How To Offer Combined Shipping On Ebay: A Tutorial

[rwperu34]

How To Offer Combined Shipping: A Tutorial

Step 1: Get on board with the idea of combined shipping. This is really the biggest step.

Step 2: Make sure your listing explicitly states that you offer combined shipping. At this point you are really 95% of the way there.

Step 3: Make sure your explicit statement includes exactly how much each additional card costs. Make the rules simple and easy for people to calculate. For example, $4 + $0.50 a card, max $8. Or $4 flat rate. Or whatever. If you just say "I combine shipping" you will do better than not saying that, but not as good as a hard and fast rule.

Step 4: Make sure your auctions are spread out. Preferably over a few days, but at the very least don't have 50 auctions ending within a minute of each other.

Why Offer Combined Shipping?

Reason 1: You make more money. Like I need to go any further?

Reason 2: You save time. The less packages you have to send, the less time you spend packing and shipping. So it's a double win!

When Is Combined Shipping A Must?

Any time you have items that can be bought together, combined shipping will increase sales and save time. Two main examples I can think of;

Example 1: With a new release or a set building product where you can reasonably fill someone's want list.

Example 2: If you have a lot of cards of one player at auction all at once...especially cheaper non rookie cards.

The cheaper the card the more combined shipping will increase sales and save time. For a $1000 card the shipping charge is inconsequential. For a $1 card it can't really be purchased without combined shipping. There are a ton of cards that might sell for $1 or $2 if combined shipping doesn't add any cost, but not if it's $4 or even $1.

When Is It OK To Not Offer Combined Shipping?

Basically the only time it's ok to not offer combined shipping is when you offer free shipping. If you're selling a high dollar card or just don't have that many items listed, it's ok to not offer combined shipping. In that case you should just offer free shipping and get the psychological goodwill.

[CTMopar87]

Good points, but here is my question that no one seems to have any information on.

How do you combine shipping for separate buy-it-now listings? The closest I have found is the ebay shipping promo "X shipping on orders of X or more" but that's not exactly what I'm looking for.

[shrevecity]

Originally Posted by CTMopar87

Good points, but here is my question that no one seems to have any information on.

How do you combine shipping for separate buy-it-now listings? The closest I have found is the ebay shipping promo "X shipping on orders of X or more" but that's not exactly what I'm looking for.

The buyer can put them all in a cart then request total from seller. Or you can set up your shipping preferences and the buyer puts them in the cart and it figures it.

The problem is the App which nearly half of all buyers use now does not easily allow combining no matter what.

[CTMopar87]

Gotcha. Thanks for the info!

[Astros19]

Agree with everything except step 4. I combine shipping but typically have my auctions end on Sunday nights. I don't want to go through the hassle of combining shipping on items that end a week apart.
I also don't pay much attention to spreading my ending times apart. They all typically end within a half hour of each other with many ending at the same time.
My theory here is that it will force bidders into bidding earlier rather than throwing up a bid in the last few seconds hence giving the auction more of an an opportunity to get bid up.

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[Astros19]

And yes, Ebay needs to make a simple way to send out a combine invoice from the app.

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[JMH710]

Okay, I have a question about this. When I go to the eBay page on how to combine shipping, it gives a minimum of three days to allow combined shipping. That's a non-starter for me. I would happily combine shipping for items purchased at the same time, but not days. Is that an option?

[rwperu34]

Originally Posted by Astros19

Agree with everything except step 4. I combine shipping but typically have my auctions end on Sunday nights. I don't want to go through the hassle of combining shipping on items that end a week apart.
I also don't pay much attention to spreading my ending times apart. They all typically end within a half hour of each other with many ending at the same time.
My theory here is that it will force bidders into bidding earlier rather than throwing up a bid in the last few seconds hence giving the auction more of an an opportunity to get bid up.

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I think the issue you run it to is unless the person is sitting right there when they win, you won't get any extra bids from combined shipping. Remember they have to have won an auction before you get those extra bids. If you want all of your auctions to end in a short period of time, you're better off just baking the shipping in to the price and offering free shipping.

