This new crack-brain iteration doesn't work any better now that it did the last time they tried it a few years ago. Remember that?
The one and only time I tried to use this new goofball label printing method last month, it printed two useless labels with the extremely light and oddly spaced font you can see on the right. In the end, I had to download the pdf file to properly print the label using the pdf program on my computer. Huge timesaver, huh?
Since they slammed me into this "new experience" last month, I was content to take the extra time to load new page and then click the link for return to the "classic" label program. Now I read in the new seller update, ebay will soon make the only reliable label printing program they've ever had a thing of the past.
Why does ebay find it necessary to fix things that aren't broken but don't bother with the things that are truly broken until it's a total disaster? What is the problem with having at least one thing on the site that works well and doesn't goof up, consequently costing us extra time and money? Why does it always have to be what makes it easier for ebay and more difficult for their customers?
@myjunqueyourtreasure wrote:
LOL I sold a plate and one of the suggested methods of shipping was a Small FR Priority box
I was shipping bicycle parts, and the dumb thing was offering me Media Mail. 
Regarding the original complaint shown in the screen shot, the problem on the right is that the document being printed (the label) is calling for fonts that either the user's computer or his printer cannot find. As a fallback, it swaps in Courier instead, in order to get something visible on the page.
Courier is a monospace font (where each letter is allocated the same width and they're all mostly the same size), so when it replaces the Helvetica or Arial (I'm guessing) font used on the label, whose letters are not all the same width, then the glyph (letter) positioning in the end result is all higgledy-piggledy.
The reason that it works in PDF is because Acrobat or Reader ships with its own font collection, and can produce a workable document with replacement, substitute or MultiMaster fonts if it doesn't have the specified ones on hand.
I've printed a couple of labels via the new interface, and they're not as good as the old ones. In particular, the label came out slightly smaller than that produced by the old "classic" form, and I noticed also that the first line of the address (usually the recipient's name) was no longer folded to ALL CAPITALS when printed.
Given that they are still trying to figure out how to restore the missing Ship From ZIP functionality that they forgot to include in the first release, I sincerely hope that the threatened changeover in January, 2019 will be postponed if needed. Abandoning the whole project would be too much to hope for, as one official reason given for this new project is that they couldn't figure out how to correctly maintain all aspects of the current one.
@a_c_green wrote:
@myjunqueyourtreasure wrote:
LOL I sold a plate and one of the suggested methods of shipping was a Small FR Priority boxI was shipping bicycle parts, and the dumb thing was offering me Media Mail.
Regarding the original complaint shown in the screen shot, the problem on the right is that the document being printed (the label) is calling for fonts that either the user's computer or his printer cannot find. As a fallback, it swaps in Courier instead, in order to get something visible on the page.
Courier is a monospace font (where each letter is allocated the same width and they're all mostly the same size), so when it replaces the Helvetica or Arial (I'm guessing) font used on the label, whose letters are not all the same width, then the glyph (letter) positioning in the end result is all higgledy-piggledy.
The reason that it works in PDF is because Acrobat or Reader ships with its own font collection, and can produce a workable document with replacement, substitute or MultiMaster fonts if it doesn't have the specified ones on hand.
I've printed a couple of labels via the new interface, and they're not as good as the old ones. In particular, the label came out slightly smaller than that produced by the old "classic" form, and I noticed also that the first line of the address (usually the recipient's name) was no longer folded to ALL CAPITALS when printed.
Given that they are still trying to figure out how to restore the missing Ship From ZIP functionality that they forgot to include in the first release, I sincerely hope that the threatened changeover in January, 2019 will be postponed if needed. Abandoning the whole project would be too much to hope for, as one official reason given for this new project is that they couldn't figure out how to correctly maintain all aspects of the current one.
Funny thing about "The new eBay labels experience" is it looks a lot like PayPal shipping. Big difference is the PayPay program only shoots a jumbletexted unusable label about 1 in 10. As compared to ebay printing a useless label 2 out of 2. Same performace "metric" as when they tried to implement the same ill-fated pdf-based stunt a few years ago.
