My issue is this one. I took advantage of a seller's discount to purchase around 20 stamps

[abdul506]

I put everything in the shopping basket and realized that I was being charged shipping on each and every stamp I had bought. EBay said that seller didn't do combined shipping, even though most sellers do, and eBay can't wrap its mind around that concept. Anyways, paid eBay generated invoice, and contacted seller for shipping fees reimbursment (over U.S. $40). The seller showed me his/her eBay payout slip, and of course it was way lower than what I'd been charged. In other words, the seller didn't in fact get the surplus money, eBay did. I talked with 3 different reps, explained the situation, none of them took ownership of the issue, and I was always asked to contact seller about the issue, which I had done multiple times, and seller was helpful up to that point. I described my situation in a few open disputes, never heard a peep from them, they just put that extra money in their own account. 40 dollars might not seem like a big amount, at this point I'm fighting for the principle of the thing (it's been over a month, ready to give up). In my way of thinking, combined shipping should be universal, it would be up to the poster to figure shipping costs when they get the order, and readjust for shipping increase/decrease. I know a lot of sellers are using eBay shipping, which is good if you sell large enough quantities, but leaves the buyer vulnerable.

[marnotom!]

Are the stamps being handled through the eBay International Shipping service?  Combined shipping is only being introduced with that service in the form of a gradual rollout, if memory serves, so you may have run into a seller who hasn't been able to adopt that option yet.

Having said that, if a seller's listings don't mention combined shipping, eBay etiquette dictates that you need to sort that out with the seller prior to committing to purchasing your items.