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It actually depends on whether the seller has automatic discounts set up. I'll try to clarify everything, and I hope it helps rather than confuse matters further. 
If not, best to keep it simple and just ignore me and ask the seller for an invoice / upfront cost. 
This is an example of what you see if you click on the postage and payment details:
The purple arrow shows that the seller has set up automatic postage discounts which can apply to numerous listings that they have. Any listing that says additional items are free in that area will have no P&H charged at checkout whether the seller sends a new invoice or not. If one says free post on additional items and another says $1 per additional item, then different discount rules have been applied to the listings and the full postage for each item would be charged at checkout unless the seller sent a revised invoice.
The green arrow points to any discounts that apply for additional purchases of the same item from the same listing, and those discounts always apply at the checkout as long as you buy them all at the same time (that is, if you want 3, you need to enter 3 in the box before buying, and not make three separate, single purchases).
In the example above, the seller is saying (by the green arrow) that you can purchase any amount of the same item and only pay $1.95 postage. They are also saying (by the purple arrow) that any other purchases which state additional items are free, are, well free post and a new invoice doesn't have to be generated because it's all done by the system.
If that seller had one item that's $4.00 post, and another that's $5.00 post, and they both said additional items are free, without a new invoice from the seller, the P&H would automatically calculate as $5.00, because the highest price is charged first, and any discounts are applied to the rest. (So, that's why if their automatic discounts were set up to deduct $2.50 from the postage on additional purchases, the checkout would charge $5 then ($4 - $2.50).
The Get Rates box applies to that listing only, and would be handy if you want to buy more than one of that item and the discounts indicated aren't specific enough.
@mattrix1955 wrote:
I didn't actualy ask if there was a discount, but I did ask for a quote and the seller indicated the postage was automatically worked out at checkout; but to make sure to pay for them together.
That suggests the seller is using pre-fixed postage discounts and if you purchase the items, the postage discount will be automatically calculated and applied at the checkout.
You need to confirm each purchase individually, just don't proceed to checkout until you have purchased all the items you want to. (And if you're using a mobile device like an iPhone, switch to using the classic site, as the app has some problems, including preventing multiple purchases being paid for together).
When a seller has automatic postage discounts set up, you can generally work out what the final P&H charge will be for all items by looking at the postage and payments tab.
Click 'See deatils' next to the postage price in the listing, and you will see more detailed information about the postage, as well as any discounts offered.
Discounts will be highlighted in green, and can be done in several different ways (eg highest P&H charged then X amount for each additional item, highest amount charged then less X amount of the postage on each additional item - sounds confusing, but if you bought one with $5 post and one with $4 post, with additional items discounted by $2.50, you'd pay $5 + $1.50 as the $2.50 would be subtracted from the $4). Total P&H can also be discounted by a set percentage, in which case you generally can't work out what the discount will be prior to purchase unless you're either buying multiples of the same item, or the seller's P&H cost are the same for each item, then you can use the "Get rates" option to see what the charge will be for X amount of items.
The only thing you need to keep an eye on if you're looking for this info is that the same postage discounts are set for the items you want to purchase, because a seller can set up lots of different postage discounts, so they can vary from listing to listing...and if two different discounts are showing on two different listings, it won't automatically deduct anything at checkout and you'll have to request an invoice for any combined post discounts.
That might seem a little confusing and/or a lot to take in, but after a while it'll be second nature.
It actually depends on whether the seller has automatic discounts set up. I'll try to clarify everything, and I hope it helps rather than confuse matters further. If not, best to keep it simple and just ignore me and ask the seller for an invoice / upfront cost.
This is an example of what you see if you click on the postage and payment details:
The purple arrow shows that the seller has set up automatic postage discounts which can apply to numerous listings that they have. Any listing that says additional items are free in that area will have no P&H charged at checkout whether the seller sends a new invoice or not. If one says free post on additional items and another says $1 per additional item, then different discount rules have been applied to the listings and the full postage for each item would be charged at checkout unless the seller sent a revised invoice.
The green arrow points to any discounts that apply for additional purchases of the same item from the same listing, and those discounts always apply at the checkout as long as you buy them all at the same time (that is, if you want 3, you need to enter 3 in the box before buying, and not make three separate, single purchases).
In the example above, the seller is saying (by the green arrow) that you can purchase any amount of the same item and only pay $1.95 postage. They are also saying (by the purple arrow) that any other purchases which state additional items are free, are, well free post and a new invoice doesn't have to be generated because it's all done by the system.
If that seller had one item that's $4.00 post, and another that's $5.00 post, and they both said additional items are free, without a new invoice from the seller, the P&H would automatically calculate as $5.00, because the highest price is charged first, and any discounts are applied to the rest. (So, that's why if their automatic discounts were set up to deduct $2.50 from the postage on additional purchases, the checkout would charge $5 then ($4 - $2.50).
The Get Rates box applies to that listing only, and would be handy if you want to buy more than one of that item and the discounts indicated aren't specific enough.
