eBay

slitty12 · ‎07-28-2014

So suppose I want to sell several exact copies of the same item under a single Buy-It-Now listing. It's a bulky item, so I want to use calculated shipping to factor in the cost difference between shipping it locally and shipping it to a remote community in Nunavut. I get an appropriately sized box, break out the tape measure, submit all the information when creating my listing - and viola, I seem to be in business!

Now, suppose a buyer comes along, and purchases >1 of these items from me. Could be 2, could be 20 - it doesn't particularly matter. In instances where the buyer does not pay straight away, I am able to quickly find a bigger sized box, go to the Canada Post website, and invoice my buyer the appropriate amount for shipping. However, today I had a buyer purchase >1 quantity of an item and pay immediately. The funny result was that they were charged the exact same amount for shipping as though they had only purchased 1 item. This seems a little silly: shipping 2 (or 20) of the item results in a bulkier and heavier shipment than if I were to ship only 1.

The "Order Details" for this transaction state: "You gave XXXXXX a C $16.22 discount on shipping." But I did no such thing! At least not consciously so. I have no combined shipping set up in my seller preferences, and I do not offer any shipping discounts. Shipping might not have been an additional $16.22 (I don't know where this number came from since the shipping cost for 1 item was $16.82), but it was quite a bit more than the $16.82 paid to me.

Since there is no easy solution such as the charge for "Each Additional Item" box that we have for flat rate shipping, I would ideally like for shipping to remain unspecified until invoiced when a >1 quantity of an item is purchased. Or, at the very least, for my buyers to not automatically get away with paying for the shipment of 1 item when purchasing 20. How do I make this happen?

slitty12 · ‎07-28-2014

Good for you. I suggest you not buy it from me then! Would you like an [imaginary] gold star sticker as well?

pierrelebel · ‎07-28-2014

"How do I make this happen?"

I looked at your listings and could not find anything remotely matching your post.. What am i missing?

What is the listing number?

slitty12 · ‎07-28-2014

No longer an active listing: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/191254684748

pierrelebel · ‎07-28-2014

Now I see.

"Could be 2, could be 20" I was looking for items with at least 20 items for sale.

Now, I see several instances where two items were sold to the same buyer (different listings).

Does the problem (giving free shipping for the second item) happens every time?

Does it happen with Canadian buyers (as per your example) or does it also happen with buyers from outside Canada?

Have you checked your "Site Preferences" on both eBay.ca and eBay.com for shipping discount?

mr.elmwood · ‎07-28-2014

I'm kind of on the same track as Pierre.

I have never used calculated shipping. I subscribe to the buck +/- method of by gosh and by golly flat rate shipping.

When I list multiples, the shipping part asks me what I want to charge for each extra widget. I can set my own amount.

There must be a box that is getting missed in your listing set-up. It may even be behind one of those "show hide" links.

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slitty12 · ‎07-28-2014

Does the problem (giving free shipping for the second item) happens every time?

Looking at things retroactively: I believe so, but I cannot be sure. This is the first time it's actually come to my attention - in the past I've been able to invoice buyers the correct shipping amount before they pay.

Does it happen with Canadian buyers (as per your example) or does it also happen with buyers from outside Canada?

This has never happened to me with a buyer from outside Canada because I use flat rate shipping for international orders. I only use calculated shipping on domestic orders to account for the substantial cost difference between sending a parcel locally vs across the country.

Have you checked your "Site Preferences" on both eBay.ca and eBay.com for shipping discount?

Combined payment and shipping discounts are disabled on both sites.

slitty12 · ‎07-28-2014

And sorry for the confusion regarding 20 items. I used that number to illustrate the point that it may not be too horrific when a buyer purchases 2 items (say $5 more in shipping if one is able to find a bigger box and not ship them separately), but would be a substantial issue if they were to purchase 20 items.