Ebay Advise Needed Again.

Are sellers obliged or is it compulsory to give buyers a combine shipping discount. The situation for an example: A buyer wins two of your lots in bid. But you intent to send two packages to the buyer for reasons such if one gets lost or stolen the other may reach and to maintain a small profit made in postage charges which is slightly above the packaging and transport charges. You have not mentioned of any combine shipping discount in your listings. Now buyer has paid and request the discount of combine shipping be remitted back to his account. Please advise. Thanks.

Oops! forgor. Please bear in mind seller is new in ebay and earlier two slaes has been shipped and payment not credited in to sellers account as ebay ruling. Now seller has two ship another 2 and yet wait for his money to be credited after 28 days or so. Thanks.

This sound like the issue that sent us crazy with secret negative feedback on postage cost.

ebay sends out an automatic invoice that the seller can not stop ebay from doing and it has a mailing cost attached to each item won.

It is then a pain for the buyer to correct this error.

If the seller has made comment of this problem in the description area and you have not waited for the sellers invoice and payed out on eBays invoice you have a problem.

I hope every much that this is not the issue and does not refer to you.

Interesting.

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A seller is not "obligated" to offer combined shipping. It is a "courtesy" to save costs, when possible, and if agreeable to both parties.

Offering shipping discounts is solely at the discretion of the seller.

There are several huge New York dealers who do not offer combined shipping, and mention this specifically in their listings, due to items being pre-packaged or some lame excuse.

I think it is a trick to use up their discount postage at "full" value. Since I rarely buy two large lots at one time, it doesn't affect me.

Many sellers (not necessarily in the stamp business) sell third party and thus have no control over the shipping or the items may come from different locations/warehouses/stores. Regardless, it is not required.

As always, read the description carefully and ask before bidding. As a seller, best practice is to be as specific as possible.

I have a fair bit of experience on ebay as both a buyer and a seller, so I see both sides.
There is no obligation to provide combined shipping, but I think it is good customer service and something every seller should think about. Personally, I will look through all a sellers items and will buy more from one seller if they are combining shipping, as I know I am saving money.
As most sellers do combine shipping, if you are not going to do it, I think you need to say this clearly and up front, with your reasons. There is almost an expectation on the part of buyers that a discount will be made, and that is what you are up against now.
So, how to deal with this situation? Personally, I would err on the side of good service and good feedback. As a new seller, you don't want to risk negative feedback at this stage, and unfortunately this may well be what you get from this customer. So give a discount to the guy, it doesn't have to be the whole amount of one shipment, and have a think about your policy overall. Look at what others do. Some give a small discount, some give a larger discount.
If you decide to stick to separate shipping and no discount, make this extremely clear in your listings, but be prepared for buyers still to ask!

When I sell something on ebay (which I don't do anymore) I would combine shipping if it is reasonable for me to do it.
and, doug2222, I also do that to use up my discount postage at full price... Who wouldn't? That is why discount postage is bought.

Hi!
Are they oblidged? No. Is it a good practice? Yes. From a buyer's perspective, it would behoove you to email the seller BEFORE buying and ask on combining shipping. As a buyer, I've never had a refusal for that.

On the other hand, as a seller I have had to refuse combining shipping, but only because the items (model RR stuff) were more than a single shipping box would hold.