I have, this year, bought multiple items from a seller, asked for invoice and only paid one shipping fee. I'd be a bit miffed unless they are coming tracked and insured or express delivery.
Guess the seller does not want repeat business.
I always ask for combined shipping on Ebay.
If I get the ebay automated response that shipping cannot be combined then I message the seller asking for combined shipping.
If I don't get a response then I pay and never look at that sellers items ever again.
What's the old expression - "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me!" I keep a list of people who mess with me and only buy from them once!! It's only got one person from here, someone who wanted to grossly overcharge because of the extreme rarity of the item. After I bought the same item on E-Bay for half CV this person went on my list. Not long afterwards I think he disappeared from the site.
I purchased several items from one dealer on eBay and messaged the dealer to have him combine postage as the items were essentially single stamps. He replied that eBay will not allow him to combine postage but that he would reimburse me the cost of the postage for the extra items. I agreed... and then waited... and waited... etc.. Finally I messaged him ( a couple of time's) with no reply from him.. I ended up chalking it up to experience and put him on my DNB (Do Not Buy) list.
The very few times that I have bought anything on e-bay, it was never a pleasant experience. Nothing specific but as a result, I never even look. That being said, I had to make a 1000.00 purchase on e-bay two weeks ago for business because literally, across the country, this normally 200.00 electrical item cannot be found. The shipping was reasonable and it arrived to its destination in 4 days. Outside of paying 5X ordinary cost, I have no reason to complain. Sigh.
Sometimes ebay.ca has different rules than ebay.com
One will say that the seller will not combine shipping .
and the other does...I place the items I wish to purchase
in the cart and send a request for combined shipping....
.When that happens I switch sites and make the purchase
I have been told that trick by several dealers/sellers.
The seller is back on my list of people to buy from. After a couple messages back and forth he refunded half of my shipping, $14 instead of $28. And I ended up with a total of $113 USD for Russia #6 and #11, both mint. So I take back the nasty thoughts, but I still think the thread was a useful one! It's always nice to be able to get a couple more stamps from page #1 of your album. I did have a bid in on #7 and CO2 but they went a bit too high for me. I'd really like to have one of the Russia official airmails but there's only a couple that are affordable. Maybe next time!
Edit: A picked up a handful of the Canal Zone official airmails a week or so ago for a very reasonable price. They're a bit hard to find as well and some of them are quite pricey! Sorry the images are so tiny!
I often buy from the same people, and they always accommodate me. Last week, I offered to buy 19 separate lots as one at a 75% of the price had i paid for each separately. He agreed; he couldn't find a way to reduce the price so asked me to pay full freight and he'd refund the difference. That's what he did.
I think there are many ways around rules if the object is reasonable and legal commerce (we see that here ALL the time). EBay is no different, in most regards, or so it has been my experience.
I JUST had this experience with Ebay. I Invoiced the Buyer and reduced the Shipping cost. Problem solved - I thought. Ebay then charged the Buyer Sales Tax. What next?? I live in FL, what states would charge Sales Tax for the Items I sell. It seems to be hit or miss. Thank you.
3 pertinent quotes from google
"Forty-five states and the District of Columbia have internet sales tax. The following states do not have an Internet sales tax: Alaska, Delaware, New Hampshire, Montana, and Oregon."
"Large websites avoid sales tax by establishing subsidiaries that are solely responsible for the Internet part of the business model. For example, the store that you buy an item from online may be a different legal entity from the corresponding brick and mortar store that is in your local shopping mall."
"Yes. All sales of taxable tangible personal property made online are subject to tax when the merchandise is delivered to a customer located in Florida. If the seller is registered as a Florida dealer, the seller should collect Florida sales tax."
Ebay collects the sales tax for you and remits it to the states - be very thankful. In New York there is State Sales Tax, County Sales Tax. and some town and City sales taxes.. My last quarter sales tax bill for New York State sales from Hip and SOR was under $4.00 and took a half hour to gather the info and file.....