[rwperu34]

Originally Posted by JMH710

Okay, I have a question about this. When I go to the eBay page on how to combine shipping, it gives a minimum of three days to allow combined shipping. That's a non-starter for me. I would happily combine shipping for items purchased at the same time, but not days. Is that an option?

I'm not sure. If all your auctions are ending on the same day it's no issue. If you've got them spread out over several days then you will benefit greatly by letting them combine over several days. If you run auctions every single day, you should probably stretch it out to a week to give them even more of an opportunity.

Remember, if someone is willing to pay $9 for a card it doesn't matter if it's $5+$4 or $9+$0. If it's their first item or if they don't know the combined shipping rule, they will bid $5. If they've won an item and know they have free combined shipping they will bid $9. Even if they don't win that second item they will still bid the price up on whoever does win!

[Astros19]

Originally Posted by rwperu34

I think the issue you run it to is unless the person is sitting right there when they win, you won't get any extra bids from combined shipping. Remember they have to have won an auction before you get those extra bids. If you want all of your auctions to end in a short period of time, you're better off just baking the shipping in to the price and offering free shipping.

From my point of view if I have 2 or 3 cards ending at the same time, or close to it, and a bidder wants all 3 cards they will go ahead and bid on 1 or 2 earlier than that last minute snipe to make sure they get all 3 with combined shipping.
Hence opening up the option for someone who might just want one of the 3 cards to outbid the guy who wants all 3. I feel as though it helps my auctions get more bids before that last second bid.

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[JeffG1954]

Originally Posted by rwperu34

I'm not sure. If all your auctions are ending on the same day it's no issue. If you've got them spread out over several days then you will benefit greatly by letting them combine over several days. If you run auctions every single day, you should probably stretch it out to a week to give them even more of an opportunity.

Remember, if someone is willing to pay $9 for a card it doesn't matter if it's $5+$4 or $9+$0. If it's their first item or if they don't know the combined shipping rule, they will bid $5. If they've won an item and know they have free combined shipping they will bid $9. Even if they don't win that second item they will still bid the price up on whoever does win!

I have a line in all of my auction:

"Payment for all auctions won is due within 3 days of the first auctions close."

If no payment is received by the end of the 3rd day, I start the NPB process. I have had buyers send me a message letting me know that I have an auction ending in 5 days after their first win, and ask if I can wait for payment. I always say yes figuring if they take the time to ask, they are probably a serious buyer who will pay. So far, no problems.

[f2tornado]

I buy more items than I sell on eBay and I am always on the hunt for combined shipping quotes in the item description. I simply don't have time to ask when I am primarily searching for stuff ending within a few hours. The combined shipping is particularly helpful on items less than $10. I will certainly bid a little higher if I have the opportunity to save a few bucks and this will help the seller regardless if I win. Seller gets a time saving packing bonus along with a money saving label printing benefit if I do win more than one. Also less FVF. I'd rather send four cards each to two buyers than a single card to eight buyers. I'm surprised more sellers do not quote combined shipping.

[longhornjunkie]

BIN items are definitely more conducive to combined shipping than auction items, unless you are doing super cheap 99 cent stuff that people are just trying to gobble up. That said, I got burned a little last time I tried to clear out team lots on 99 cent auctions (my policy is a flat $4 S/H for any amount of lots, to make it easy on myself and buyer) due to additional weight on a few of the shipments... if I do it again I'm either going to raise to $1.99 opening bid or change the combined policy or something. Can't blame the buyer, I'd do the same thing.

I've been fairly successful with "upselling" using a canned paragraph I copy/paste into a message as soon as the buyer wins a listing. Sometimes it seems like they didn't read my listing description at all where I talk about combined shipping and are surprised. I wish you could create a custom automated message to the buyer but they did away with that feature years ago apparently.

What also gets me is the sellers that DO offer combined shipping but don't advertise it. I'll message them just to check and get an enthusiastic response like they're grateful for the additional sales for reasons mentioned in some of the replies above... I'm just thinking why not advertise it and you might get more...

Originally Posted by JeffG1954

I have had buyers send me a message letting me know that I have an auction ending in 5 days after their first win, and ask if I can wait for payment. I always say yes figuring if they take the time to ask, they are probably a serious buyer who will pay. So far, no problems.

