SO frustrated with combined shipping problems

[triber]

This problem never ends. I had 2 buyers who asked for combined shipping last week, very smooth and easy.

Today I get a buyer saying they have 13 items in their cart, and every time they ask for a combined shipping invoice they are told that I don't do combined shipping.

I have phoned eBay many times about this, I thought I'd give it one more try. The rep was hard to understand, but came up with the suggestion that the buyer purchases each item and then I work out the combined shipping and send the refund for the overpayment. NO! That is not the answer. I explained that I have to pay fees on each shipping cost paid for and then when I refund I will be losing money. She just didn't seem to understand that. I kept at it, and then she said to ask the buyer to call eBay. I am not going to do that either, my buyers shouldn't have to do that.

She finally said she would forward it to the technical bods, I explained that that had been done many times before, still a problem! Why can't eBay get this fixed. The rep checked my options and I clearly support combined shipping.

I just got an email to leave feedback to the call, I hate to say what I really think without being rude. eBay needs to have reps that are easy to understand and that understand eBay.

I now have to ask my buyer to send numbers of all the things she wants, she shouldn't have to go to that trouble, if she decides not to bother, I am losing 13 sales.

[regs43]

Another mystery of ebay? I have often had people buy items from my store and not pay right away and then ask for invoices after they have commited to buy items but had not yet paid. And no they were not items I have accepted offers on or sent offers out on.

Maybe things have changed more recently with managed payments? and this is no longer an option which would suck for people like the original poster trying to send invoices who don't have a combined shipping policy already set up. I have mine setup so its not an issue.

I don't try to understand anything ebay does, becasue it never works properly and often ends up with the "its not you its us" error.

[triber]

Yes she told me she had all the items in her cart and asked to send an invoice, but she was told that I don't do combined shipping. That seems to be the problem. If eBay says I don't do combined listings, there is no way for her to ask for an invoice

[triber]

Yes, that is the problem, but not for every buyer!

[femmefan1946]

She may have been told that, but it obviously isn't true.

That's something to take up with eBay, and not to worry the customer about.

Can you send her an invoice with the shipping adjusted?

she told me she had all the items in her cart and asked to send an invoice,....there is no way for her to ask for an invoice

Ummm- yes she can.

She did. It's just not happening automatically.

What did I miss?

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

Add to cart still doesn't work on PC. These are features that should work for one and all no matter what device you are on.

What do you mean? I don't have a problem adding your items or any other items to my cart and I'm on my PC. 

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When I've tried add to cart with the Shippingsupplystore the only way I could add an additional item was to open an extra window, add the next item, then open an additional window...Repeat. There has been no continue shopping on a PC for as long as I can remember. If that had of been been fixed there would be fanfare with those long trumpets from yesteryear and partying in the streets with masks on. This is how it still shows at my end and what customers have reported to me when they've tried to add to cart or request a revised invoice. That the options required just wasn't there.

It's been brought up in the weekly discussion on many occasions. One of the regular solutions is to create a listing specifically for the buyer. This is a major inconvenience and should not be required.

-Lotz

PS. You can use save for later and repeat and then add to cart but every other store I've ever used is Continue Shopping. I'm pretty sure if others are still having problems with this it is still a problem.

How a non-ebay cart looks:

How the eBay Cart Looks"

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@femmefan1946 wrote:

She may have been told that, but it obviously isn't true.

That's something to take up with eBay, and not to worry the customer about.

Can you send her an invoice with the shipping adjusted?

she told me she had all the items in her cart and asked to send an invoice,....there is no way for her to ask for an invoice

Ummm- yes she can.

She did. It's just not happening automatically.

What did I miss?

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I believe in some situations....APP/PC/...Best Offer is a maybe....the option for a buyer  to request a revised invoice is greyed out and same goes for a seller to send one. What can throw a wrench into things is if automatic payment is required or the buying items from the same seller in 2 currencies.

As mentioned in another discussion I had a buyer a few weeks ago that was unaware that he could request a revised invoice and he had been buying for 5 plus years. He bought 2 items and paid separately so 2 sets of fees for the 2 listings. Because that's how he's always done it. Combined the buyer would have saved and I would have saved on FVF's. It becomes a very simple operation once continue shopping becomes a thing.  How things are now there are limited incentives for a seller to refund and take any hit on fees.

-Lotz

[pjcdn2005]

Got it. Though your original statement gave me the impression that you couldn't add anything to the cart.  If I want to add something else I usually just back space to go to where I was before I added the item.  But you're right, it would make more sense to have a 'continue shopping' link. 

Or...they can set it up like the .com cart.  I hadn't noticed the difference before but just now when I added something to the cart a small window popped up that I could just close for now and continue shopping.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

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@pjcdn2005 wrote:

Got it. Though your original statement gave me the impression that you couldn't add anything to the cart.  If I want to add something else I usually just back space to go to where I was before I added the item.  But you're right, it would make more sense to have a 'continue shopping' link. 

Or...they can set it up like the .com cart.  I hadn't noticed the difference before but just now when I added something to the cart a small window popped up that I could just close for now and continue shopping.

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The method I mentioned for Save Now is something I have never tried considered using in my 15 + years of selling on eBay. If some sellers haven't clued in to how this works it's a good guess that buyer's haven't either. Continue Shopping should have been an automatic no brainer. In testing Tribers listings it will only let you request a revised invoice (normally) when there is more than 1 item in a cart. I've had buyers say that they made a purchase and never received an invoice and in some cases I've had to jump through hoops to get the system to let me send one. Even for single item purchases from time to time there are messages back and forth with arranged discounts on shipping so there is no reason why that option should ever be greyed out. I think for the majority of sellers they just want shopping on eBay to work the same for every situation. When it doesn't work, they just click next and go elsewhere.

-Lotz

PS. As a BTW let tagging be your friend. With the volume of messages that float around in the discussion area it's VERY easy for someone to miss one that is intended for them specifically.  🙂 I know I've stumbled across some wayyyy after the fact.

[deeeight]

Oh you might want to check under "Manage shipping settings" what its set for on ebay.ca for which currency you allow combined shipping. Ebay has never allowed combined shipping among different currencies and if your ebay seller account dates back to when ebay canada still allowed you to make listings in $US then it might be set for that still even though its been a few years now of only allowing new listings in $CA on ebay.ca. This might be why the checkout feature wouldn't be able to combine shipping for multiple $CA listed items. 

[darak10]

some are able to do what hes saying and some arent, Ive never been able to understand how or why some can do this and some cant, theres literally no rhyme or reason to it that I can see.  It is almost certainly because someone is using their desktop and another is using the app, both of which respond differently depending on what you are using it for.

[seekers_cove]

When you refund someone part of the refund amount is your money and part of it is the fees. I refunded someone $15 shipping because they bought two items together, and $12.49 was from me and $2.51 was ebay fees. So Ebay is not keeping the fees on refunded amounts.

[marnotom!]

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@seekers_cove wrote:

When you refund someone part of the refund amount is your money and part of it is the fees. I refunded someone $15 shipping because they bought two items together, and $12.49 was from me and $2.51 was ebay fees. So Ebay is not keeping the fees on refunded amounts.

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@seekers_cove, you’ve posted to a two and a half year old thread. Back in 2021, fee refunds for returns were not a “thing”.

[kh-phdan]

Hello Everyone,

Due to the age of the thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue discussing this topic.

Thanks for your understanding!