Used "Request total from seller" on shopping cart, and suddenly committed to purchase but no invoice

[ut.babe]

I looked at one item, a lipstick, from a seller, checked the Shipping Info tab and saw they offered combined shipping (a reduced cost for each additional item purchased).  There were 4 lipsticks I liked so I added them to Shopping Cart.

When I went to the cart I could see that it hadn't applied the shipping discount to the 3 other items, however there was a button at the top that said "Request Total from Seller".  I entered a 'note to seller' explaining my request and yes, I did see a notice that said "by doing this you are committing to buy" but that didn't bother me up front because after all, I was going to request a new invoice from the seller (or so I thought).

Clicked the button and up comes a red flag "this seller does not offer combined shipping discounts" (then in my mind they shouldn't be able to put on their description that they do), and then "congratulations, you have purchased these items, please continue to checkout".

I immediately sent notes to the seller asking to cancel the orders, have not yet received a response so hoping they do that.

I was not aware that I had ONE HOUR to contact ebay and have them cancel the order - 17 years buying on here and I have never seen that fact prominently shown anywhere.  Of course I would have called them first if I had known that.  My initial reaction is to keep it with the seller and I and fix the issue, maybe find a way to pay for the items anyway and get a shipping refund.

Anyway, my issues are :

1.  If a seller states they won't combine shipping then they should not be able to have that on ANY of their items, period, to avoid misleading a buyer.

2.  If I can't request a total from the seller because they don't combine shipping then that button shouldn't be available to me.

3.  If I can't request a total from the seller because they don't combine shipping then the screen should just dump me back to cart and not automatically commit me to purchase when I am not able to get the information I was requesting that the ebay cart screen indicated to me WAS available to me (when it wasn't). I would have been ok with the commitment IF it still allowed the seller to send a new invoice or for me to contact them but since that part of the operation wasn't available then there should not have been a commitment to buy either.

4.  A little more prominent advertising of the "ONE HOUR" rule would be helpful.

A call to ebay got the response "its been over an hour so we can't do anything".  "Wait till the seller gets back to you".  "If they don't get back to you and you get an "unpaid item" notice THEN call us back and we'll see IF MAYBE we can help you then.

Some very simple system fixes would have avoided this entire issue.  Now I am in a waiting game, and I  hope the seller understands my issue and agrees to some kinds of terms or to cancel the order and we start over OR I wind up paying for the items and finally after all these years, make my exit from ebay - not because of the seller, but because of ebay itself and the system in place.

Fingers crossed that it ends well.  I will never use Shopping Cart again, and if a seller has mixed shipping info on different items then I'll just move on to another seller that has consistency in their policies.  I guess we'll see.

[mcrlmn]

The dreaded, "This seller does not offer combined shipping discounts."

eBay's combined shipping feature and cart has been a thorn in the side of sellers and buyers for years; regardless of numerous complaints.
Granted, some sellers are not set up, but many including myself are.

Since last Friday, I have refunded 4 buyers, S&H on 10 items.

Most just get fed up and pay on each item, then wait for me to correct with refund(s).

It's been ages since I've seen an order on my 'Sold' page that was actually correct with combined shipping.

Every time there's a multiple purchase, there's an issue to correct or a buyer needing help.

I'm surprised many don't just walk away. I'm usually quite embarrassed.

It's a terrible way to conduct business.

When I buy multiple items I often have the same problem, and have to message the seller requesting an invoice.

It's a pain in the **bleep**.

I can buy multiple items on other sites without a single issue, but for some reason eBay won't correct the problem.

[momcqueen]

As a seller, I've not experienced this issue. I use Calculated Shipping and all the 'combined shipping rules' that I have applied to my items are set-up to function flawlessly which they do 99.9 per cent of the time. Sometimes, as a buyer, when you see this error message, you might instead message the seller and notify them of the problem and then ask for a Custom Bundle or something that circumvents whatever issue they have with their Combined Shippng Discounts not working as they should for the Shopping Cart. 

[momcqueen]

Oh, and your seller can adjust the postage you're expected to pay at any point between purchase and payment. If the seller in this case does not, they are most likely being difficult OR the cost of postage to your location is really that high. Since there was an error in the transaction already, I would ask for a Cancel Order as a buyer if the postage proves to be unpalatable. 

[ut.babe]

Agreed. I did request a Cancel Order.
No response from the seller as of yet.
As a responsible buyer, if they don't respond and I get an unpaid item notice I will likely just have to pay as it didn't sound like ebay would be able to help at all anyway. Flawed system forced a commit to buy and the buyer pays the price but I won't have my good reputation smudged by this idiocy.

[femmefan1946]

If you get an Unpaid Item Strike, you can have ONE removed -- but it's a lifetime thing. Never again.

If you get a Strike, it rolls off in 12 months.

If you have one Strike, it makes no difference to your buying ability.

Your second Strike in a 12 month period will find you Blocked from bidding by many if not most Sellers who set the Block to kick in automatically.

[momcqueen]

If this were affecting me, as a buyer, I would call Customer Service and have any eventual unpaid item strikes removed. Be polite but firm. But that's getting ahead of things, it may not come to that. 

[ut.babe]

Won't go that far.

I get an unpaid notice, I will pay for the items and be done with it.  Lesson learned, and don't buy from any sellers whose items don't have consistent policy and which doesn't automatically calculate discounts at checkout.  I am not spending my time messaging a seller to work out terms, I shouldn't have to do that.  I'll buy when things work exactly as they should and pass if they don't.

