Ebay Combined Shipping

I've noticed on ebay that a lot of people list stamp panes individually or separately and each one has a separate shipping charge and there is not mention of combining shipping in the listings. If you were interested in 5 stamp panes teach one is in a separate listing with a $3.50 shipping charge for each listing, would you ask the seller to combine each purchase into one $3.50 shipping charge or would you ask the seller to create a new listing with all the stamp panes you are interested in into one lot?

Regarding the former, suppose you message a seller and they indicate to go ahead and purchase all 5 stamp panes listings and the shipping fee will only be $3.50. If I added 5 stamp pane listings into the cart and requested a total from the seller, could the seller go back on his/her word and input something other than $3.50 for the shipping fee and then if I didn't pay, I could get an unpaid item strike?

Is it a hassle for a seller to create a new listing with all 5 stamp panes and one shipping fee, so the costs are more upfront and transparent? If those 5 stamp panes all had best offers, I'm thinking it might be easier, if possible to message the seller and mention that I will offer X amount for each pane and then create a listing with that offer and one shipping fee, if the seller can easily do this.

It depends upon the seller, so it would be best to ask before purchasing any items. Many sellers combine items with a lower shipping cost, some may combine with the same shipping cost as for one item. If they agree to a combined/lower shipping cost, you should wait for their ebay invoice to pay. Some may not agree to the combined lower shipping request.

As for requesting to start a new listing that combines the lots of interest, you may request it, but I think most would not do it. I takes more time for them to change/combine the listings, and since they may be paying for the listings, it can cost them more money to do it.

Once you get a response (email) from the seller, if they choose to not follow what they agreed to do, you can first "remind" them to see if they will change to follow the agreement, and then escalate to ebay as a problem with the listing(s) to resolve the problem (and include the email evidence).

I certainly wouldn't go to the trouble of creating new listings. Most sellers offer combined postage on items bought within a particular timeframe. If that isn't mentioned in the description, simply ask the seller if he offers it. I more often find that buyers of multiple auction items pay without waiting for an invoice, in which case I make a Paypal refund of the excess postage.

My advice is to message the seller and inquire if they do combine shipping. My experience is that most are more than happy to do so, if you wait to pay until you receive their invoice. They may require a nominal additional fee for each extra item. PayPal charges a flat fee for each transaction. If you pay each item separately they incur multiple flat fee charges. On a combined invoice only one fee.

As far as going back on their word, highly unlikely. Save their reply message if you are truly concerned about it.

Also, when sellers combine shipping, wait for an invoice instead of trying to pay for each item separately.

Some of the shipping and handling charges leave me with the feeling that a number of sellers on stamp internet sites are in the business of selling shipping vs. selling stamps. My limited sales always combine same day sales for one low shipping cost. Just seems fair. As to creating new listings - that is very time consuming.

Here are my shipping terms;




I think these terms are pretty clear but every week I get the question "Do you combine items for shipping?" My point is make sure you read the description.


Any communication between Buyer & Seller using the ebay message system is automatically part of the record if there is a dispute, so I can't imagine a Seller reneging on a commitment.


As a seller I love combined shipping. Of course I like the extra sales but I also like to do less packing and shipping. My Terms say "sales in one week" will be combined but I have regular Buyers that I ship on a monthly basis.

I also have it written in every description for every listing that I combine shipping and the costs are at exact postage rates. It also says to request or wait for an invoice when buying multiple items. Most people abide by that, but there's always the occasional newbie who will buy multiple items and pay for each one separately. It's quite the headache. That's one thing I do like on a site like Delcampe - you can't pay me until I do send an invoice. One invoice with correct combined shipping is nice. I wish ebay had that option. I have also noticed in the recent past that some buyers on the ebay.uk site cannot request an invoice. I'm not sure what is going on, but the work around is the ask the buyer to use the ebay.com site and that works.

Yep. ebay has made things confusing by having both a "Buy It Now" button right next to an "Add to Cart" button, and buyers (especially newbie buyers) don't know the difference, so they will buy an item, pay for it, buy another item, pay for it, lather-rinse-repeat, and only when done either inquire whether you will combine shipping, or get indignant when you don't automatically combine.

Keep in mind, when you refund PayPal payments, PayPal keeps the base 30 cents per transaction. Not a big deal when the amounts are large, but if the items are inexpensive, the cumulative loss can take a bit of a bite.

I have found that most sellers will combine shipping, but you have to ask them to do it before you pay the invoice because ebay applies it individually to each lot.

In the one case where the seller would not combine the shipping, I told them that I would send their payment in the mail with a self addressed stamped envelope and they decided to combine the charges. I think they were charging $3.50 per lot. I won one lot and decided to buy a few more cheap lots assuming I could combine the freight charges.

Ultimately it is better to ask first, but sometimes you just don't have the time to ask the question and get a response before the sale ends.