I definitely do this as a buyer... if I'm looking out several days on auctions I'm buying, I always ask as a courtesy, even with sellers I've bought from many times.

[JMH710]

Originally Posted by rwperu34

I'm not sure. If all your auctions are ending on the same day it's no issue. If you've got them spread out over several days then you will benefit greatly by letting them combine over several days. If you run auctions every single day, you should probably stretch it out to a week to give them even more of an opportunity.

Remember, if someone is willing to pay $9 for a card it doesn't matter if it's $5+$4 or $9+$0. If it's their first item or if they don't know the combined shipping rule, they will bid $5. If they've won an item and know they have free combined shipping they will bid $9. Even if they don't win that second item they will still bid the price up on whoever does win!

Thanks for this. I should have specified that I run auctions next to never. Combining for auction wins is not a problem on the rare cases I do them, I can just send an invoice, it's the BINs where I don't know how to combine only if someone buys the items at once.

[rwperu34]

Originally Posted by JMH710

Thanks for this. I should have specified that I run auctions next to never. Combining for auction wins is not a problem on the rare cases I do them, I can just send an invoice, it's the BINs where I don't know how to combine only if someone buys the items at once.

You'd think Ebay would just get rid of the BIN option and have everybody put it in their cart first. Then you could set up automatic rules and not have to worry about it.

It's so bad/difficult/complicated that when I do BIN, I just offer free shipping. I'm not kidding when I tell you I had about 10 in a row just hit the bin and pay $1 shipping on every single item when I clearly stated no extra charge for multiple purchases. No complaints either, including one where the S&H was $4 per and they bought 15 items.

[JMH710]

Originally Posted by rwperu34

You'd think Ebay would just get rid of the BIN option and have everybody put it in their cart first. Then you could set up automatic rules and not have to worry about it.

It's so bad/difficult/complicated that when I do BIN, I just offer free shipping. I'm not kidding when I tell you I had about 10 in a row just hit the bin and pay $1 shipping on every single item when I clearly stated no extra charge for multiple purchases. No complaints either, including one where the S&H was $4 per and they bought 15 items.

At least I know I'm not missing some simple solution. Thanks for your insight.

[miket]

OK, so creating a flat shipping rule is easy enough, say $1 for the first card and .25 for each additional card. Then create a promotional rule for a maximum amount of $4 - simple enough. Now, is there any way to provide for free shipping for orders over $20?

[rwperu34]

Originally Posted by miket

OK, so creating a flat shipping rule is easy enough, say $1 for the first card and .25 for each additional card. Then create a promotional rule for a maximum amount of $4 - simple enough. Now, is there any way to provide for free shipping for orders over $20?

You can always list cards of $20 or more as free shipping. I don't know about wiping out the shipping if you have a charge listed. The only thing off the top of my head is to invoice them and eliminate it manually.

[jamcas997]

Mine is set up free after the first card shipping is paid and 10 or more you get free shipping . The fact that competition is tough in our market I do not understand why sellers are still doing for example $3.50 S/H and 25 cents each additional item.

[miket]

Originally Posted by rwperu34

You can always list cards of $20 or more as free shipping. I don't know about wiping out the shipping if you have a charge listed. The only thing off the top of my head is to invoice them and eliminate it manually.

The large majority of my cards are low end '70s baseball for building/filling sets so I start out at $1 shipping. I'll probably just stick to that and .25 each additional card up to a $3 max.

[miket]

Originally Posted by jamcas997

Mine is set up free after the first card shipping is paid and 10 or more you get free shipping . The fact that competition is tough in our market I do not understand why sellers are still doing for example $3.50 S/H and 25 cents each additional item.

Agreed, starting at $3.50 plus .25 (or any amount for that matter) for each additional card makes no sense. The $3.50 alone should cover the shipping cost easily, no?

[rwperu34]

Originally Posted by miket

Agreed, starting at $3.50 plus .25 (or any amount for that matter) for each additional card makes no sense. The $3.50 alone should cover the shipping cost easily, no?

Some people consider the toploader/supplies as a part of S&H and at some point the price will start to go up as you the ounces pile up. Personally I just do a flat rate for the simplicity.