Shipping charges shown on eBay's autimatically sent invoices

[sardonicus001]

I recently sold a number of vinyl records to a buyer. Unbeknowst to me eBay sent the buyer an invoice. The shipping for a single LP is $10, however Australia Post charges by weight. I sold 14 LPs and eBay sent an invoice showing shipping costs as $140 ($10 x 14) rather than the actual cost, $18. The buyer duly paid the $140 with the expectation that I would refund him the overcharge of $128. I can do this, but eBay will be charging me a final value fee based on the $140 it quoted. This is most unsatisfactory. I will have to refund the buyer $128 minus eBay's fee, which will not make him happy.

Is it possible to stop eBay automatically ending an invoice so that I can manually send an invoice showing the correct shipping cost?

[twyngwyn]

you can cancel the sale....then send a 'bulk order' invoice.....but I thought buyer was using 2 buying accounts???

You have 2 x separate threads....please keep info combined to 1 of them??

[sardonicus001]

OK. Trouble is, the buyer has already paid in full, including the $140 postage. I think that either I should be able to send the invoice rather than eBay (which would enable me to show the correct postage) or eBay should be able to show the correct postage. Note that Discogs can send an invoice for multiple items and still show the correct shipping.

[eol-products · Accepted solution]

It takes time but its better to set up your postage so multiple purchases are not charged the postage for each item added together. You can apply discounts for multiple purchases and there are a lot of ways to do this depending on what you sell. 

I use calculated and enter the weight for each or for large items the cubed size as weight as ebay cannot combine cubed weight only actual weight. I also offer a flat rate for most items if you purchase a certain number or more. So you could do 3 items or more and only charge $20 maximum. 

[davewil1964]

eBay didn't send an invoice.

The buyer either bought separately or put them in their cart and paid what was showing.

I have as part of my description for buyers to contact me before if buying multiple items. Those that do get the best postage I can do, those that don't get refunded less fees. Never had complaints, either way.

[sardonicus001]

Thanks davewill964. I will add a line to my templates asking buyers who order more than 1 item to wait for my invoice. I will now see if I can add that line to my existing listings. I wll refund the excess shipping for the 14 LPs less the fees, which may not please the buyer.

[sardonicus001]

I enter the weight for individual items  which eBay uses to calculate postage for overseas sales, however for sales within my country (Australia) I show a flat rate of $10 for the individual item.  Are you suggesting that I show the weight for individual items for sales within Australia as well? Note that I haven't encountered this problem during 11 years of selling.

[eol-products]

Weight only works for calculated postage. If you use your own postage price you can set up discounts for when someone buys more than one item. 

If I started a new store I would charge $9 or $10 postage then $1 or $2 extra for each item they purchase after that. This method only works if you sell the same type of items though as it is not as common  to get multiple sales of  different items as an everything seller.  A bit like someone buying a toaster then a pair of shoes from the same seller.

[sardonicus001]

Sounds like the Discogs method. Perhaps instead of charging a flat rate of $10 for LPs and $4 for CDs in Australia I should use the weights I use in Discogs (e.g. 375 grams for an LP, 86 for a CD) in which case I assume eBay would charge on the total weight, even if an order was a mixture of LPs and CDs (like Discogs would)?

[michael_cullis]

Further to my last post. I don't think eBay would charge shipping on the total weight of an order, rather it would calculate the cost based on weight of each item and then add them up. In other words, it would have the same result as charging a fixed amount. I have placed a warning on all my templates asking buyers to wait for my invoice before paying, thereby allowing me to show the correct shipping cost.