Ebay has stopped buyers requesting a combined total for the best shipping rate.

[onlinecoinslismore]

Hi, I have just spoken to ebay and they have confirmed they have turned off the abilty for buyers to commit to buy multiple items and request a combined postage total. It sounds like a fee grab from ebay. But previously buyers would commit to buy multiple items and then we would send them a combined invoice. They have now blocked this feature by making all our listings "Immediate Payment" at the buyers end even though our listings do not have the options checked.
I am disgusted with ebay.

[kopenhagen5]

Buyers now need to use the shopping cart to combine.

[onlinecoinslismore]

But they cannot request a total. Previously my buyers could commit to buy a number of items and then request a total and we would send an invoice with a combined shippin price.

Now they just add everything to their cart and they get charged the full postage price for each item.
This obviously creates a high shipping cost so they do not commit to buy.

[digital*ghost]

I put three of your items into my cart - the request total link was there and able to be used. 

Problems can arise if the buyer is using a mobile device, or the items / shipping are already discounted, though. 

[shoppingbag*]

I have also just put two of your items in the cart and the "request total" button was there and active. Ask your buyers if they are using a phone to buy. I recently had a buyer that could not get the "request total" button using their phone. He went to his laptop and got it straight away.

[shoppingbag*]

Just an added note. From my experience every eBay representative will tell you something different. I have just had this experience, recently with several of them, and most of what I was told has proven to be totally untrue.

[bess15]

I received a request for a combined total yesterday, late afternoon, so it wasn't turned off then.

[Anonymous]

You 'may' have a promotion running on some of your items

or eBay shopping cart may just be forking up.

On one of my selling accounts Iam running 25% off any item, which stymied

the Request Total so I had to impliment free postage if 3+ items are purchased.

You may have to create a postage discount for multiple items but this can get

tricky if you have a great variance in size and weight.

Also buyers must use the Add to Cart for this feature to work.

[padraicpaul91]

I face this problem frequently, and have found only two reasonably adequate solutions.

1 Offer to refund excess postage (less the unrecoverable ebay and paypal fees)

2 Ask the buyers to make an offer on the items, eg $1 off the price of each item. This should allow me to send a combined invoice.

If I am unwilling to lower the price, I add the price difference to postage costs. If it is just a matter of a dollar or two, I usually let it go.

My past experience had been that some can request, others ( mostly mobile apps) cannot. If it is now true for all customers, I will be adding another note to item descriptions about how to get combined shipping.

[shoppingbag*]

Make sure your settings under "site preferences" have not changed, and you still have "allow combined postage" selected.