I've done over 3600 low dollar sales on eBay the past year so I'm qualified to answer this one!
I sell mainly in US Historical Covers and US First Day Covers. The volume dealers here usually offer combined shipping. I sure do!
There are a few caveats. First, because eBay is much more complicated than it needs to be, some sellers have never discovered how to set a Shipping Policy to combine items automatically. I had this same frustration until someone on a board walked me through the process. You'll see those dealers that say "Please email me to send you an invoice to combine shipping." Otherwise eBay will apply the shipping charge to each and every item on that order!
Second, if you are buying from me, and you try to pay for several items in one transaction, it should flawlessly combine shipping. If it doesn't stop immediately and ask for an invoice. In this situation a seller can manually invoice you charging the correct postage. If it goes through and you pay, I can still manually refund you the excess postage.
Third situation are the buyers who go through the inventory and buy stuff as single transactions. Yup, they went through the entire selling process 10 times! Then they send a message, "Please combine postage!" There is an issue there that they don't understand. eBay charges the seller a 30 cent transaction fee PER TRANSACTION. So if you order 10 covers in one purchase, I get charged 30 cents. IF you buy 10 items seperately, I get charged $3.00 in transaction fees! When you are selling $2 covers that's a big bite!
And that's how it works!
I recently ordered four separate eBay "Buy it Now" lots from a dealer and within 24 hours had an $11 refund for shipping, which I hadn't asked for, thus paying just one shipping charge.
Bob
I just bought two early Russia stamps from a seller on E-Bay and he supplied me with combined shipping when I asked. Big Hairy Deal, all he did was add the two shipping prices together so he could send the two items together. I was all ready to get upset and then I remembered that one of you said on a post here that E-Bay does not allow sellers to combine items and reduce the shipping cost. Does this ring a bell with anyone out there? Or should I be ticked off?
re: Wow, combined shipping!!!
I have, this year, bought multiple items from a seller, asked for invoice and only paid one shipping fee. I'd be a bit miffed unless they are coming tracked and insured or express delivery.
Guess the seller does not want repeat business.
re: Wow, combined shipping!!!
I always ask for combined shipping on Ebay.
If I get the ebay automated response that shipping cannot be combined then I message the seller asking for combined shipping.
If I don't get a response then I pay and never look at that sellers items ever again.
re: Wow, combined shipping!!!
What's the old expression - "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me!" I keep a list of people who mess with me and only buy from them once!! It's only got one person from here, someone who wanted to grossly overcharge because of the extreme rarity of the item. After I bought the same item on E-Bay for half CV this person went on my list. Not long afterwards I think he disappeared from the site.
re: Wow, combined shipping!!!
I purchased several items from one dealer on eBay and messaged the dealer to have him combine postage as the items were essentially single stamps. He replied that eBay will not allow him to combine postage but that he would reimburse me the cost of the postage for the extra items. I agreed... and then waited... and waited... etc.. Finally I messaged him ( a couple of time's) with no reply from him.. I ended up chalking it up to experience and put him on my DNB (Do Not Buy) list.
re: Wow, combined shipping!!!
The very few times that I have bought anything on e-bay, it was never a pleasant experience. Nothing specific but as a result, I never even look. That being said, I had to make a 1000.00 purchase on e-bay two weeks ago for business because literally, across the country, this normally 200.00 electrical item cannot be found. The shipping was reasonable and it arrived to its destination in 4 days. Outside of paying 5X ordinary cost, I have no reason to complain. Sigh.
re: Wow, combined shipping!!!
Sometimes ebay.ca has different rules than ebay.com
One will say that the seller will not combine shipping .
and the other does...I place the items I wish to purchase
in the cart and send a request for combined shipping....
.When that happens I switch sites and make the purchase
I have been told that trick by several dealers/sellers.
re: Wow, combined shipping!!!
