Hello all,
I have spent 1.5 hours on ebay yesterday about this problem, which is affecting many sellers according to the tech, and only just recently started affecting me. Three failed purchases in last three days that I was made aware of thru the messaging system (untold lost sales from the people who didn't contact me!)
In an effort to diagnose the problem, I have logged on to my store and auction items using a second ebay user id, and get a firsthand look at what's going on. This is what I have determined so far:
For me, it only affects items listed with first class letter rate calculated shipping. The problem is obvious before any attempt is made to purchase - under shipping info, where you are able to put in your zip code, you get the following message: "Shipping cost cannot be calculated. Please enter a valid ZIP Code." Note that I am a New York seller, and that the prospective buyers are also in the US (one actually here in New York!)
The help desk said they were working on the problem, but since I have found other posts about this back to the beginning of June, I guess the end of this is not anywhere in sight.
Since I sell a lot of inexpensive flat things like postcards in my store, this is a big hit on my bottom line. I had to end some patch auctions because the listing would not quote the buyers a shipping cost - who would want to bid????
I had one persistent customer who found a workaround. She bought the store item, and when it asked her to enter a valid shipping address, she simply re-entered her existing info and that worked! Here is her message to me:
"Ebay gave the option of changing the address. I clicked on that button and my address came up (with no difference whatsoever) as a choice. I clicked on it and the sale went through. Weird, huh?"
So here is my request to all other posters to this thread - can you verify that the problem is limited to letter rate calculated shipping listings, both auction and buy-it-now?
Also, please post your own threads on this problem to maximize board coverage, and keep bothering ebay. I plan to call them again today and every day that the problem continues.
jamesdouglasgallery
