No more Classic Shipping Label Printing

[jmacds]

...so they finally turned off our ability to print shipping labels by selecting the Classic option.  I'm so irritated I could scream.  Wait...I must have screamed, my wife just asked me what happened....

I don't think the Everything-Is-Better-If-It's-New folks understand how sellers try to squeeze every penny of profit they can from the system while maintaining our service standards.  In my case, I live in Florida and shipping to the West Coast, Alaska, and Hawaii can get quite pricey with calculated Priority Mail.  Whenever possible I quote Priority Mail shipping and a shipping charge based on Flat Rate Box charges (or Parcel Select when appropriate).   If a buyer lives in my corner of the country and the item is small and/or light, say a couple of pounds, it's frequently less expensive to ship with Calculated Priority Mail than a Flat Rate Box.  The buyer still gets Priority Mail service either way, but I might be able to save a bit in my shipping cost by using Calculated.

The Classic Label Printing option had a crystal-clear drop-down box showing all shipping options based upon the size and weight I had entered.  In 90+% of my Priority Mail and all Parcel Select sales I'd check the box to see my shipping options.  I would frequently be able to upgrade to Priority from Parcel Select in many cases.  I'd also be able to easily see how Calculated Priority compared against the Flat Rate costs, in particular the Regional A and Regional B boxes.

Can I eventually get all this done with the Improved Shipping Labels screen? Absolutely.
With these new abilities provided by Ebay I can even keep a piece of paper and a pen on my desk to write down and compare my shipping options with each label.  On the days I'm lucky enough to wake up to 5-10 sales I can now decide if I want to process shipping quickly or spend a chunk of my morning trying to make a few extra bucks with shipping.

I/We really need all shipping options and costs in a single place, like the old screen.  I frequently change or upgrade shipping that was quoted in my Ebay listing due to costs, insurance, delivery speed.  The item I'm trying to mail USPS Priority right this moment is a perfect example. It's fairly light, but depending on how far away the buyer is, I have to decide which is cheapest: A)calculated B)Flat Rate Medium C)Flat Rate Regional A (if it'll fit) or D)Flate Rate Regional B.

[oldjunknstuff]

It's just GREAT to see how Ebay can screw everyone and most don't realize what is really happening.

If you will note, on the "new" label print page, there is no place on the page that says what the real cost of postage is before the Ebay discount. Many people do not use the Ebay shipping label for various reasons.

However, now without being able to determine the true postage cost, that means you buy your shipping label from Ebay AND they take 17% of the amount paid for shipping.

Just another money grab.

[precisiongtr]

Who do I scream at?

By forcing me to use a different shipping app, I will spend several more days of this year, not selling, not listing, not making my products, but simply using a slower more cumbersome label printing page. They don't get it. How much productivity is going to be destroyed by eating up user's lives? There are something like two billion sales on eBay every day. If just one in 20 uses eBay to print a label and it now takes them about 30 seconds longer to print that label (I'm being very charitable on the time), eBay will waste a HUNDRED years of their users lives every day.

Think about it. Collectively, every day, lifetimes are wasted simply using a really poorly thought out **bleep** shipping page.

Okay, my hack?

Use Paypal's shipping, which can be sort of quickly accessed from the eBay "need to be shipped" lists. Where you see "print shipping label", there's a pull down menu. Select "view Paypal transaction". That'll open up the Paypal page where you can click and use Paypal's shipping app, which resembles the older eBay shipping page from the time when Paypal and eBay were under the same ownership. It's still slower and clunkier than the "classic" label printing, but lightning fast compared to what eBay is shoving down our throats now.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@ekmadonna wrote: ... is there a BOX for REGIONAL A's? I will not be happy if this is gone!

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Hmm, I'm still seeing it, but another poster has mentioned the same problem.  

You can print your Regional labels through USPS Click N Ship.  Last time I checked, the price was the same as on eBay -- that is, they didn't add the "retail surcharge" of $2.30 even though all other Priority Mail services are charged retail.

[tsarllc]

On the far right hand side of their menu, there is a button called "Carrier Packaging". You have to click that and the regional box A will be in the list that appears after you hit that "button"

[tsarllc]

On the far right hand side of their menu, there is a button called "Carrier Packaging". You have to click that and the regional box A will be in the list that appears after you hit that "button"

[threshold.sales.group]

+1, 

Yes, an extra step that wasn't there before.  The simplicity and efficiency of the classic tool is totally lost in the new version. 

[mongoose26]

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@oldjunknstuff wrote:

It's just GREAT to see how Ebay can screw everyone and most don't realize what is really happening.

If you will note, on the "new" label print page, there is no place on the page that says what the real cost of postage is before the Ebay discount. Many people do not use the Ebay shipping label for various reasons.

However, now without being able to determine the true postage cost, that means you buy your shipping label from Ebay AND they take 17% of the amount paid for shipping.

Just another money grab.

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The only discount ebay offers is for TRS shipping via Priority Mail, excluding regional boxes, and that discount now is only 3%. Every other USPS shipping option on ebay is the exact same costs ever other major shipping service charges.

[55nomadmark]

I am completely baffled.  WHERE is the option for medium and large flat rate USPS boxes?  I am at a complete loss!  Anyone know how to find such a basic option?  There is the option for the small flat rate!  Where did the other ones go?  This is so freaking annoying...

[dhbookds]

@55nomadmark 

WHERE is the option for medium and large flat rate USPS boxes

Look at the Delivery Service section and then switch from custom size to carrier packaging.............

[dtexley3]

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@dhbookds wrote:

@55nomadmark 

WHERE is the option for medium and large flat rate USPS boxes

Look at the Delivery Service section and then switch from custom size to carrier packaging.............

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You can also reduce your package size to less than the medium size box and it's supposed to appear in that case as well.

[volcanokid]

You are correct. Paypal label printing is quick and quite similar to Classic. I ship lots of 2 to 15 ounce first class mail packages.  I can print the correct labels on Paypal but not on the new ebay monstrosity.

Ebay are you listening? Hello--hello. Is anybody home?

[antiquesmugglers]

use paypal shipping, it defaults to the classic label

[antiquesmugglers]

use paypal shipping, it not only defaults to the classic label, it allows you to ship from all of your ebay accounts on one handy page! - I called ebay and they had no idea or suggestions other than to manually input "change_to_classic" into the url header every label which is utterly ridiculous~ I wish they would get their head out of their *** and hire some some knowledgeable productive employees....~

[trippyrocks]

How do you print via Paypal? I hate the new format

[trippyrocks]

I also shrink my label to 75% to cut down on ink used AND I use the sides of the smaller label to create an adhesive to hold my business card in the package. Recycling the label sides and using all of the blank label page is an effective way to move forward in recycle and reuse. Now I can't do it. Shame on ebay. I now have to print 100% size label wasting more ink and paper.