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Shipping discounts let you offer buyers savings on shipping when they purchase items from you. Offering a shipping discount helps promote your item and encourages buyers to buy additional items from you.
Listings with shipping discounts appear to buyers with the message "Save on shipping." When your shipping discounts are set up and activated, eBay will automatically calculate the shipping discount and deduct it from the total shipping cost. The shipping discount will be shown to your buyers when they complete payment.
You can offer several kinds of shipping discounts to your buyers:
Creating flat shipping rules
Flat shipping rules let you offer discounts to buyers who purchase more than one of your items. You can charge for shipping the item with the highest shipping cost, and then add an additional lower cost for each additional item that they purchase from you. You can also subtract shipping costs for each additional item purchased, or offer free shipping on additional items. If you choose to subtract an amount you can choose to subtract a fixed dollar amount or a percentage of the shipping cost.
Example 1: If a buyer purchases 3 items from you, you can have a rule that the buyer is charged the shipping amount for the item with the highest shipping cost, plus an additional $1 for each additional item purchased.
Example 2: If a buyer purchases 3 items from you, you can have a rule that the buyer is charged the shipping amount for the item with the highest shipping cost, and then subtract $1 from that cost for each additional item purchased.
To create flat shipping rules:Click My eBay at the top of most eBay pages. You may need to sign in.
Place your pointer over the Account tab and select Site Preferences.
Click the Show link to the right of the Shipping Preferences section.
Click the first Edit link.
Click the Edit or Create link in the Flat shipping rule section.
From the drop-down menu, choose what you'd like to do—add an amount to ship each additional item or subtract an amount.
Note: To offer free shipping for additional items, select Add an amount for each additional item from the drop-down menu and then select the Free shipping option.
If you want to create different profiles [#profiles] with differentflat shipping rules, click the Add profiles (advanced) link and fill in the details.
Review your changes and click the Save button. The changes will be applied immediately to your current listings.
Creating calculated shipping rules
Calculated shipping rules let you combine multiple purchases from a buyer into one shipment, which is generally less expensive than shipping items separately. If you set up calculated shipping rules, you can either:
Automatically combine the weights of all the items purchased into one shipment
Automatically combine the weights of the items into one shipment and subtract an amount (in ounces)
Example 1: If a buyer purchases 3 items from you, and each of them weigh 5 ounces, you can set up a rule that, instead of 3 different 5-ounce shipments, the buyer will be charged for one 15-ounce shipment.
Example 2: If a buyer purchases 3 items from you, and each weighs 5 ounces, you can set up a rule that will combine them into one 15-ounce shipment, and then automatically deduct 3 ounces from the total weight.
Note: Calculated shipping rules will only apply to listings for which you specify calculated shipping and combined shipping discounts.
To create calculated shipping rules:Click My eBay at the top of most eBay pages. You may need to sign in.
Place your pointer over the Account tab and select Site Preferences.
Click the Show link to the right of the Shipping Preferences section.
Click the first Edit link.
Click the Create or Edit link in the Calculated shipping rule section.
From the drop-down menu choose if you want to Combine all weights of your items into one package, or if you want to Combine all weights and subtract an amount. If you choose to subtract an amount, enter the weight per item you are subtracting, in ounces.
If you choose to Combine all weights and subtract an amount, you can create different profiles with different calculated shipping rules. Click the Add profiles (advanced) link and fill in the details.
On the next page, from the drop-down menu, choose if you want to charge a handling cost per order, per item, or if you want to wait and specify the handling costs individually when you list items.
Review your changes and click the Save button.
Offering carrier-specific discounts to buyers
The US Postal Service offers discounted online rates to eBay sellers. United Parcel Service (UPS) offers discounted rates to eligible eBay sellers, including the UPS Special Pricing Program for eBay Sellers and the UPS Savings Program for eBay PowerSellers. When you receive these rates, or other rates that you've negotiated with USPS or UPS, you can pass the savings on to your customers. To pass on your savings, you'll need to adjust your calculated shipping rates preference in My eBay.
