posted on March 29, 2001 06:26:32 PM
I would like to use these...but had a bad experience last week. I sell different items with different shipping figures. Both require an "additonal items" shipping figure if you use them. I had failed to fill the additional item figure in (how could I know what, if anything, else they would buy?!) and although I sent EOA with a reduced but combined figure for shipping, paypal said additional shipping = $0. So - I lost money and had to ship the 2nd item for free. I realize the intent is for like items...but it isn't clear on either Paypal or Billpoint (and my buyer was delighted with the loophole). Is there a work around or a way to use these that doesn't make the shipping for the 2nd item free??? I don't want to put in some outrageous figure.
posted on March 29, 2001 07:42:11 PM
I'm not exactly sure what you did here.
If a buyer uses BP instant purchase for 2 separate items, if you've originally filled in a shipping charge for the items as listed individually.
So if they pay for each separately, they'd actually end up paying 2 shipping charges.
I haven't used the PP instant purchase but I would think it would be something similar.
Did you send an invoice to a customer & forget to put in a combined shipping amount? Or did you put in a shipping amount for one & plan to put in an additional amount for the second?
I usually have my customers pay for them separately, then I refund any overpayment on shipping once I package & weight the items together.
posted on March 30, 2001 04:29:22 AM
eventer, I'm having trouble describing this correctly. When listing, I put in a shipping figure for each item but the left the "additional items" amount blank because it wasn't dutch and I don't have quantities of the same items. So - they buyer used paypal and paid the combined total and when they paid they see the following
Seller Payment Terms: Shipping: $1.50 first item, $0.00 each additional item. 0.00% sales tax charged
Seller Return Policy: Bid price refunded if item not as described.
(Same options for Billpoint)
So the buyer sees a loophole and determines that additional items are free?! I had already sent an EOA which said she was high bidder on x & x and the total would be $x - ($ + $ plus $ for shipping) My shipping figure was less than the total of the two individually. I think "additional item" refers to like kind items...but the buyer obviously didn't! Neither Paypal nor Billpoint let you leave the additional items field totally empty...or use N/A.
Ah, I think your buyer is making an incorrect assumption here.
How about this:
Dear Buyer,
Thank you for your purchase & prompt payment via PayPal/BillPoint.
Not all sellers will combine shipping on items but I try to be responsive to saving my customer's unnecessary shipping costs whenever possible.
I received your PayPal/BillPoint payment for your items but it only reflected one shipping charge which is lower than the amount I quoted in my End of Auction email.
You may have thought the "additional item" section on PayPal/BillPoint was for additional purchases but it is meant primarily for sellers who have dutch auctions where they offer multiples of an item. It does not apply in this case when the auction items are actually separate. It can be confusing, even for sellers.
The additional amount of your combined shipping total is $XXX. Please PayPal/BillPoint this amount to me so I can promptly get your item in the mail to you.
Regards
Seller
I have to admit, this is the first time I've seen this kind of assumption made by a buyer.
