Seller Not Offering Combined Shipping On Ebay - Policy Question

I always check for combined shipping. If it is not specified, I usually stay away but never assume that seller will combine shipping afterwards.

Combined shipping has happened a few times after I'd won the lots but I've also been hit and charged $6 shipping for 2 stamps.

Dan

Always request a total invoice from the seller and give them the opportunity to do the right thing.

I sell Stamps on pages and domestically I charge $3.35 for the 1st item and all additional items ship for Free. I obviously subsidize a lot of shipping costs but I think it's worth it for the good will and efficiency. Reading this topic made me wonder how ebay deals with my shipping? I examined my Invoice and each item I sell is Invoice in 4 parts;

1. Insertion fee for 2 categories 25c
2. Scheduling Fee 10c
3. Final Value fee for auction
4. Final Value fee for shipping

I was surprised to learn ebay does it correctly and prorates the $3.35 across all item Invoiced and shipped ie. 1 item $3.35- fee 21c
2 items $1.68 per item- fee 11c, 3 items $1.09- fee 7c etc.

I was surprised, ebay does it correctly. We should also remember the reason ebay had to start charging Final Value fees on shipping was because of the cheaters who would sell an item for $1 and charge $20 for shipping to avoid Final Value fees.

Happened to me a few months with a seller I buy Nfld/Canada from regularly. He just forgot to combine the shipping. A nice message to him using ebay and he did a refund for the overcharged shipping. Innocent oversight solved with a bit of polite communication. I assume folks are honest, and 99%+ of the time it works out that way.

The seller confirmed they do not offer combined shipping. There is no mention of this on their selling terms that I can see?

I paid my invoice that had $9.50 of shipping for 4 coves and I paid one-by-one for the wins I had yesterday so not to allow for an "efficient" PayPal processing fee for the seller.

I will avoid this seller for any "lower cost" covers (i.e., under $20 bid) and will bid on the few higher value items that are still a "good" net price based on the shipping being included with my best bid. Lesson learned with this seller and moving on to other more customer-minded stamp dealers. I agree with the dealers that have commented here, that combined shipping is a basic customer service to offer and that it helps the dealer too in terms of efficiency, but this seller has a different view of the world, and at the end of the day, I'm willing to bet they will ultimately be hurting their total realizations on auctions (including inflated shipping revenue), but that is just my gut feeling.

Good to see you tried.
Surprised at the response, I dare say that is not the usual regime.
I usually ask on multiple purchases, your thread encourages me to do so.

As both a seller and a buyer, there is nothing that says they have to or have not to offer combined shipping.

If they do not state they offer combined shipping, do not assume they do.

It is up to the buyer to do due diligence to ask prior to purchasing if the seller will offer combined shipping and the terms if nothing is posted.

Dutchman1948

Thanks for that clarification on a sellers not needing to post this policy under terms. I understand now why ebay is agnostic to this issue, as they get a fee on inflated shipping. I try not to fuss too much on shipping fee but this was a first this happen and hopefully a last. The community has been very helpful in understanding the issue and policy so thank you all.