Why is eBay only charging one shipping cost on purchase of multiples in one listing.

[thomasjaybaker]

Hi there. I just came across a strange behavior which could potentially bankrupt me if I don't figure out how to fix it. I have a listing which I only charge $0.99 cents for with Canada Post $1.75 lettermail shipping. I have several hundred of these for sale. A buyer purchased 5 of them and eBay only charged them one shipping charge of $1.75 rather than five separate shipping charges. At the end of the day, it's going to cost me more to ship all five items than I'm going to get from eBay. Is there a way to fix this?

[reallynicestamps]

Ummm.

$1.75 is the cost of a 30gr letter to the USA*

You pay 40c service fee on each transaction.

You pay 13.5%  of your customer's payment for each transaction** or 38c

And an envelope, stiffener, time, stamps.

And the original cost of the product.

Your profit is less than 22c per sale.

If this is the "5 nickels for a dollar" listing... well it's an interesting business plan.

*We'll ignore that LetterMail is not supposed to be used to ship goods.

**selling price + shipping fee+ sales tax (say 5%)= $2.79

[reallynicestamps]

And that Matchbox car will have to ship Parcel Rates, at a minimum of $7.18 Tracked USA, higher domestically.

[thomasjaybaker]

Yeah. I make about a penny per sale. I was hoping to use the technique to get some feedback happening but it hasn't worked out too well yet. Anyway. I figured out how to fix the problem.

[thomasjaybaker · Accepted solution]

I've manafed to find the setting to fix the problem. Thanks to everyone who responded.

[2nd-time-around-jewelry]

You can add a Flat Shipping Rule to all your listings. It adds an additional charge for each extra item bought by a buyer.

[reallynicestamps]

The fastest way to get feedback is to buy.

Choose inexpensive stuff you need anyway (socks? candy? discount postage?) from a seller who seems to leave feedback on shipment.

Buyers can only get positive feedback and sellers leave feedback more often than buyers.

Oh - having been in retail for over 40 years, the worst customers are the cheapskate bargain hunters. They believe that when they get a low low price, they also got a poor product and that they could have bought it cheaper.

Charge what you item is worth and get customers who appreciate what they bought.