Method to Automatically Switch Back To Classic eBay Label FLow

[berserkerplanet]

They !^%##$ switched me into the new eBay label flow. It sucks, as others have indicated.

My main gripe so far is that the page isn't printable which is a must for me - it is part of my order processing flow to have an archival PDF copy of the ready to purchase label with all the details visible. Also, the new label flow does not work at all in FF3.6.24 (blank page) and results in a "something went wrong" error in FF31, which forces me to use FF52 which I do not want to do.

(What little of it that will print is 2 pages of emptiness, and it looks like it will be 4 pages when I can get it all to print via Stylish CSS rules. Then another few hours to get that to fit on maybe 2 pages.)

So, I fired up HTTPFox, captured the load sequence, and whipped up a simple Redirector rule to automatically switch me back to the classic label page (it is probably the easiest Redirector rule I've created to date).

The Classic eBay label flow Redirector rule:

Example URL:      https://gslblui.ebay.com/gslblui/new_label?transId=987654321&itemId=123456789012
Include Pattern:  https://gslblui.ebay.com/gslblui/new_label?*
Exclude Pattern:  https://gslblui.ebay.com/gslblui/back_to_classic*
Redirect To:      https://gslblui.ebay.com/gslblui/back_to_classic?$1
Pattern Type:     Wildcard
Unescape Matches: No

Install Redirector, enter that rule, and forget about the new label flow until the day eBay changes things or finally takes the classic label flow away.

Some threads/posts about the Redirector addon, which, it appears, can be used in Firefox, Chrome, Vivaldi, and Opera. Edge, Safari, and IE out of luck.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Bidding-Buying/I-guess-eBay-just-wants-to-lose-business-by-making-it-h...

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Technical-Issues/Bug-found-when-clicking-on-See-Other-Items-or-Seller-...

There is an alternative Redirector rule that could be used that shortcuts the path I chose. The rule above essentially mimics clicking the "Go back to classic label printing" link on the new label page, which results in an eBay internal redirect, finally arriving at the classic label page. The alternative method would dissect the URL from the "Print label" option found on My eBay Sold item page for an item, and re-construct a new URL directly to the classic label flow. Problem with that approach is that there can be numerous different paths/initial URLs to the new label flow (seller hub orders page, emails, etc), and that second approach would probably fail for many of them.

[berserkerplanet]

If pushed onto a new eBay Shipping Label flow page with a URL of the form:

      https://gslblui.ebay.com/gslblui/new_label?transId=1234567890123&itemId=987654321090

which loads ok, but you want to go back to the classic label flow, or it fails with a "Something went wrong" error and maybe a "Go back to classic label printing" blue button that might not work, the following bookmarklet should redirect to the classic label flow when clicked while on that page:

javaXscript:(function(){
if(location.href.indexOf('https://gslblui.ebay.com/gslblui/new_label?')==-1)return;
window.location.href='https://postage.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?PAppLoadPostage&'
+window.location.href.substring(window.location.href.indexOf('?')+1);})();

Copy the above, paste it in the location field for a new browser toolbar bookmark or a bookmarks menu bookmark, name it SwToClassicLabels (or whatever) As always, you have to remove the X from the javaXscript for it to work (forum software mangles the post if the X isn't included.)

It will only do something on "https://gslblui.ebay.com/gslblui/new_label?..." pages. Very simple, and works by grabbing the transId and itemId parameters from the URL in order to construct a new URL and navigate to a classic label page.

If it doesn't work let me know, and we will figure out where you are, and how to get to where you need to go.

[berserkerplanet]

Now I've been opted into yet another version of the new eBay Shipping label flow, and like others, the "Go back to Classic Label Printing" link on the page is gone and replaced by "Where is classic label printing?" survey link. (I gave them an earful 🙂

Whatever. I still use the Redirector rule approach and transparently switch to the classic flow, but decided to do make it a bit easier for the rest of you to switch manually using the bookmarklet approach above (something I've been meaning to get to for a while. May put some other bookmarklets that do eBay stuff up there when I get around to it).

The exact same code as the bookmarklet in the post above, but a bit easier to obtain and install by just bookmarking it from my webspace   https://berserkerplanet.altervista.org/code/bookmarklets/

Just bookmark the bookmarklet on that page, which saves the code as a bookmark in your browser. Then going forward simply click the bookmarklet (on your browser toolbar or bookmarks menu) whenever you are on the new shipping label page and want to switch to the classic page for that particular label.

(I named the bookmarklet "eBayClassicShipLabelFlowRedirect" to be descriptive, but you can rename it using the bookmark properties to be something that you prefer or something that takes up less bookmarks toolbar real estate like "ClassShipLab" or "Sw2Classic" or "N2C" or whatever you will be able to recognize.)

[bestdealinparts]

Dear @berserkerplanet, I can't press helpful on your posts enough times!

Thank you for sharing your solutions, I will replace the new_label with back_to_classic for as long as it will work.

Hopefully they'll fis the orientation on the FedEx shipping label soon, and they'll also add an SKU or custom text option for FedEx labels again, these are two features I really can't make it without, unless I wanna take double the amount of time to print my labels.

I complained every change I got, everywhere, nothing is done!

[berserkerplanet]

Glad it helps.

BTW, the bookmarklet above makes that replacement a bit easier - save the bookmarklet to your browser toolbar, click it while on a new label flow page, and it will redirect you to the classic page.


I will probably look into workarounds for the FedEx label issue if eBay doesn't address it soon, but it is problematic as sales are slow, and of the ones I have, I have no FedEx labels to print.

Not going to just print labels I don't need, and that is a problem itself as it has to be done from an eBay sale, the buyer gets the tracking numbers and notifications and gets confused, and it messes with my shipping metrics.

