Offering combined postage

Before you can offer combined postage to your buyers, make sure to update your Postage Preferences to offer postage discounts. See our Postage discounts article for information on how to set up combined postage rules and automatically offer combined postage discounts on your listings.

Combining Simple Delivery orders

If a buyer purchases multiple Simple Delivery items from you and completes checkout in one transaction, the postage will automatically be combined for the buyer.

You'll also see a notification that your buyer has purchased multiple items from you when you're getting your prepaid label. If you confirm that you'd like to post the items together, we'll then provide you with a prepaid postage label for the combined orders. The Order Details page will show that the shipment contains multiple items.

You can also check to see which orders can be combined by selecting the 'Paid - wait to ship' status in Seller Hub and My eBay Orders. Beside each order, there will be a timer counting down how long the buyer has left to purchase another item so they can benefit from combined postage.

How to combine postage fees if the buyer hasn't paid yet

If a buyer is purchasing multiple items from you, and they haven't already benefited from a postage discount, they can select Request total from seller in their shopping basket. You can then send them an invoice with the new combined costs.

First, make sure that combined invoices are enabled on your account. Here's how to check:

1. On the Postage Preferences - opens in new window or tab page, select Edit beside Allow combined payments and postage.
2. Choose the time period during which you're willing to combine payment for purchased items and select Save.

Then you can issue a combined invoice to your buyer. To do this from My eBay:

1. Go to the Orders - opens in new window or tab section of My eBay.
2. Select the items you want to combine into a single invoice.
3. Add the new postage charge.
4. From the Actions menu, select Send Invoice.

To issue a combined invoice from Seller Hub:

1. In Seller Hub - opens in new window or tab, go to the Orders tab.
2. Tick the box beside any orders that need to be combined.
3. Select Send Invoice for any of the orders selected.

Learn more about issuing invoices and combining payments.

Tip
If you're a business seller and a buyer has already paid for postage, you can still offer a combined postage discount by sending a partial refund to the buyer from the Orders - opens in new window or tab tab in Seller Hub or My eBay Orders - opens in new window or tab.

Posting combined orders

Once the buyer has completed payment, you can create a postage label from one of the orders and upload that tracking number for all of the items in the new combined order. If your item is listed with Simple Delivery, we’ll provide you with a prepaid postage label with tracking automatically included. If your Simple Delivery orders aren't combined, you should send items that aren’t combined using the Simple Delivery label provided. This will ensure you're protected.

Combined postage eligibility

If you're posting your items with Simple Delivery, you may be able to combine multiple orders in one shipment if all orders are:

• sold to the same buyer
• being sent to the same buyer's address
• using the same postage option

eBay Live items are eligible for combined postage if:

• Buyers purchase items during an event’s shopping window (beginning when your event starts and ending 8 hours after the event start time)
• Items from your event are marked as PAID-WAIT TO SHIP in your Seller Hub (if you ship items early and the buyer purchases more items, the full order won't be combined)
• Items have the same postage policies or combined postage rules applied

In certain situations orders will need to be posted separately and buyers will pay for postage for each item, even if you've set up combined postage. For example, the following items aren't eligible for combined postage:

• Click & Collect items
• Most items that require Authenticity Guarantee checks, except for multiple quantity purchases of the same fashion item or trainers
• Items that are purchased with Best Offer