No one request total for combined shipping

[rocketscollectibles]

I switched from a free shipping model to a shipping cost and offering discounts on combined shipping model but i got this problem since then, literally no one request total. Just wonder how would you deal with it?

I'm tired of refunds and to calculate fees and everything. It waste my time. I explained in my description everything and it's the first thing wrote to be sure people see it, but apparently people don't read or don't care. Also i'm not sure but for the app shoppers i think there's no request total anywhere?

It's written that if request total step is skipped, i would offer a 50% cost refund (cover fees, time and simplify everything) or 100% credit on next purchase, and on request. But now i feel kinda bad about it because still no one request total or request a refund...

Would you always refund extra shipping paid? Even if buyer are to blame for not reading description and terms of sale? I know some don't and we are not forced to but i'm not sure it's that honest. At the same time it cover handling time and give the possibility to provide better packaging supply. i'm kinda in a dilemm

[teenytrinkets]

I'm convinced most of my buyers don't read the description these days! And I have very short descriptions!

You gotta keep it simple. Free shipping, flat cost for shipping each item or calculated shipping. Combined shipping always turns out to be so complicated! They need to know what they're going to pay before they buy.

I try to offer free shipping on most listings because of this. Another good strategy is to charge the lowest shipping you can for the country you're shipping to, and allow best offer. That way you can take lower offers from the cheaper shipping destinations, and be more of a stickler on the offers that come from buyers that cost more to ship to. And you could take lower offers from buyers that are buying multiples, to offset individual listing shipping costs. 

Personally, I've found rolling the dice with the cheapest flat rate shipping/free shipping with no offers has worked best for me.

[rocketscollectibles]

Thanks for the answer

My bad i might did not explained my thoughts correctly. I don't have any problem with my model its very simple for me most of my items are the same, 90%+ are individual trading cards game and ships with lettermail. So right now i'm just offering $1.50 shipping + $0.50 per additional card. That's a standard model in my category and it cover correctly everything. I tried free shipping for a while and my actual model seems to work twice better for me so i can't change it

My problem really is that even if my combined shipping offer is the first thing written in the description and that its clearly stated to add items to cart and request the invoice, people buying multiple cards just pay without requesting it. So i'm not sure how to set myself with this because always sending partial refunds is kinda an annoying thing, it waste time and can induce mistakes, but at the same time i feel bad to just keep the extra paid

[pjcdn2005]

There is a request total in the cart though it doesn't work if there are any discounted items there or if one item has free shipping.  Plus, a lot of people don't use the cart.  

But since you sell mainly cards, you should set up combined shipping rules for those items so that when people buy items from different listings the combined shipping is automatic when they use the cart.  You can do that in your shipping preferences and once you do that you can check of each listing that you want to associate with that rule.

[reallynicestamps]

If  the customer doesn't ask for a discount, you don't give a discount.

If they ask later, cheerfully refund some of the overpayment.

Put the unclaimed refunds into your Cookie Jar as part of your self-insurance against something horrible.

But there is a program that automatically will do the arithmetic for you and your customer. I have never used it (rarely get multiple sales in my categories) but some one should be along to point you to the link.

[regs43]

I have mine set up to automaticlly apply when multiple items are added to the shopping cart, Canada is one set of rules and USA and International are another set of rules. I also use Business Policies, quick and easy changes to all listings associated with a policy. These things are hard to locate now on ebay. I cant even locate anymore where the combined shipping rules set up page is sorry. Somewhere in the site preferences section i assume. Maybe a google search will assist you to figure it out.

[rocketscollectibles]

I tried the shipping rules back when i started a few months ago i remember i had trouble with it but i don't remember why. I might give it another look

If the customer doesn't ask for a discount, you don't give a discount

That's what i thought doing, i even wrote it in my description to back myself. But when someone order 3 cards for $10 and pay 3x$1.50 shipping while i ship a package with a $1 stamp, i know a lot doing it and we're not forced to discount or refund but personally i feel kinda bad about it

If it's cheap cards and i don't mind shipping without a toploader for each card, i could pack up to 8-10 and ships with a P stamp, imagine charging over $20.00 combined shipping with a P stamp

I feel like free shipping is really the best model because you don't have to think about nothing and you just keep any extra shipping without any doubts. But i had a huge raise in sales since i removed it i really can't change anything for now

[femmefan1946]

That's one of the benefits of Free Shipping,  the buyer doesn't really know how much of his payment goes to shipping. He's too excited to be getting *F*R*E*E* shipping.