The seller is back on my list of people to buy from. After a couple messages back and forth he refunded half of my shipping, $14 instead of $28. And I ended up with a total of $113 USD for Russia #6 and #11, both mint. So I take back the nasty thoughts, but I still think the thread was a useful one! It's always nice to be able to get a couple more stamps from page #1 of your album. I did have a bid in on #7 and CO2 but they went a bit too high for me. I'd really like to have one of the Russia official airmails but there's only a couple that are affordable. Maybe next time!
Edit: A picked up a handful of the Canal Zone official airmails a week or so ago for a very reasonable price. They're a bit hard to find as well and some of them are quite pricey! Sorry the images are so tiny!
re: Wow, combined shipping!!!
I often buy from the same people, and they always accommodate me. Last week, I offered to buy 19 separate lots as one at a 75% of the price had i paid for each separately. He agreed; he couldn't find a way to reduce the price so asked me to pay full freight and he'd refund the difference. That's what he did.
I think there are many ways around rules if the object is reasonable and legal commerce (we see that here ALL the time). EBay is no different, in most regards, or so it has been my experience.
re: Wow, combined shipping!!!
I JUST had this experience with Ebay. I Invoiced the Buyer and reduced the Shipping cost. Problem solved - I thought. Ebay then charged the Buyer Sales Tax. What next?? I live in FL, what states would charge Sales Tax for the Items I sell. It seems to be hit or miss. Thank you.
re: Wow, combined shipping!!!
3 pertinent quotes from google
"Forty-five states and the District of Columbia have internet sales tax. The following states do not have an Internet sales tax: Alaska, Delaware, New Hampshire, Montana, and Oregon."
"Large websites avoid sales tax by establishing subsidiaries that are solely responsible for the Internet part of the business model. For example, the store that you buy an item from online may be a different legal entity from the corresponding brick and mortar store that is in your local shopping mall."
"Yes. All sales of taxable tangible personal property made online are subject to tax when the merchandise is delivered to a customer located in Florida. If the seller is registered as a Florida dealer, the seller should collect Florida sales tax."
Ebay collects the sales tax for you and remits it to the states - be very thankful. In New York there is State Sales Tax, County Sales Tax. and some town and City sales taxes.. My last quarter sales tax bill for New York State sales from Hip and SOR was under $4.00 and took a half hour to gather the info and file.....
re: Wow, combined shipping!!!
I've done over 3600 low dollar sales on eBay the past year so I'm qualified to answer this one!
I sell mainly in US Historical Covers and US First Day Covers. The volume dealers here usually offer combined shipping. I sure do!
There are a few caveats. First, because eBay is much more complicated than it needs to be, some sellers have never discovered how to set a Shipping Policy to combine items automatically. I had this same frustration until someone on a board walked me through the process. You'll see those dealers that say "Please email me to send you an invoice to combine shipping." Otherwise eBay will apply the shipping charge to each and every item on that order!
Second, if you are buying from me, and you try to pay for several items in one transaction, it should flawlessly combine shipping. If it doesn't stop immediately and ask for an invoice. In this situation a seller can manually invoice you charging the correct postage. If it goes through and you pay, I can still manually refund you the excess postage.
Third situation are the buyers who go through the inventory and buy stuff as single transactions. Yup, they went through the entire selling process 10 times! Then they send a message, "Please combine postage!" There is an issue there that they don't understand. eBay charges the seller a 30 cent transaction fee PER TRANSACTION. So if you order 10 covers in one purchase, I get charged 30 cents. IF you buy 10 items seperately, I get charged $3.00 in transaction fees! When you are selling $2 covers that's a big bite!
And that's how it works!
re: Wow, combined shipping!!!
I recently ordered four separate eBay "Buy it Now" lots from a dealer and within 24 hours had an $11 refund for shipping, which I hadn't asked for, thus paying just one shipping charge.
Bob