Combined shipping is a refund owing if not how do I respond to buyer?

[musicyouneed]

I had a Canadian buyer email me as to whether I combine shipping.  He emailed me regarding an item on .com which had shipping of 3.00 US.  I responded to him:

I could combine 2 CD's for $4 US shipping, if you are wanting to buy more than that it takes you into a parcel rates and that depending on how many you want and in which province you live in, it is more expensive. Parcels start at about $10 US for 1 lb which would work for about 7 CD's. So for any savings you really have to only buy 2 or buy 5 or more.

He told me he is in ONT and he is buying 5.  The 2 on .com he paid equivalent of $8.20 Cdn shipping and of the 3 on .ca 2 were free shipping and 1 he paid $3.50 for a total of $11.70 CDN

So I bought a proper box for $1. used 1/2 roll of Dollar Tree bubble wrap and the actual cost was $11.50 for shipping  $11.50 plus 1.50 for supplies is $13.00 CDN or $10 US as I quoted.  

He paid in shipping costs $11.70 CDN and it actually cost $13.00 CDN.   Now I did have 2 that had free shipping but I also had a sale on which cut back the amount I would be receiving anyways. 

I don't want any money from him but there isn't really any refund owning to him and I am not sure how to explain it, Help!!!

[momcqueen]

I'm not clear on what he paid versus what you paid but what does he expect in terms of 'combined shipping'? Free shipping because some were free? If it were me, I'd probably comp the whole lot and ship it for free because of that. 

To some buyers, the term 'combined shipping' means only the they won'r get hosed on each purchase. Some want only to pay postage with no handling fees, others would expect the whole caboodle free.

If you want to make him happy, I would first try to determine his level of expectations here.

I don't think it is outside the realm of possibilities that he may expect free postage on the whole order. I might. Depending on the exact details of my order with you and which items were free postage and which items were not. And the total bill. 

There is the added complication that you mentioned $10 for 7 CDs. That may be something he considered a postage quote, like an estimate he now expects you to honour. No matter what, I don't think you can go above $10. 

[momcqueen]

p.s. Buyers don't give a hoot what you paid for your shipping cartons and bubble wrap. I know that's all part of 'handling' but I honestly think buyers expect that to be part of the item asking price. Postage is postage paid, to my mind and many others. The difficult types. 

[musicyouneed]

I specifically quoted to the buyer $10 USD because he was on .com and asking about an item with shipping on .com.  Most of my items on .com shipping for Canada is not free, it is $3.00 USD.  So if he would have purchased 5 CD's on .com he would have paid $15 USD shipping.  in which case I would have refunded $5.00 USD.   But because he was purchasing off both sites in 2 different currencies and some with free shipping and 10% off, it was a bit of a mess.  

I wasn't going to charge him more than $10 USD.  He didn't pay more than $10 USD so in my estimation there is no refund of postage due.  

For me, I now deal in mostly USD and do my pricing in USD and I think in USD not in Canadian.  I have stopped listing on .ca just leaving the ones that were on there alone.   I am now concentrating on listing on .com

I can't afford to comp the shipping.

[recped]

If you quoted US$10 for 5 cd's then that's what the buyer would expect.

From what I can figure out they have paid you US$6 and CA$3.50 so that is less than US$10

I think the buyer owes you more money but I would NEVER try and get it from them nor would I feel the need to explain anything unless they asked. If they ask then show them the math where they didn't even pay the full $10.

FYI - If I was shipping these I would price check sending 2 discs in a #1 bubble and 3 discs in a #4 bubble, that would be $2.95 + $4.10, probably cheaper than Expedited Parcel to Ontario.

[musicyouneed]

Thanks, for the info.

I get what you are saying: send 2 CD's in one parcel for $4.10 (weight over 200 grams, each CD weighs about 150 grams) and the other 3 in another parcel for $5.05 for a total of $9.15 plus .45 tax for a total of $9.60 instead of the $11.50 I paid with tracking.    It would be a bit cheaper but without tracking. 

I have sent 2 CD's before in one parcel several times.  I tried 3 CD's once but I have to be careful of the size of the envelope and the thickness.  

It's when we get into parcels that can be a problem and a big price jump.  Most buyers who purchase a CD for $5.00 do not want to pay too much for shipping, neither do I.  When I looked up cost of shipping this particular package of 5 CD's from Canada Post it was going to cost $14.92 (with discount) to ship the CD's.  I used chitchit to and was able to save a couple of $ for the buyer.  

In my listings I only offer combined shipping by media mail for the US.  I shipped 4 CD's to/in the US today for $3.09 USD, you can't beat that.  I am not in to make money on the shipping but the shipping amount that I do receive has to cover/or be close to what it cost me.  

There was a point made earlier on this thread that was really important for me.  If someone asks for combined shipping I need to clarify what they mean or want for combined shipping.  That is something I did not do but I want to do in the future.  Any ideas or how I would ask that question in response to theirs?

For example:  Thank you for your questions regarding combined shipping.  Can you tell me what you are looking for in combined shipping?  