Have to figure out some other way to get a look at the FedEx labels the new label flow is producing, and more importantly, the process while it occurs (MAY be a way to access something useful from the intermediate label creation steps as there was in the past with PayPal labels)

For now I recommend printing FedEx (or actually all shipping) labels to PDF, and then manipulate them with PDF-Xchange viewer or some other method for printing.

I outlined a drag and drop batch method for customized label saved to PDF printing in the past that could work, and also have another batch approach utilizing a compiled Autohotkey script that can modify the PDF itself and change the margins (parameters would likely need to be tweaked for the new label flow FedEx labels, and rotation code added, but again, I have no new label flow FedEx label PDFs to work with.)
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Shipping-Returns/FedEx-labels-don-t-fit-on-standard-2-up-labels-correc...
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Shipping-Returns/Can-t-print-full-size-label-for-FedEx-on-a-Zebra-4-x-...

[estatesalegems]

This is very helpful! Thanks for sharing!

[191paula]

OMG! I have been on vacation for two weeks and came back to this fiasco with shipping! It took me awhile but thanks to this thread I was able to get a label printed for a flat rate envelope. 

WHY OH WHY does eBay have to mess with and screw up everything at one time or another?

[hcslots]

Agree. The problem is: NO ONE in ebay management has to MAKE A LIVING using their own product. If the did, we wouldn't have to be here writing. If I treated my customers the way ebay treats me ( sellers are ebay's customers, not my buyers) I would be out of business.

[lasantino]

You are genius!.. thank you so much,, this works like a charm.

 i used the method suggested,, going to the website and dragging and dropping the macro to my toolbar.. then went to print a label,  

the new shipping label screen appeared,, clicked on the link i dragged to my toolbar and presto back to the old label system..

cant say thank you enough.

[berserkerplanet]

Glad that the general concept worked for you, and that the drag and drop method of installing the bookmarklet worked (I'm sort of faking it with that, using totally old school HTML methods, and only tested it in my crusty old Firefox browsers.

I use tons of custom bookmarklets. The only drawback is remembering which one does what and where it operates (I tend to cryptically rename them down to 4 or 5 characters to preserve browser toolbar real estate), and still run out of real estate and folders with subfolders going to.

If you ever get tired of manually clicking the bookmarklet, the Redirector approach automates the switch back to classic.


It IS clearly better when things work as desired without the need for hacks, but we live in an imperfect world

To all: if you use one of my bookmarklets and think of some way it might be improved let me know.

[rhinolip]

How about a carefully outlined step-by-step instructable?.

What you've posted makes no sense to me at least.

[patrokolos]

I know the frustration with that, especially if you want to buy one rate and it doesn't enable that option , like media mail cannot be used to mail a book. so i solved it this way, if that happens to me i use paypal shipping which does not have the **bleep** attached. works for me and i compare mail prices this way also between paypal ship and ebay ship. might be worth the try.

[eburtonlab]

@rhinolip 

berserkerplanet is the expert on Redirector rules, but if you want to set up a bookmark that can be used to convert an existing new label page into the old label page as described in message #2 above, I might be able to help.

I am not a seller, however. I have not actually used the old or new label printing, so I cannot help with the actual details of that. I am assuming that eBay is feeding you a new label page with a web address like the one shown at the top of message #2. At that point, if you follow the instructions below you should be able to simply click on the new bookmark, and that label page will be redirected to another page that uses the old label template that you prefer. So this bookmark would be something you would use every time you wanted to print a label and eBay was giving you the new format label -- start from the new format label page, click on the bookmark and you should be sent to the old label format page.

If that sounds like what you want to do, here is how to do it on a PC:

Create a bookmark -- you can bookmark this page or any page to start with. Change the name of the bookmark to something memorable like "Old Label Flow", and make sure the bookmark is saved where you can easily find it. Depending on your browser you can drag and drop the bookmark into the bookmark toolbar, or wherever you like.

Select and copy all the text that starts with "javaXscript" from the box in message #2 above. Then find your new bookmark and right click on the bookmark. The exact options are browser dependent, but in Firefox you should have a choice of "Properties" -- select that, or whatever will let you edit the bookmark. Find the part of the bookmark where the web address is stored ("Location", "URL", etc) and paste berserkerplanet's javascript code into that box. The code is a bit long, so make sure you scroll back to the beginning of the code and delete the "X" in "javaXscript". Then hit "Save". Now you have a javascript bookmarklet.

To test it, go through your label printing procedure and once you get to the new label page, click on that bookmark. And let us know if it works for you or not.

If anything above is unclear or you get stuck, reply with your question. If you mention your browser type, I can try to provide some details that correspond to that browser.

[buyselljack2016]

---

@rhinolip wrote:

How about a carefully outlined step-by-step instructable?.

What you've posted makes no sense to me at least.

---

The complicated stuff confuses me as well:)   I just remove new-label, and substitute the .....    back_to_classic    .......   in place of it on the ID's that show only the new label flow.

I have used the new label, buy like many prefer the ease of the classic.  With input from eBay users, the "new" label has improved 10 fold (maybe more) over the way it worked Spring/Summer of 2018.

The thing with switching back is...........   it is going to end. Everyone needs to at least work with work with it a bit to be ready when they drop the "classic label".

[pvcliff]

I could not get the "back to classic" to work for me earlier this week. Someone had PM'd the fix to me, so it was the first time I'd tried. Went over to PayPal ship now, but ultimately decided if the buyer decided to choose Parcel Select when PM was only 40 cents more, why should I pitch in the 40 cents on an $8 item too heavy to ship First Class. The exercise of trying several times to get back to classic, then going to PayPal and back actually bought me the time I needed to finally realize why do the buyer a favor.