Example 1: You can create a rule that every time a buyer purchases an item from you and selects UPS shipping, you'll automatically give the buyer a 5% discount off of UPS Retail Rates.
Example 2: You can create a rule that every time a buyer purchases an item from you and selects USPS shipping, you'll automatically give the buyer a 10% discount off of USPS Online Rates.
To manage your Calculated Rates preference:Click My eBay at the top of most eBay pages. You may need to sign in.
Place your pointer over the Account tab, and then click Site Preferences.
Click the Show link to the right of the Shipping Preferences section.
Click the Edit link to the right of Offer carrier-specific discounts to buyers.
You have 2 options:
Discount off Paid at Store Rates: If you want to offer shipping discounts as a percentage off the Paid at Store Rates, use the drop-down menus to select the amount of the discount for domestic and international shipping (between 5% and 70%). You can set one discount rate for domestic and a different rate for international. (For more details on Paid at Store Rates, see our notes below.) (For more details on Paid at Store Rates, see our notes below.)
Click the Save Settings button.
Once you adjust your preference, the changes are automatically applied to your current listings that include calculated shipping.
For future listings, you will need to select Calculated: Cost varies by buyer location as your shipping choice in the Give buyers shipping details section of the listing form.
Notes: If you offer shipping discounts as a percentage off the Paid at Store Rates:
The discount percentage applies to both USPS and UPS shipping services.
You can't specify different discounts for different services. For example, UPS Ground, USPS Priority Mail, and USPS Express Mail will all reflect the same discount.
Negotiated contracts with UPS are based on either UPS Retail Rates or UPS Standard List Rates. You'll need to manually recalculate your UPS discount to determine the percentage off the UPS Retail Rates, and then enter that number in the Shipping preferences section in My eBay.
The domestic discount rate applies to shipments to Alaska, Hawaii, US Protectorates, and APO or FPO addresses.
Creating promotional shipping rules
When you create a promotional shipping rule, you can offer buyers special discounts if they buy multiple items or spend a certain amount. You can also charge a maximum shipping amount for a single order.
Example 1: You can create a rule that gives buyers free shipping as long as they spend at least $25 and buy 2 items.
Example 2: You can specify that a buyer be charged no more than $5.00 for shipping if the buyer purchases more than one item from you.
Note: Promotional shipping rules apply to all listings that have combined shipping discounts (for both flat and calculated shipping costs). When buyers qualify for your promotional shipping rule, the promotion takes priority over existing flat and calculated shipping rules.
To create a promotional shipping rule:Click My eBay at the top of most eBay pages. You may need to sign in.
Place your pointer over the Account tab and select Site Preferences.
Click the Show link to the right of the Shipping Preferences section.
Click the first Edit link.
Click the Edit link in the Promotional shipping rule section.
On the next page, choose the kind of promotional rule you want to create. You can:
Offer a discount for a multi-item purchase that totals a certain cost
Offer discounted or free shipping for buyers who purchase multiple items from you
Prevent shipping costs from exceeding a set amount for any order
Review your changes and click the Save button. The changes will be applied immediately to your current listings.
Managing profiles
Profiles are a way for you to manage some of your shipping discounts. Give each shipping discount profile a name that's easy to remember and then you can quickly select a profile when you're listing your item.
You can create profiles for two types of shipping discounts:
Calculated shipping rules where weight is automatically subtracted from the total
To create a combined shipping discount rule with a profile name:Click My eBay at the top of most eBay pages. You may need to sign in.
Place your pointer over the Account tab and select Site Preferences.
Click the Show link to the right of the Shipping Preferences section.
Click the first Edit link.
Click the Create or Edit link under the shipping discount rules to add rules or make changes.
If you want to add profiles to your rule, click the Create profiles (advanced) link.
Enter a name for your profile that's easy for you to remember.
Enter the information for your discount, and click the Finish button.
Note: You can delete a profile by deleting its name in your rules. When you delete a profile name, listings that are associated with that name will no longer have shipping discounts. However, if the listing has any activity, such as a bid, then the shipping discount will still apply.
