eBay

eagle_eye_toys · ‎06-05-2017

I have been printing USPS shipping labels through eBay's bulk editor for literally years, with very few problems. But as of last Friday, 6/3/17, I am no longer able to do this. It's like someone flipped a switch and now I have suddenly lost this functionality completely.

I can open the Bulk Editor, enter in all my shipping info, change weights and dimensions and add insurance, but when I click "Purchase Labels" it goes to the processing screen as normal, but then immediately hangs and gives me the "System Unavailable - Please Check Again Later" error message. However, no matter how long I wait, this keeps happening. For example, on 6/3/17 I tried to print labels at 4:00PM, 6:00PM, and even 8:00PM (CST), and got the same error message each time. I was forced to print labels individually, which is insanely frustrating and absolutely NOT feasible going forward, as I ship a large volume of items each day. A call to eBay customer service provided absolutely zero information or assistance, as usual. I have not been charged for these labels, and the way in which the labels seem like they'll go through before suddenly cutting out to the error page leads me to beleive that there is some sort of check being performed by eBay, USPS, or PayPal that is telling the eBay servers to discard my labels, though this is only my guess. Again, this has never been a problem until last Friday, 6/3/17, which coincides with eBay deactivating Active Content. I have no active content in my listings, except for a link back to my storefront, which is now being flagged as a "Non-allowable Link," due to them not containing the target=blank formatting that eBay now demands. I don't care if eBay deactivates these links, but I am concerned that it may be related to my label issue.

I'm using a Lenovo laptop running Windows 10 Home 64-bit, my processor is an AMD FX-7500 Radeon R7, I use the Chrome web browser (Ver. 58.0.3029.110) and nothing, NOTHING has been added or changed in any way between last Thursday, when the bulk editor worked just fine, and last Friday, when it suddenly ceased functioning altogether. I have tried turning off all ad-blocking and anti-tracking addons, whitelisting eBay, and not using Incognito Mode (none of which caused any problems before 6/3/17) but the error is exactly the same.

Any information that anyone could provide would be greatly appreciated, even if its just a confirmation that other sellers are having the same issue.

rockz1101 · ‎08-10-2017

For 4+years, I've NEVER been able to set up insurance in the eBay Bulk Shipping Label format.
Any package requiring insurance, I default to individually printed postage labels with the insurance, through eBay. Must be a tedious process for sellers who always insure their shipments. Oh good to

know that PayPal bulk shipping allows insuring in their program!

selvon2006 · ‎08-16-2017

@Anonymous

Any news on this situation?

Anonymous · ‎08-17-2017

Hey @selvon2006, I don't have an update at this time. Our tech teams are working on a solution and in the meantime, printing labels individually should work. I know this can be a hassle and will be sure to touch base once I have additional information!

swendyrx · ‎08-18-2017

We ship a fair number of items and use the bulk shipping tool all the time. This worked BEAUTIFULLY until about 3 or 4 months ago in our pharmacy. Then we started having similar issues you describe (we were pulling our hair out). Long story short...our lessons learned:

USE CHROME as your browser

DO NOT print more than 25 labels at a time

CLEAR BROWSING History before starting the daily printing.

With these 3 easy steps, I have not seen a single print fail in the last month I'd say (and we were having problems every fews days at the peak of the issue.)

Hope this helps!

angiezilla · ‎08-18-2017

I am unable to print an individual label today. I keep getting errors.

gatechick15 · ‎08-18-2017

But can you select insurance when shipping priority with the bulk shipping tool?

gatechick15 · ‎08-28-2017

Tried selecting insurance for a parcel select package this time and that doesn't even work. So it looks like it is not just priority but anything you select insurance for on the bulk shipping editor.

bymeplease66 · ‎09-11-2017

same issue, been happening last 2 months - called again today, they say they're aware of problem (been 2 months:)

jellsello · ‎10-12-2017

@AnonymousSo is this fix in sight? it has been ongoing since June and I find it hard to believe it takes this long to fix something like this. You can not select USPS insurance when using the bulk shipping tool. It will not print the labels and instead say system not available. Insurance needs to be available to sellers when using this tool and with the holiday season coming up, individual labels are a no go when you have tons of packages and the post office is asking for a scan sheet.

Anonymous · ‎10-13-2017

@jellsello wrote:

@AnonymousSo is this fix in sight? it has been ongoing since June and I find it hard to believe it takes this long to fix something like this. You can not select USPS insurance when using the bulk shipping tool. It will not print the labels and instead say system not available. Insurance needs to be available to sellers when using this tool and with the holiday season coming up, individual labels are a no go when you have tons of packages and the post office is asking for a scan sheet.

Definitely understand the frustration with how long these kinds of issues can take to resolve. I checked with our tech teams and we are actively working on this now. No estimated time for a fix, but keep us posted if anything changes.