Still no word from seller, at this point I don't expect one.

I have loved buying here for a very long time but Ebay customer service is a joke and I have no doubt it is for sellers as well.  I recently came into a massive lot of stamps to sell and was just starting to list them here, but I  have decided not to.  There are a number of other sites where they can be sold and I will go there instead, even if its not as wide an audience or I may leave money on the table.

I appreciate all the comments and input here, thank you all very much!

[around_again_records]

Hi mjwl - I'm glad you have everything set up and working for you. I think I read somewhere on another post that it took you quite some time to get everything set up and working the way it should.

Sorry, I just don't like that you made it sound so easy and like the problem is not with eBay but the problem is with sellers.

Technically I suppose that is the case. I mean if it's possible to get it working right then it must be us I guess.

For my part, I've played around with the combined shipping rules, and while I can see it might be possible to get something set up that might work with all sizes, shapes and weights, it would not be easy at all. I think I spent about a week off and on trying to come up with a solution that would work for everything. Couldn't do it - don't want to spend any more time trying. Don't want to try something that could end up costing me if I don't get it right.

I'm starting to rant, so I'll stop now and just say. Ebay get this fixed.

[momcqueen]

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@around_again_records wrote:

Hi mjwl - I'm glad you have everything set up and working for you. I think I read somewhere on another post that it took you quite some time to get everything set up and working the way it should.

Sorry, I just don't like that you made it sound so easy and like the problem is not with eBay but the problem is with sellers....

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No, it wasn't easy.

It took me the better part of three years of tooling around to get it set up exactly right while I fooled around with flat-rate shipping before switching to Calculated.

My point is that it can be done. And in those previous posts to which you refer, I also did a step-by-step tutorial to how mine were set-up so that it would take other users three minutes to fix theirs instead of the three years of trial and error that it took me. You're welcome. 

And, yes, it is a problem with users and shipping rules that are incompatible with settings as opposed to ebay. Nothing anyone has shown me yet has convinced me otherwise. 

[ut.babe]

I do have an update folks, and a positive outcome.

The seller finally reached out after two days and cancelled the order.  I expressed my thanks and that I wanted them to know that the situation was ultimately caused - in my mind anyway - by the shopping cart/request total system and not the seller per se.  It should have just bumped me back to shopping cart when I couldn't request a total and let me decide if I wanted to contract the seller by message and go from there.

I also received a message from Ebay customer service to my reference number of my phone call, which was kind of hilarious because it said it was addressing my questions about combined shipping in the Global Shipping Program... no idea where that came from as I never mentioned the GSP and in fact the seller I had the issues with doesn't even use it!!  Oh well.

And kudos to another seller who cared enough to call Ebay themselves and speak up on my behalf.. someone I hadn't even purchased from but had been considering items they had.

I am not sure which led to the cancellations but I am glad it is resolved.  I had just started receiving reminders to pay.

So... Notes to myself :

Avoid the Shopping Cart.

Never click "Request Total from Seller" - find out any answers by messages beforehand.

Don't purchase when sellers have inconsistent shipping policies... ie. one liptstick has combined shipping on it, the next one - exact same brand, size just a dif color - does not.

I really appreciate all the comments and input to this thread, it has been enlightening to hear others viewpoints and thoughts on the issue I was experiencing.  For this particular instance it is resolved.  There is still problems out there though - and sounds like they have been for awhile - that need fixing.

[around_again_records]

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@mjwl2006 wrote:

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@around_again_records wrote:

Hi mjwl - I'm glad you have everything set up and working for you. I think I read somewhere on another post that it took you quite some time to get everything set up and working the way it should.

Sorry, I just don't like that you made it sound so easy and like the problem is not with eBay but the problem is with sellers....

---

No, it wasn't easy.

It took me the better part of three years of tooling around to get it set up exactly right while I fooled around with flat-rate shipping before switching to Calculated.

My point is that it can be done. And in those previous posts to which you refer, I also did a step-by-step tutorial to how mine were set-up so that it would take other users three minutes to fix theirs instead of the three years of trial and error that it took me. You're welcome. 

And, yes, it is a problem with users and shipping rules that are incompatible with settings as opposed to ebay. Nothing anyone has shown me yet has convinced me otherwise. 

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Hmmm I missed the step by step tutorial. I did a search but I cannot find it

Would you mind terribly posting a link

[momcqueen]

I'm sorry but I didn't save a link to it. Try searching 'Combined Shipping Rules' and then filtering results by my user ID. Note it wasn't exactly recent. My how-to was in another poster's thread where the issues around creating rules were being debated by users. Unfortunately, I'd prefer not to spend the time recreating the step-by-step guide right now as it's my busy season and I'm expanding into other venues within the upcoming quarter. Let us know when you find it. 

[around_again_records]

Yes, I had done the search before I wrote the original post. I found numerous posts on the subject and went through each thread, but could not find the tutorial.

There was one post with a screen snip, of some of your settings - would that be what you are referring too?

Anyway, not a problem, I just thought if there was something written on the subject I might try it again. With the items I sell, and from what I remember of the Combined Rules set up, I really can't imagine it working for me. There are just too many variables, not to mention my lack of patience or desire to work with anything that is not very intuitive. The combined shipping rules, to my mind were like working on some kind of puzzle or video game, maybe I'll save it for when I'm in a puzzle solving kind of mood.

Hope you have a good Christmas Season.