Questions on shipping costs and the 'eBay International Shipping Program'

[2486buffyslay]

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?

[2486buffyslay]

So 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]

The eBay  rep was incorrect... as usual.

The seller only receives the cost of domestic shipping (paid by the buyer) to the EIS Hub.

[countessalmirena]

You 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]

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@countessalmirena wrote:

You 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.

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OP has being told that a few times already, they either cant comprehend or just don't want to listen to how it works, 

[sugar249]

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@2486buffyslay wrote:

What 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. 

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Well 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.

[springyzone]

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@2486buffyslay wrote:

. 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!

Yes, of course sending each item separately  is probably going to increase the cost of shipping, compared to putting them in one parcel.

But the terms of sale are clear-there is no combined shipping.

I presume it is done for the company's convenience, not for the sake of either the seller or the buyer.

Asking the poor seller to refund you is extremely rude, not to say illogical. Sure, you may have paid the postage money but once each item is sent, that postage money has been spent. It's with the postal service. Ebay no longer has the money, the seller no longer has the money.

Theoretically yes, if the items had been combined, they probably could have been sent cheaper. But  they weren't, so then there is no money left over.

. 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.

That is a big assumption. If posting one item costs $20, there is nothing to say that posting 5 will cost exactly the same. The parcel would be bigger and heavier.

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!

No, I don't like your chances on that one. You told us at the very start that you noticed there was 'no combined shipping'. You knew the terms before you bought.

As long as you get the items you paid for at the price you agreed to pay for them, in 5 separate packages, then they will have fulfilled their duty to you.

It's annoying, I will grant you, to be faced with paying more postage when you're pretty sure it could have been done another way cheaper, but it comes down to a business decision on your part. Accept their conditions... or don't buy.

Or you could do as others suggested and try to negotiate a new listing with the seller, but I suspect you've burnt your bridges with that one.

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[2486buffyslay]

You 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]

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@2486buffyslay wrote:

You 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).

There is no such thing as "free shipping", all it means is that the shipping is built into the sale price.

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!

The funds for eIS go directly to them, the seller doesn't see it at all.

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[i-once-was-bump]

Generally 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]

In 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.