[ricarmic]

If someone asks me what combined shipping would be (most of my lots are free shipping to north america so it is international folks that are asking), I advise them:

That I do combine shipping and I will do my best to save them as much as I can.

To let me know before they buy them what lots they are interested in buying together so I can advise the combined shipping cost.

When they advise me of the items, I respond with the combined shipping cost with the note that they are only to buy them, do not pay for them until I generate the invoice with the combined shipping amount. (Sometimes I will advise the lots that are a problem as in too heavy or that they have room at that weight for another small lot etc to try to maximize the stuff they can fit in)

If they forget and pay right away or have problems and pay too much I either refund or add extra material that would be of interest to them.

Personally I would not ask the buyer how much they are comfortable paying for a combined shipping cost because you as the seller are the one that knows how much it costs.

[momcqueen]

Since switching to calculated shipping from flate-rate, my standard reply is to use the cart, and that the cost is actual postage with no handling fees. Subsidized by me as the seller, in fact. I think most buyers are looking for reassurance the cost they see is necessary and not half handling fees.

All my listings state we charge no handling fees.

If someone is looking for reassurance about a postage rate, I make certain to find out precisely which items they mean to ship and to what destination.

But, on the whole, since switching to calculated postage from flat-rate, I don't get many questions about combined postage. The rates and price breaks are obviously there to be seen with the cart. Sometimes I will offer to Request Total just so I can make sure it's correct but the cart is rarely if ever wrong. Problems occur only with buyer error, like paying for each item separately.

You can't really ask 'what do you mean by asking for combined postage' it's more like you have to read between the lines and offer something realistic to what you already plan to do.

But I will say that in instances where two of a bundle have free postage and three do not, I'd feel honor-bound to ship the last three for free with the two that was. In my opinion, that may be what your buyer expects. I build room for error into my pricing. And my
Items are different. All ship with tracking.

If I get a buyer asking for cheaper postage, I don't apologize for the cost of it. I affirm instead that we use tracking. I don't offer to skip without tracking to appease a buyer complaining about postage price. That leads directly to INR, skip Go and don't collect your $200.

[momcqueen]

What I mean is that with my items shipping via parcel rates: virtually all the cost is for that first-item and then the remaining items adds negligible cost. If free postage was built into two items, the overall value of the order would be more than enough to fund shipping the final three for free. That's with parcel postage built into the asking price. Free shipping on my listing means $15 of the asking price is designated for postage. It's a little different with my oversized lettermail items that ship via Light Packet outside Canada.

[dutchman48]

If you list similar items on com and .ca, you are going to run into this issue more often. Yes, you get double the listings if using both sites but as you are finding out, you can also have double the headaches.

[tobyshitzu]

Its more a problem that the seller has different shipping set ups for essentially the same thing.  The buyers know "free" shipping is still incurring a shipping cost and won't be thrilled paying the smae shipping cost as they would have buying them separately after believing they could be combined.  The buyers probably don't know there isn't much to be saved shipping them together

I have the same issue where there is little to nothing to be saved shipping them together.  Its never a problem "is there a discount for buying x" - nope  

[momcqueen]

If a buyer purchases multiple items from me, they can usually cut their total cost in half. Parcels rates being what they are.

[ricarmic]

This is also what my buyers from China/Brazil are doing because each item has tracking shipping - in many cases the shipping is more than the item cost on a one lot purchase. They've been buying groups to bring the relative shipping cost down to reasonable state against the total.

[momcqueen]

That's always been my philosophy behind buying. Find a seller that has enough of what I need to spend time shopping, and then make a big enough purchase that the combined postage hits its peak economic advantage.

[wireburner.2007]

I am going to reply from the perspective of a buyer since I do more buying than selling.

Since this buyer purchased a combination of items to which some specify 'Free Shipping' and others to which shipping costs apply and asked if you can combine the items in one shipment, I really don't understand the problem and here's why;

1-Listings on .com or .ca should hold no relevance since it's the same seller and since .com listings that indicate the seller ships to Canada the listing will show up on the .ca site ( To prove this bring up both sites, go to the "Advanced" Search page and enter the item number. The result will show the same item on both sites.)

2-You as a seller has 3 options to that question and since you don't indicate a combined shipping option, you can:

A) say you DO NOT combine purchases and ship items separately; OR

B) say you will ONLY combine the items to which the shipping incurs a costs and will ship separate from the 'free shipping' items; OR

C) say you will combine all the items and charge a 'revised' shipping total with additional shipping options based on the buyers location.

[wireburner.2007]

"p.s. Buyers don't give a hoot what you paid for your shipping cartons and bubble wrap. I know that's all part of 'handling' but I honestly think buyers expect that to be part of the item asking price. Postage is postage paid, to my mind and many others. The difficult types."

Again I am replying from a buyers perspective. Essentially you are correct since whenever I am considering an item to purchase I always check out the 'Shipping and Payments' tab which is with every listing.

In the table format that provides the shipping cost the heading clearly indicates "Shipping and Handling" and since like you said cartons and bubble wrap are all part of the 'Handling' portion then IMO the shipping cost includes those costs and I don't expect to be charged extra for the carton and bubble wrap.