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Shipping in US

I am trying to purchase a printer.  Seller is located in VA.   I am in Texas.  When I check "Buy Now", I get a message:  "This does not ship to Texas".  Why is that?  Help?

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Shipping in US

@24geep 

 

Check the "Shipping and payment" tab in the item description (next to the "Description" tab, under the thumbnail pictures). It's possible that the seller only offers "local pickup", in which case the item is not available to be shipped. This is often the case for bulky items.

 

Message 2 of 8
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Shipping in US

maybe the seller does not want to have to collect the Texas tax.  A taxable item that is shipped from outside the state directly to a Texas customer is subject to Texas use tax at the location where the customer takes delivery. Use tax rates are the same as sales tax rates.



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“Never pick a fight with an ugly person. They don’t have anything to lose.” ~Robin Williams
Message 3 of 8
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Shipping in US

You might be right that the seller doesn't want to deal with Texas taxes, but there is no way for the seller to block Texas as a shipping location.

Only US locations that can be blocked are Alaska/Hawaii, and/or Territories. (use of Shipping Rate tables allows setting shipping to Texas to an outrageous amount, but still can't block Texas)

Knowing the item number would maybe help. (don't think "local only" can cause that).
Message 4 of 8
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Shipping in US

The item number is  382739039004

 

Thanks.

Message 5 of 8
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Shipping in US

@24geep 

 

That seller has no feedback -- looks like they are new, and have something misconfigured. Listing description says it ships via USPS Priority Mail, but when I go to the shipping and payment tab I get an error: "Shipping cost cannot be calculated. Please enter a valid ZIP Code" despite my entirely valid zip code.

 

I would consider finding another seller who has more experience. An experienced buyer might be able to help walk an inexperienced seller through a transaction, but that might be difficult for a new buyer.

 

Message 6 of 8
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Shipping in US

About what I figured. Pretty sure it is no longer possible to not specify at least one shipping option in a listing on ebay.com, so guessing it's a Smartpost listing issue.

 

There was (and probably still is) an eBay bug feature where certain non-machinable FedEx Smartpost errors cause that error message. And probable that for that printer SmartPost is the only shipping option on that listing.

 

A Smartpost pkg with a second dimension over 17" technically incurs a non-machinable surcharge, but eBay calculators can't deal with it. Yet the listing flow allows listings with that characteristic to go live. Then the live listing throws the invalid zip code error.

 

(the eBay label flow DOES allow labels to be generated with the appropriate non-machinable surcharge though)

 

That only happens when Smartpost is the only shipping option offered in the listing - if FedEx Ground or USPS services are also offered the Smartpost option just vanishes and no error is thrown.

 

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Calculated-Shipping-not-working-buyer-s-zip-codes-not-recogniz...

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Shipping-Returns/Listing-will-not-accept-Fedex-Smartpost-shipping-opti...

 

 

If OP is serious about that item, OP might want to message seller and point them here or explain what follows. @24geep 

 

 

Seller Workaround

If seller is actually using Smartpost as the only option, they can revise the listing and change the dims to avoid that calculator issue.

 

To get correct dimensional weight and correct rates charged, total volume of pkg must be kept the same*, but dims can be fudged to avoid the second dimension over 17"  state. ie: if an 18x18x8 pkg, the volume is 18x18x18 = 2592 in³  Fake dimensions 20x16x8 don't trigger any non-machinable criteria, and yield a volume of 2560 in³

 

*which is close enough due to rounding up the dim weight to nearest pound obtained by dividing that Volume by the 250 eBay Smartpost dim weight divisor (all volumes greater than 2500 in³ and less or equal to 2750 in³ produce an 11 lb dimensional weight when divided by 250 and the result rounded up)

 

Note that a handling fee of $3.05 NEEDS to be added to the listing with those fake dimensions to get the calculated cost correct, and the real dimensions need to be used after the sale to create the label (because the shipped package with a label created using the right dimensions WILL be non-machinable, FedEx is going to charge that surcharge after the fact if label doesn't reflect actual dimensions, and then seller would be here claiming fraud, scam, ripoff by FedEx Smiley Sad)

 

 

 

TLDNR; The seller probably has Smartpost as the only shipping option, pkg dimensions are greater that 17x17xN (probably and 18x18x8 box), and the eBay calcs are balking.

 

 

(Note: while verifying a few things here I found that there appear to be some really serious problems with FedEx Smartpost and dim weight and non-machinable in both the new and classic label flows, and some other restrictive changes. Will look into that.)

 

Message 7 of 8
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Shipping in US

>> (Note: while verifying a few things here I found that there appear to be some really serious problems with
>>FedEx Smartpost and dim weight and non-machinable in both the new and classic label flows, and some
>>other restrictive changes. Will look into that.)

(Should have followed up here on this when I did look into what I thought the issues were.)

Turned out what I thought I observed was not eBay Smartpost glitches, but instead is a good thing:

eBay is also providing sellers with access to the FedEx Smartpost By-Ounce service (for 1-16oz shipments)

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Shipping-Returns/eBay-2019-FedEx-Smartpost-By-Ounce-for-Under-16oz-and...
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