If you are selling multiple quantity items eBay is still combing the weights of the items ordered and billing the customer for the combined weight even though you have a eBay combined shipping rule set to “No discount” (i.e., do not combine weights).
Before eBay stated I needed to set this rule after 26 years of being on eBay to prevent this form happening and now they are telling me it doe snot prevent that, but can’r provide a explanation about what the rule does - apparently nothing at all.
A recent multiple quantity order for two items had a retail shipping price of $11.55 for each 1 pound item. eBay should have thus billed the customer for $23.10. The customer would then pay and receive a refund if any were due or simply request a combined invoice before they pay. This is done in case the item is subject to dimensional rates or in some cases it may be cheaper to send the item out as two packages instead of paying the dimensional.
Instead eBay combined the 1 pound rate of each item into 2 pounds and billed the customer for a 2 pound package to zone 7 which was $14.90 at retail prices.
If the combined size of the items were over a cubic foot; for example 12.5” x 12” x 12”, the commercial rate would have been $19.23 for this particular buyer.
In this case the box for the combined item was below a cubic foot - luckily for eBay.
eBay customer service’s first claims to misunderstand that I was shorted on the shipping and tells me to make up for the amount I was shorted on the shipping by:
A. Cancelling the order and relisting it. That makes no sense as the same exact problem would occur.
B. Get a payment from the buyer for additional shipping from a source outside of eBay. So eBay is telling me to commit off eBay sales to complete the order - amazingly stupid. Of course it would be idiotic to accept such a payment in the first since it would have a high degree of potential fraud on part of the buyer. This is of course assumes the buyer wouldn’t leave negative feedback immediately.
Then eBay tells me it occurred because there were no dimensions for one item. I upload 99.99% of items with dimensions since the initial rate is calculated on the weight alone. Never been a problem!
But that is also a lie by eBay.
As I still have inventory left in the multiple quantity listing I added a package size of 12” x 12" x 12”. I then added a quantity of two to my shopping cart in another browser while not signed into an eBay account. The retail shipping rate shown is still based on combining the weight. Two stacked 12”x 12” x 12” items would shipped out as a 12” x 12” x 24” package and thus subject to dimensional rate, which would be $62.80 at the retail rate or $38.48 at the commercial rate if this same buyer had purchased the items.
Then eBay tells me I need to list the items as individual items, which makes no sense at all as they will be pulled as duplicate listings.
Then eBay tells I need to use a flat rate. Yeah right.
For most of eBay’s history multiple quantity items were billed by charging the customer the shipping cost for each item times the number of items they ordered.
One feels brain cells dying when talking to to people from eBay.
So eBay is completely ignorant about how shipping works or this is another scam designed to lower prices for buyers on listings with no regard to the seller being shorted on shipping. I pick the later reason.
