eBay

ymeagainlord · ‎04-07-2018

It flatly refuses to print it, keeps coming up with an error message.

When I tried to print through PP as an experiment it claims I need a customs form. Well IF I need a customs form for this FPO why doesn't EBAY tell me that?

If it matters, it's a 4 oz FCP label.

Crusader Cat is watching

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. - L Tolstoy

"You are entitled to your own opinion, you are not however, entitled to your own facts."

ymeagainlord · ‎04-07-2018

Gave up in disgust and printed it through PayPal (which only wanted to print as a PDF).

Still don't understand why if a form was needed eBay's system didn't do that.

Crusader Cat is watching

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. - L Tolstoy

"You are entitled to your own opinion, you are not however, entitled to your own facts."

cody224 · ‎04-07-2018

Hope it works out for you.

ymeagainlord · ‎04-07-2018

@Anonymous

Not sure you can help figure this one out. I print one part customs form/postage labels all the time from eBay for Canada, why wouldn't it let me do one for an FPO?

Crusader Cat is watching

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. - L Tolstoy

"You are entitled to your own opinion, you are not however, entitled to your own facts."

Anonymous · ‎04-09-2018

@ymeagainlord wrote:

It flatly refuses to print it, keeps coming up with an error message.

When I tried to print through PP as an experiment it claims I need a customs form. Well IF I need a customs form for this FPO why doesn't EBAY tell me that?

If it matters, it's a 4 oz FCP label.

Hi @ymeagainlord, we introduced changes in the spring of 2016 to FPO labels that include the required customs form. These should be avaliable to print from the label page. Can you tell me the item number for this sale so I can test this out on my end and see what might have gone wrong? Can you tell me if you were printing labels in bulk or was this just a single label you were attempting to print? Looking forward to working with you!

a_c_green · ‎04-09-2018

@ymeagainlord wrote:
@Anonymous

Not sure you can help figure this one out. I print one part customs form/postage labels all the time from eBay for Canada, why wouldn't it let me do one for an FPO?

If you're logged in to eBay for Canada, can you actually generate an FPO address label? I thought that would be U.S.-specific...?

ymeagainlord · ‎04-09-2018

I meant items shipped TO Canada lol

As an update - about 12 hours later I did a label to an APO on eBay with absolutely no issues at all. It came up with the customs form to fill in then printed the form/label as usual.

This morning I printed off about 12 labels with no issues (US domestic) but now I'm trying to print my last 4 and all it does is spin on the "retrieving info" and then eventually times out with an error message.

Crusader Cat is watching

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. - L Tolstoy

"You are entitled to your own opinion, you are not however, entitled to your own facts."

ymeagainlord · ‎04-09-2018

I'm inclined to think it's a Pitney Bowes issue.

Crusader Cat is watching

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. - L Tolstoy

"You are entitled to your own opinion, you are not however, entitled to your own facts."

berserkerplanet · ‎04-13-2018

Something weird is going on with FPO/APO.

Haven't had one in a long time but got 2 non-eBay 7oz FCP label FPO sales recently (totally different locations and still trying to figure out what drove those out of the blue sales days apart)

Anyway, first was website sale and label with customs fotm printed fine through PayPal.

Second was through the River, but it wouldn't allow anything but Priority shipping options for postage purchased there - default FCP option was just gone. Was annoyed at being forced to pay an extra min $3.20 for (barely size workable) FRE shipping, so tried to work around it to get a FCP label somewhere.

USPS.com wasn't an option (no FCP)

PayPal shipping refused to cooperate. Kept mangling the address - repeatedly stripped of the ship name and post identifier leaving only the unit number and second line box number as the address, which I pretty sure is insufficient. Tried splitting between the 2 address lines, chaining parts with underscores, and finally gave up and printed the river PM FRE label (with no customs form) and ate the $3.20

csbbct · ‎03-05-2019

@trinton@ebay wrote:
Hi @ymeagainlord, we introduced changes in the spring of 2016 to FPO labels that include the required customs form. These should be avaliable to print from the label page. Can you tell me the item number for this sale so I can test this out on my end and see what might have gone wrong? Can you tell me if you were printing labels in bulk or was this just a single label you were attempting to print? Looking forward to working with you!

trinton@ebay - I am specifically sending this message to you because of your response to this 2018 complaint. FPO labels are not working correctly as of this morning 3/5/2019. In fact there were two major issues surrounding FPO addresses.

