Originally Posted by
marschenegger
Hello.
A buyer in the U.S. bid on and won 5 cheap items from me recently. The total for just the items is $5.61. I sent the buyer a combined invoice. The shipping was $2 x 5 = $10.00, but I added an $8 discount since combined shipping does not cost extra. I made sure to receive a copy of the invoice that eBid sent to the buyer. Right at the top of the invoice, it states this:
eBid Invoice from marschenegger
The total for this invoice is CA$5.61.
This is incorrect. It should say something like "The total cost of your purchases is CA$5.61 (not including shipping)". The reason it does this is that the buyer must select the shipping option for each item to complete the invoice. I always give at least two shipping options, even on international orders. Had I offered only one option, that option would be chosen automatically and the invoice would give the total including shipping. So the buyer sent me a money order in the amount of $5.61 US, probably because he saw the statement above and did not bother to look at the rest of the invoice. I will not cash this money order because I need $7.61 Cdn, and the exchange rate does not make up for the $2 shortfall. I have already sent the buyer an e-mail explaining this, though I don't expect this will do much good. The buyer sent me the wrong currency (I list everything in Canadian dollars), so I'm assuming he'll be less than understanding that the invoice he received is totally misleading through no fault of my own (unless offering more than one shipping option is a cause for assessing fault).
The invoicing system needs to be fixed for combining several items. The current system is silly for making the buyer pick the shipping option for each item. If the items are combined, they will be traveling together, so there's no need to require more than one decision. There should also be flexibility in allowing the seller to change the cost of the shipping service when combining items. Forcing the seller to add a discount after the individual charges are added up is silly. I hate to say this, but eBay does the combined invoice properly, and their system should be emulated. Those of you opposed to everything eBay will probably howl at this suggestion, but eBay does not own the copyright to the logistics behind their checkout system. They happen to do it right in spite of who they are. With their system, the quagmire in which I find myself would never occur. If eBid's invoicing system is not fixed soon, I might have to circumvent it and contact buyers outside of eBid... and that's a disaster waiting to happen.