But i had a huge raise in sales since i removed it i really can't change anything for now

*giggle* from the guy who has changed his ID, what? , five times now?*giggle*

Seriously, since separate shipping works for you, stick with it. Perhaps sometime after Christmas, try some Free Shipping promotions (putting the cost into the asking price of course).

You ask good useful questions. Many new sellers could use your experiments  and questions and the discussions that came from them as a textbook for new sellers.

[triber]

This has been a huge problem for me. Some buyers can ask for a combined shipping invoice, others not. A couple of days ago a buyer gave me the list of items she wanted and asked me to give her a quote for shipping, which I did. I explained in larger upper case letters how to do it, and said I can only give combined shipping if she does it the way I told her. I also have these instructions on all my listing.

Wouldn't you know that later that day she purchased each item individually! It is so frustrating. I thanked her for her payments but didn't offer a refund, she didn't say anything about the process not working. If it doesn't work, I am happy to send a special listing for them.

[rocketscollectibles]

I did many combined sales since i'm selling and to be honest not a single time i've been request an invoice. And i explain every single time. Once i had to waste my time to gather 12 cards and create a new listing. Once a buyer asked me to adjust my cost on the listings directly... Other times they just pay and ghost. I can't find the request total on the app also it may be why no one request, if it's hidden or does not even exist there

This is not normal that it's so messy and almost a secret feature. Ebay should do better information sharing to buyers or it needs to be worked and rethink. I can't imagine the number of unexperimented buyers getting stole by sellers saying nothing

But thinking about it ebay probably don't care because they are the biggest winners at the end keeping the fees of overpaid shipping, and what a surprise even when we refund it. Why would they be competent when being incompetent brings more money, what a strange site

[pjcdn2005]

I agree that they should have a better way for people to ask for invoices.  I don't know if it is even possible to do so on the app. But I think that eBay wants sellers to set up their listings so that a buyer doesn't have to ask.  This is harder to do when a seller sells a variety of items that are different  weights and sizes but it is definitely doable for items such as trading cards.  

It makes more sense to me to figure out how to set up automatic shipping discounts rather than  complain about eBay.  This platform is never going to work exactly how everyone wants it to so in many cases it's best just to figure out how to make it work for you. I've never used the app but I do know that you can set up shipping discounts on a PC. Start here...

https://www.ebay.ca/ship/prf

[rocketscollectibles]

Just an heads up on this thread and share a short experience

I did read once a seller sharing that he received a negative feedback after sending a partial refund for combined shipping because the buyer thought he cancelled the order, and buyer never revised his feedback, just disapeared

I started giving 50% refunds of the discount i would have gave if an invoice was requested. I feel like it's honest to buyers and cover fees and inconveniences. I refund selecting shipping discount and write as note: combined shipping discount. Pretty clear. And then after doing it only a few times, already this morning i see a buyer that i refunded left a positive feedback, but removed me a star in communication... It's obvious it comes from that refund

I've been honest, communication was clean, and at the end what i earn? Less money and reputation cost. This really makes me rethink about giving refunds on shipping. Buyers are confused about combined shipping, most seems to don't know, so what's the point of giving refunds if it brings negatives. I'm thinking about going back to a free shipping model 

[pjcdn2005]

You are saying that it is obvious that you received one less star because of the partial shipping refund?  Unless the buyer told you that, it doesn't seem obvious to me at all.  

I don't understand why you would give partial refunds and lose fvf instead of simply setting up combined shipping.  As I mentioned before it wouldn't be that difficult to do when selling cards. It would also encourage multiple sales as buyers would know ahead of time exactly what they would be paying for shipping.

[parts_and_diecasts]

@marnotom! is my favourite, but you are a second close

[rocketscollectibles]

You are saying that it is obvious that you received one less star because of the partial shipping refund? Unless the buyer told you that, it doesn't seem obvious to me at all.

I mean it is obvious because this is the only interaction with the buyer i had on this sale. There's no other reason he could have perceived a lack of communication. That's kinda a 1+1=2 assumption here, unless he totally randomly rated 5 stars everything except communication