posted on January 20, 2004 01:24:29 PM
I am probably brain dead, but am having trouble with my shipping totals. When someone purchases say, 5 of an item and goes through checkout the shipping is coming up as 5x whatever shipping amount I have in there.
I have the option calculate as one shipment checked off under global preferences, but apparently it only works on combined items.
I've tried changing it under post sale, but there is no box to check that tells the calculator to use the shipping amount entered as the total for all items.
I've been dividing the proper shipping amount by the number purchased and entering it that way to come up with the correct total.
Is there a way to change the total after the WBN goes out to reflect the total shipping weight without having to break it down?
If you undid steps 1 and 2 of the post sale process, you can edit the WBN in step one and put in the proper shipping amount. Then you can re-check step 1, and send out the WBN again if you need to.
You can also fill out the shipping discount section in Global Preferences to offer a discount on additional purchases.
posted on January 20, 2004 05:53:29 PM
Hello Sonya,
I did that for one of them but I didn't like that the WBN went out again automatically.
It tends to confuse the customers especially if I've already contacted them.
posted on January 20, 2004 06:53:39 PM
Hello Jeff,
Yes, I've started doing more fixed price listings, but find that they are the most work intensive instead of being the least.
I would agree with you that this area needs to be looked at more closely.
I find I have to email my customers with shipping information to avoid resending a WBN. I think the only other alternative is to shut off the WBN for these listings as it causes too much confusion for the customer.
My wish list vote for 2004 is a better support for fixed price listings.
Jeff, do you do a large number of fixed price listings and if so, what is your work around for this problem?
We normally run about 10% FP listings, (the exception is eBay listing or gallery fee promotions). Our initial solution to this problem is to not include shipping costs in any WBN, but this has caused partial payments and confusion.
I'm considering using seperate inventory entries for FP listings that have auto WBN turned off so we can put shipping amount back into the regular auction auto-WBN. I would have done this already if copying an Inventory item was not so cumbersome.
We also use a 75% Vendio shipping discount that corresponds to the amount we use in the "addition item" eBay specifics field (example $4.40 shipping, $1.10 each additional item). Everything balances out this way, but it does cause problems with the lower shipping amounts we use on sub 1lb items. There is also no way to make this discount system work in the new eBay combined item checkout, which causes a significant number of buyers to overpay, which in turn causes extra work.
My wish for 2004 is that Vendio will work on the fundamentals before adding bells and whistles (ZoomStream and New FUN Galleries!).
In the meantime I'm setting up a new eBay account specifially for evaluating other auction management providers. I happy with Vendio's stability, but there are some sever limitations that need to be addressed, and I have not seen any sign of progress in those areas.
posted on January 21, 2004 10:37:50 AM
Hello Jeff,
I do agree that the inventory process is cumbersome and slow to move through. I think that once the active Fixed Price I have listed is finished, I will post with no auto-WBN for now.
I can't imagine that it would be too much trouble to add a box that would allow you to input a fixed shipping amount for multiple items as is available when you combine items. Can that capability not be incorporated or inserted into the WBN field?
This is also a problem when the customer combines as my shipping weight includes the box and materials.
As with you, I hesitate to offer a discount on all shipping because of the sub-1 lb. items.
Thanks for your input. It's given me a few things to think about and perhaps some ideas to try.
