topic Re: How to combine postage on free postage items? in Selling

How to combine postage on free postage items?

fmurphy2005 — Sun, 25 May 2014 01:11:40 GMT

Hi everyone, I got sucked into offering free postage for my car posters because eBay said it would be better for my listings and rating, and I wanted to give it a try. But just I had anticipated, people are still buying multiple items from me at once and I haven't been able to try sending the invoice correctly because people pay for all the items too quickly, resulting in me refunding the triple postage paid.

So I was wondering if someone could give me a few pointers on how to send the correct invoice which removes all the built-in shipping costs from the three items?

Imagine the total of 3 items is $30 ($10 each, or $18 each with free postage on each) but in reality the postage is only $8 for all 3. The invoice comes up as $54 but I want it to now total $38. How would I do that? Do I use the discount field and put in -16? I just want to make sure I know what I'm doing.

Also, I'm thinking of going back to having separate postage prices because I want to be more transparent to my customers. What is your opinion as a fellow seller or buyer?

Thanks in advance!

Andrew.

Re: How to combine postage on free postage items?

cq_tech — Sun, 25 May 2014 01:16:31 GMT

Ebay won't allow you to discount anything other than postage so if you tend to sell lots of multiples, you'd be better off going back to listing item + postage separately IMO.

As it stands, you can always cancel and reinvoice with the correct item prices and postage but it's a lot of mucking about and simply isn't worth the time or trouble as far as I'm concerned.

Re: How to combine postage on free postage items?

lane-ends — Sun, 25 May 2014 03:38:00 GMT

If asked beforehand you can add best offer on one or all items and use that to accomodate discounting,

Refunding adds to admin, and potentiially new defect rules.

Have heard of some doing a cash back adding it to package. Though sending cash in mail is supposedly a no no, its such a small amount its not that big a deal. PR wise its a nice surprise.

Re: How to combine postage on free postage items?

clarry100 — Sun, 25 May 2014 04:13:53 GMT

We usually include a free gift to offset such postage costs. That usually meets with positive results.

In some cases where the buyer asks first we will offer an extra item at no additional cost. And then ask them to specifiy a colour or size for the extra one.

Re: How to combine postage on free postage items?

i-love-my-sheep — Sun, 25 May 2014 04:40:56 GMT

As you're not supposed to send money through the post, if it's not a lot to be refunded, I either throw in a freebie or send some postage stamps. Most people seem to be happy with that I think.

Re: How to combine postage on free postage items?

*crikey*mate* — Sun, 25 May 2014 05:08:54 GMT

@lane-ends wrote:
If asked beforehand you can add best offer on one or all items and use that to accomodate discounting,

Refunding adds to admin, and potentiially new defect rules.

Have heard of some doing a cash back adding it to package. Though sending cash in mail is supposedly a no no, its such a small amount its not that big a deal. PR wise its a nice surprise.

From the Aus Post Dangerous and Prohibited Goods Policy

Re: How to combine postage on free postage items?

fmurphy2005 — Sun, 25 May 2014 06:08:32 GMT

Thank you for all the replies. Sounds like the best thing to do is to keep the postage separate. Thanks again!

Re: How to combine postage on free postage items?

ms_aussie — Mon, 26 May 2014 01:45:52 GMT

Hi,

I spent a couple of hours yesterday adding this message to all of my listings, "I do combine postage so if you buy more than one item please wait until I send you an invoice showing a discounted postage amount". I hope this one works for me. Time will tell.

Cheers 🙂

Re: How to combine postage on free postage items?

clarry100 — Mon, 26 May 2014 04:29:58 GMT

We get enough questions that clearly show that buyers rarely read the descriptions and rarely look further than the main picture.

So if the main pic contains sufficient info then mostly that's all you really need.

Re: How to combine postage on free postage items?

beautbots01 — Mon, 26 May 2014 06:11:08 GMT

The other thing to think about when refunding overpaid postage (if you include it in your listing price) is that eBay have already taken their FVF out of the total amount including the postage. So if you send a refund you are out of pocket whatever the %age of fees you pay to ebay. So for each $8 postage you refund your customer you may lose 80c if your fees are 10% of fvf.

Sounds like it would be cheaper for you to keep postage separate to avoid over payments. Which means eBay will still get that fvf but only on the correct amount of postage paid.

Re: How to combine postage on free postage items?

phorum_junkie* — Mon, 26 May 2014 09:07:23 GMT

I have had free post on my store items for a very long time but I msake it very clear that there are no discounts available for free post items.

I have never had a complaint and my feedback has remained neg and neut free.

Re: How to combine postage on free postage items?

ms_aussie — Tue, 27 May 2014 02:32:31 GMT

I get your point but I sell clothing and my customers have to read the description as it contains vital information regarding measurements & sizing. Even so I did put the message in my listing in very large bold print. So here's hoping 🙂

Have a great day.

Re: How to combine postage on free postage items?

fmurphy2005 — Wed, 28 May 2014 22:42:00 GMT

ms_aussie, I think that will be fine, but still expect some queries about it (see below)!

clarry100, very true. I have info on my listings which discusses discounts and bundling, yet people keep messaging me asking about if I do deals for multi-purchases and if I can bundle items. One person even left a negative comment on my other account saying they would have bought more if my items were cheaper. I feel that doesn't warrant a red mark on my profile, but as a seller I'm quite powerless! They didn't read the discount info!

beautbots01, thank you for the heads up on that. Sounds quite unfair of eBay, but glad we can get around it by having separate postage.

Re: How to combine postage on free postage items?

fmurphy2005 — Fri, 30 May 2014 06:52:26 GMT

I just got an email from eBay suggesting that having a "Top Rated Plus Seal is important to buyers when they shop on eBay."

I wonder really how important it is to buyers. Sounds ridiculous. I don't look at any of that stuff when I'm buying, I just look through the comments to see if positive outweighs bad, and what the responses to the negative ones were.

In order to gain this I have to have free shipping on all my items. Looks like I will just have to go without it!