Combined shipping

[pinetreecottage]

Just sold 4 items to the same buyer with combined shipping. Cost and shipping on the same invoice.  When I went to enter the tracking # ebay treats it as 4 different transactions.  I had to enter track. # 4 times and feedback 4 times.  On my summary page it clearly shows combined cost and shipping, but when I tried to add track. # it still separates it to 4  sales.  Anyone know if this will affect me in any way.  Thanks.

[ricarmic · Accepted solution]

As far as I know in the worst case it helps because it shows as 4 items sent tracked instead of 1 when they calculate your %.

I also discovered via myEbay that if you click on add tracking on the main item, it brings up the list of them all so you can just cut and paste the tracking number in each.

I presume they did this because sometimes a combined order has to go in two separate boxes which would require them to allow us to put the separate tracking numbers in individually....

[bert1630]

And they take percentage of your shipping 4 times.Great system. I/E each sale is $2.00 so if YOU combine 4 cards are shipped for $2.00.

Now ebay doesn,t like that they are losing money. So in the Ebay world

your 4 cards cost $8.00 to ship and now they get a really good profit.

Only way to beat them is SHIP FREE and take the loss on shipping and hope you make up the loss on the sale.

I,m sure if everyone shipped free,Ebay would find some way to get more money from you.

AND why are they sending out YOUR INVOICE.It is because they can screw up the combined shipping and make more money.

Take your time and REFUND the purchase price. Then resend your invoice with the combined shipping.

[vintagenorth]

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@bert1630 wrote:

And they take percentage of your shipping 4 times.Great system. I/E each sale is $2.00 so if YOU combine 4 cards are shipped for $2.00.

Now ebay doesn,t like that they are losing money. So in the Ebay world

your 4 cards cost $8.00 to ship and now they get a really good profit.

Only way to beat them is SHIP FREE and take the loss on shipping and hope you make up the loss on the sale.

I,m sure if everyone shipped free,Ebay would find some way to get more money from you.

AND why are they sending out YOUR INVOICE.It is because they can screw up the combined shipping and make more money.

Take your time and REFUND the purchase price. Then resend your invoice with the combined shipping.

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If your buyer puts their items in their cart and then requests an invoice from you, you can send an invoice with a combined/revised shipping cost to them. That way eBay only takes a percentage of the revised shipping amount. That is how I do it - as long as the buyer does a “request invoice”.

[femmefan1946]

Only way to beat them is SHIP FREE and take the loss on shipping and hope you make up the loss on the sale.

Ah , you misunderstand Free Shipping.

It's never free.

It's adspeak for "shipping included in price".

Which is cheaper:
A $10 card with $2 shipping?

A $12 card with Free Shipping?

Buyers know that there is a cost for shipping in there somewhere, but like sale items ending in .99 or .88, they choose to believe they are getting a bargain.

If you make multiple sales, you can even cultivate your buyer's goodwill by making a small refund on your shipping cost.

Which makes the customer happier:

A $50 total purchase with $10 shipping?

A $60 purchase with Free Shipping?

A $60 purchase with Free Shipping and a refund of $5?

(No reason for the refund to match your savings on combined shipping.)

[femmefan1946]

And your costs for shipping are greater than the actual postage you pay, which is often already discounted by SnapShip or Shippo.

You are also paying for stiffeners, envelopes, and a few pennies for Cookie Jar Insurance.