to whether or not automatic postage discounts applied without requesting an invoice (and within a certain time frame).

For example, my current settings are to allow combined postage within a 7 day period, which doesn't mean I won't combine postage if items are bought more than 7 days apart, just that my discounts will apply automatically in a 7 day period, but outside that I'd have to issue a manual invoice. But, that option can actually be set to "don't offer combined shipping" or somesuch, and along with site / cart / app glitches, it's not uncommon for things like that to reset or mysteriously change (in saying that, from memory the 7-day setting is default).

PS If the seller has immediate payment required, the only way to combine shipping is by using the cart and the seller having auto-discounts in place - however, there have been numerous instances where ebay forces immediate payment on listings. The add to cart option is usually removed in those cases, though.

Re: Requesting Combined Postage

lyndal1838 — Sun, 29 Mar 2015 12:40:54 GMT

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).

When I went to request combined postage a message popped up to say that the seller did not offer combined postage on these items.

Nothing would persuade the system that they did offer combined postage. Fortunately the amounts involved were only about GBP1.50 on each item so it did not break the bank, but it was annoying.

Re: Requesting Combined Postage

davewil1964 — Sun, 29 Mar 2015 13:25:32 GMT

I have had 2 sales for multiple items this week (which is about 2 more than the average month). In both cases the buyers DID NOT go through checkout, but instead waited for an invoice, as advised in the listings.

It's amazing what happens when buyers are literate (and don't pretend their phone is actually a computer).

Re: Requesting Combined Postage

lyndal1838 — Sun, 29 Mar 2015 13:33:01 GMT

Oi Dave, I am literate and I use a laptop and it happened to me. Don't blame the buyer for everything. There was no way I could request combined postage as the system just would not let me do it. It was quite categorically stated that the seller did not offer combined post on those items.

Re: Requesting Combined Postage

davewil1964 — Sun, 29 Mar 2015 13:42:30 GMT

I didn't get combined postage requests. They just waited a few hours until they got an invoice.

Re: Requesting Combined Postage

lyndal1838 — Sun, 29 Mar 2015 16:25:01 GMT

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.

Re: Requesting Combined Postage

digital*ghost — Sun, 29 Mar 2015 22:48:05 GMT

@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).

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.

Re: Requesting Combined Postage

andybal — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 15:31:10 GMT

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.

Re: Requesting Combined Postage

davewil1964 — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 22:33:01 GMT

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.

Re: Requesting Combined Postage

agr.anth — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 05:15:09 GMT

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

Re: Requesting Combined Postage

fastbuyer777 — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 06:10:36 GMT

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

Re: Requesting Combined Postage

davewil1964 — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 06:51:29 GMT

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.

Re: Requesting Combined Postage

countessalmirena — Thu, 29 Apr 2021 08:22:30 GMT

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

Re: Requesting Combined Postage

2*much*cute*stuff — Fri, 30 Apr 2021 10:49:22 GMT

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....

Re: Requesting Combined Postage

davewil1964 — Fri, 30 Apr 2021 10:54:40 GMT

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.