buyer paid for two items without waiting for me to combine postage

[onleme]

Hi all,

Just wanting your opinions on this matter. I have had multiple buyers purchase more than one item and not wait for combined postage invoice. When this happens as you would all know you go onto paypal refund the extra postage and most times for me, it is between $2 & $3 refunds, then you have to contact ebay to get the refund on their fees on postage. I know it may seem petty but it is becoming one of those annoying time consuming little things, and I clearly ask in my listings for buyers to wait for combined postage. I don't like to not refund the money as I feel like I would be ripping them off if I didn't, plus I don't want negative feedback on postage costs either. Does  anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do to prevent this from happening so often. I can understand if they were new to eBay but the majority aren't.

Cheers

Sonia

[simple.yet.fancy]

I had a buyer purchase 6 things off me, all finishing within minutes of each other.
He paid for 3 and then messaged me asking to combine postage. Send an invoice for the other items with $0 shipping as he paid enough on the other listings... waited a week, no payment so sent the items he paid for and ended up having to open a case because he didnt pay for any of the other items which was frustrating.

If they don't wait for a combined invoice I normally send separate so I dont have to do any back tracking and refunding

[englishrosegardens]

Probably 90% of my buyers pay straight away. I have a message in my store and in my descriptions saying that to qualify for my combined rates they must wait for an invoice before they pay. Whenever they pay straight away I refund the overpaid postage less 10% (my fees are 9.5% and 9.9% but I'm not going to mess around with fiddly calculations).

Nobody has complained yet and rarely does anyone give me less than 5 for postage costs. While a lot wouldn't bother reading what I say about combined post rates, a lot wouldn't care because they'll opt for convenience over cost.

Most of those who use bank deposit also pay without waiting for an invoice, which surprised me for a while but I've got used to it.

[*tippy*toes*]

I had a buyer last night win 2 auctions within 20 minutes of each other. I was about to send an invoice and got notification that she'd paid. She paid them as one transaction, so I can't send them as separate parcels. The weight of the items together was about 420g, so it would have taken some fancy packaging to keep them under 500g packed (fragile items). So, I'll pack them extra well so they go over 500g and send them express. It's going to a very rural area of Vic, so it might be a nice surprise for her to get them in under 2 weeks.

[phorum_junkie*]

I don't do anything other than what I state in my listings I do. I say that postage discounts only apply if all items are paid for at the same time on the same invoice and to wait for a combined  invoice as if they make separate payments they will be treated as individual transactions sent on their own at the quoted cost.

[randomly_found]

I also offer 'free postage' for that reason 🙂 but someone just bought two items from me, paid and then sent me a message asking for a revised invoice for combined postage-- I don't think I can really do much other than refund a bit of money through paypal? Would've been better if the buyer used Best Offer. Usually I pop in a free gift or offer express postage but in this case there isn't really much to refund and the buyer asked for $--- oh well 🙂 

[*tippy*toes*]

If the items you sold had free postage, then there is nothing to refund, period. You can't refund $0. If the buyer has paid, you can't send a revised invoice anyway. If the items had postage, they should have waited for a combined invoice. Tough luck for them!

I had a buyer pay last night for 2 items (single transaction) without waiting for an invoice. Instead of a refund on excess postage, I sent it express. By rights, I should have just sent it regular. I've bought and paid for an item before, then later on bought another item from the same seller. I paid double the postage but didn't expect a refund, even though they sent both items together. My tough luck for jumping the gun.

[randomly_found]

thanks for clarifying that Tippy- I know they shouldn't really get a refund but as a small seller there is always the irrational Fear Of Negative Feedback haha ---

btw the buyer has now told me that she didn't realise it was free postage and said that she was happy with what she paid- Yay! 🙂 

[everard6920 · Accepted solution]

---

@englishrosegardens wrote:
Probably 90% of my buyers pay straight away. I have a message in my store and in my descriptions saying that to qualify for my combined rates they must wait for an invoice before they pay. Whenever they pay straight away I refund the overpaid postage less 10% (my fees are 9.5% and 9.9% but I'm not going to mess around with fiddly calculations).

Nobody has complained yet and rarely does anyone give me less than 5 for postage costs. While a lot wouldn't bother reading what I say about combined post rates, a lot wouldn't care because they'll opt for convenience over cost.

Most of those who use bank deposit also pay without waiting for an invoice, which surprised me for a while but I've got used to it.

---

This is what I do, too. I have a statement in my descriptions that basically says if you don't wait for an invoice, then I will refund the difference minus the fees - and that it is therefore cheaper to wait for an invoice.

I feel like eBay (as always) could be a lot better with postage calculations, though (like the ability to enter a weight for each item which isn't seen by the buyer, with a fixed cost attached to each weight bracket). This would not be difficult to implement.

I know we have the postage calculator but it doesn't work with large letters, so . . .