I also noticed the "The new eBay labels experience"... besides having the stupidest tag line... shoots a smaller label than the classic.
I always wonder why does everything with ebay have to be an "experience" or a "metric"? So far beyond stoopid it's incredible.
I just printed a label for Puerto Rico and my print shipping label link defaulted straight to the classic program. I suppose "The new eBay labels experience" is toodamdum to deal with the relatively non-existent customs documentation for shipping to a US Territory.
@gateswood-ranch wrote:
Funny thing about "The new eBay labels experience" is it looks a lot like PayPal shipping.
Now that you mention it, yes... Both the differences I mentioned above have been in the PayPal version all along. Perhaps they copied that label formatting when creating their own new rendition.
One detail I've noticed about the eBay version is that its size comes out a little bigger than I can fit on the 6"x4"x4" boxes that I frequently use, and as a result, I scale them to 95% when printing on my usual HP Deskjet 5650. The PayPal version (which I get when printing Shipnow labels for non-eBay shipments) doesn't need downsizing to fit.
I really wish they'd keep the ALL CAPITALS recipient line. While upper and lower case may be a bit more legible in general, having the recipient's name more distinctive up top just seems like a good idea to me for routing purposes at the recipient's address.
@gateswood-ranch wrote:
Big difference is the PayPay program only shoots a jumbletexted unusable label about 1 in 10. As compared to ebay printing a useless label 2 out of 2. Same performace "metric" as when they tried to implement the same ill-fated pdf-based stunt a few years ago.
Just so I understand, are you referring to the change of font (i.e. the emergency-backup Courier), or are you referring to a complete gibberish bug? Reason I ask is that there is a not-uncommon bug involving PCL print drivers, where the PDF document will come out with scrambled text in a wrong font. Specifically, it prints text in which every character is off by one font position, and space characters (ASCII 32) become Exclamation Points (ASCII 33). Thus, for example, "John Smith, 123 Main Street" prints as "Kpio!Tnjui-!234!Nbjo!Tusffu" instead. Much hilarity ensues. If you're not familiar with the bug (or not into puzzle solving 
), you may not notice that it's actually a pattern, and not purely random.
@gateswood-ranch wrote:
I always wonder why does everything with ebay have to be an "experience" or a "metric"? So far beyond stoopid it's incredible.
Seems like a cultural thing, or a reluctance to speak clearly. I remember dealing with one guy at one of our customer sites who, instead of simply saying that he was calling to report a software problem, would send us these flowery emails saying that he had "been tasked with reaching out to [us] regarding a challenge to our software throughput." One problem (*cough*) that all these euphemisms caused was that on occasions when they really did have a problem problem out there, the severity of it would get lost in all his word salad. It got to the point that I actually wrote in one of the case logs, "If [deleted] doesn't stop saying 'challenges' when he means 'problems,' I am going to fly out to L.A. and punch him in the nose." (While we do still have the customer site, I am happy to say that the guy in question disappeared after a couple of months.)
@gateswood-ranch wrote:
I just printed a label for Puerto Rico and my print shipping label link defaulted straight to the classic program. I suppose "The new eBay labels experience" is toodamdum to deal with the relatively non-existent customs documentation for shipping to a US Territory.
They did say that they were still trying to figure out how to get full functionality into the new version of the label process.
I've noticed that, too, about a Customs form popping up for a shipment to Puerto Rico, and yet once I walk through the form and come out the other side with a purchased label, it's just the usual domestic label, with no Customs label anywhere to be seen (which figures, because PR is a domestic U.S. mail destination, the same as Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, etc.).
I'm thinking this might have something to do with confusion over whether PR is domestic or international in other areas of eBay. Under the Shipping Exclusions menu on the domestic side, you can check the box for not shipping to U.S. Protectorates, but at the same time, under the International section, the list of "Countries" includes Puerto Rico as well, with its own individual checkbox exclusion offered there too. I suppose it might be possible to exclude them domestically but not internationally, which might lead to interesting results at either sale or shipping time.
