Shipping discount? (German seller)

[Sora]

I found an eBay seller in Germany who has some pretty good deals going on. They'll ship to the UK, and it's a flat rate regardless of how many items of the same type you buy.
However, eBay will only allow me to purchase straight away - I can't purchase multiple items and request a shipping price after.

I did try eBay shopping basket (after needing to switch to the German site, since for whatever reason you can't do it on the UK site when the seller is international) but after adding them all together, I'm still not allowed to request a shipping total. All I can do is buy them altogether, each with a shipping fee.

Since the seller doesn't seem to speak English, any advice? Should I try to contact them beforehand, and explain, or should I just buy them and hope they remember the discount? I've heard a couple of horror stories where people haven't got their discount this way

[ponylady]

I know folks have complained about eBays shopping cart before and that it is screwy. I had trouble myself once because they moved the request total button up to the very upper right corner. I swear I spent an hour trying to figure out where the heck it was. 

I do wonder also though if they might be using eBay's Global Shipping Program, if they are you will not be allowed to request a shipping total? Perhaps you can have one of our German members help you compose an email in German to send to them and then be a mediator between the two of you, to see what exactly is going on?

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Sellers aren't obligated to offer combined shipping but I agree, find a German-speaking member to help you communicate!

[DaffyDilly]

Sounds like the Global Shipping Programme. I had a buyer in France who got 13 ponies from me and eBay wanted us both (as I would have to send them to the GSP individually!) to pay separate postage on each item.

My buyer had bought them individually so I worked out the postage with Royal Mail for them all to France, sent her an invoice in PayPal for the total, and then when she paid I shipped them to her. It was better for us to just bypass the GSP completely.

[Sora]

@ponylady - Ah, thank you! After checking your post, I went back to the basket page (still on ebay.de) and found it in the same place! I missed it because it wasn't standing out (and, needless to say, my knowledge of German is limited enough that I assumed it was just another 'check this first' note). Thanks again!

@lovesbabysquirmy - This one has actually stated they'll combine shipping  on their page (which is a relief)! Thanks though!

@DaffyDilly - I managed to find this one thanks to ponylady, but I will keep all of this in mind for future purchases. As you probably tell, I don't use eBay as much as I used to (and very rarely do I find sellers with multiple BIN items like this in another country)!

Thanks again, all!

[ponylady]

Oh good I am so glad that was what it was!!! I was so frustrated the day I couldn't find it. I swear eBay makes changes that absolutely make no sense.