1. When I tried to print the label for FPO zip 09622, I kept receiving that generic "we had trouble printing your label, try again" message with no details about the actual problem. I tried again several times but kept getting the same message. There was NO place where I could request a Customs Form and I was never prompted to fill one out. I ended up going into Paypal and printing the label from there (Customs Form was easily available) but I was never able to get it working in eBay.

2. A bigger problem was that within the listing and during checkout, eBay gave prices for and allowed the selection of Retail Ground shipping. According to USPS (website and confirmed at local post office), this zip code MUST go Priority Mail. There is no Retail Ground or Parcel Select option even available so I don't know where eBay was getting prices for it. You can look at the USPS website to confirm this. The buyer of course selected that lower priced service which was $12 less than Priority Mail. This must be fixed because we sellers cannot afford to absorb those differences!

Thank you for your help!

dtexley3 · ‎03-05-2019

@Anonymous ping.

Member of the Grumpy Old Man crew

dtexley3 · ‎03-05-2019

@csbbct usually works better to start a new thread and reference the old one, a lot of us won't click into a thread this old.

Member of the Grumpy Old Man crew

berserkerplanet · ‎03-06-2019

That zipcode 09622 would require a customs form based on the documentation.

Zip code 09622 has no restrictions on mailing methods mentioned in the charts in the most recent USPS Postal Bulletin - would need to have a "Y" restriction (or maybe a "G"?) https://about.usps.com/postal-bulletin/2019/pb22514/html/apo.htm

Where are you getting your information that Parcel Select or Retail Ground is not an option? (something more specific than "the USPS website")

I suspect the postal clerk was wrong - unless they actually encountered that shipping option limitation and their computers rejected it when you attempted to mail it via Retail Ground at the counter (if you actually did). USPS clerks, carriers, and even some Postmasters are appallingly unfamiliar with the DMM, IMM, and other USPS publications like the Postal Bulletin.

The USPS Click 'n Ship interface does not offer any option other than Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express for packages to any domestic destination - no Parcel Select, Retail Ground, First Class Package, Library mail, or Media mail - if that is what you were using for reference then that isn't evidence that Retail Ground is not an option to 09622

Based on what I see here, there is no issue with the options eBay presented the buyer, but it does look like there may still be an eBay label flow customs form issue in play.

Anonymous · ‎03-06-2019

@csbbct wrote:

@trinton@ebay wrote:

Hi @ymeagainlord, we introduced changes in the spring of 2016 to FPO labels that include the required customs form. These should be avaliable to print from the label page. Can you tell me the item number for this sale so I can test this out on my end and see what might have gone wrong? Can you tell me if you were printing labels in bulk or was this just a single label you were attempting to print? Looking forward to working with you!

trinton@ebay - I am specifically sending this message to you because of your response to this 2018 complaint. FPO labels are not working correctly as of this morning 3/5/2019. In fact there were two major issues surrounding FPO addresses.

1. When I tried to print the label for FPO zip 09622, I kept receiving that generic "we had trouble printing your label, try again" message with no details about the actual problem. I tried again several times but kept getting the same message. There was NO place where I could request a Customs Form and I was never prompted to fill one out. I ended up going into Paypal and printing the label from there (Customs Form was easily available) but I was never able to get it working in eBay.

2. A bigger problem was that within the listing and during checkout, eBay gave prices for and allowed the selection of Retail Ground shipping. According to USPS (website and confirmed at local post office), this zip code MUST go Priority Mail. There is no Retail Ground or Parcel Select option even available so I don't know where eBay was getting prices for it. You can look at the USPS website to confirm this. The buyer of course selected that lower priced service which was $12 less than Priority Mail. This must be fixed because we sellers cannot afford to absorb those differences!

Thank you for your help!

Hi @csbbct, do you happen to have all of the details for these examples (item numbers and buyer IDs) that you could share via email? I will send a message to you right now for you to respond with the specifics you are able to share so we can get this investigated.