eBay

gramophone-georg · ‎09-26-2017

No, it's NOT a nine digit Zip code as you can see. This garbage is beyond aggravating. Can't you people make ANYTHING work properly?

I'm a buyer trying to buy things. I'm sick of playing whack- a- mole with shipping costs because YOUR PROGRAMMERS can't get it right. Sometimes it works, most times it does not.

SELLERS should be outraged by this. Is THIS what you are paying eBay and jumping through all these hoops for? Apparently so.

As I've said before, this happens nowhere else on the internet. NO. WHERE. ELSE. It's an eBay exclusive "feature".

Come ON eBay!!!

Chaos is NOT an "industry standard".

coolections · ‎09-26-2017

@partial*eclipse wrote:
@sharingtheland wrote:
But then why does the message say "enter a valid zip code" ?
Because eBay programmers are incompetent, just not in the exact way that you thought.

It is easier for a seller to make sure THEY do not make a mistake then for programmers to think of every scenario a mistake a seller can make.

gramophone-georg · ‎09-26-2017

And... just like that, they're all working just fine... EXCEPT the one I screen shot at the beginning of this thread. That one, indeed, excludes PO boxes but the PO boxes here are zip code 97475. I've never had a PO box.

Of course, that's the one item I'm interested in buying. I'm just SMH.

Chaos is NOT an "industry standard".

sharingtheland · ‎09-26-2017

@coolections wrote:
@partial*eclipse wrote:
@sharingtheland wrote:
But then why does the message say "enter a valid zip code" ?
Because eBay programmers are incompetent, just not in the exact way that you thought.
It is easier for a seller to make sure THEY do not make a mistake then for programmers to think of every scenario a mistake a seller can make.

I could give you about 4 years of reasons why a programmer should think of every scenario. You can't put that off on sellers. That's like telling sellers to correct ebay's mistake-addled catalogue. Oh...wait...

Sherry

=^.^= =^.^=
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" " =^.^= " "

sharingtheland · ‎09-26-2017

@partial*eclipse wrote:
@dtexley3 wrote:
... turned out to be due to the buyer having a PO box address. ... The items in question had PO Boxes not allowed, but the displayed error message claimed Zipcode error.....
Sometimes, there IS a different ZIP Code for PO Boxes. The ZIP Code 02184 serves my sister's town, but her PO Box has ZIP Code 02185.

So a listing that blocks PO Boxes could refer to 02185 as an invalid ZIP Code (same as one in blocked states or territories). So that might be a case of the error message actually being (relatively) appropriate.

Ah, but is that applicable only to 9-digit po box zip codes?

Sherry

=^.^= =^.^=
( ) ( )
" " =^.^= " "

ringsabell · ‎09-26-2017

Sorry you're wrong. It's broken

ringsabell · ‎09-26-2017

I've been encountering almost everyday for a week. It's an ebay problem. Quit trying to defend them. It's not helping get the issue fixed.

berserkerplanet · ‎09-26-2017

Is the item largish (18" x 18" x whatever package) and FedEx Smartpost shipping?

That will cause the error you are seeing.

The eBay listing tool allows listings to go live with Smartpost shipping and package dimensions where 2 dimensions are > 17", but those dimensions cause Smartpost non-machinable condition #2 to kick in.

When that happens, the shipping calculator blows chunks and throws the invalid zip code error. Or, if there were multiple shipping options in the listing (like Smartpost and Priority Mail), the calculator just disappears the Smartpost option and does not throw the error.

I have seen it happen in other seller's listings and tested it extensively in my own.

gramophone-georg · ‎09-26-2017

@berserkerplanet wrote:
Is the item largish (18" x 18" x whatever package) and FedEx Smartpost shipping?

That will cause the error you are seeing.

The eBay listing tool allows listings to go live with Smartpost shipping and package dimensions where 2 dimensions are > 17", but those dimensions cause Smartpost non-machinable condition #2 to kick in.

When that happens, the shipping calculator blows chunks and throws the invalid zip code error. Or, if there were multiple shipping options in the listing (like Smartpost and Priority Mail), the calculator just disappears the Smartpost option and does not throw the error.

I have seen it happen in other seller's listings and tested it extensively in my own.

I don't know what the shipping method is. It won't show me due to the "invalid zip code".

The item in question is a 1970s in dash car radio. I dont know how it could be anything approaching "largish" unless it's WAY overpacked... the radio is about 7 x 6 x 3 or so.

Chaos is NOT an "industry standard".

coolections · ‎09-26-2017

@ringsabell wrote:
I've been encountering almost everyday for a week. It's an ebay problem. Quit trying to defend them. It's not helping get the issue fixed.

@ringsabell

I have over 30 items in my watch list at any given time. Search almost everyday for years and have never encountered this problem so there is nothing to defend. It is a seller issue. Best thing to do is contact the seller and tell them to fix their calculator problem as they must have made a mistake when they set it up.

berserkerplanet · ‎09-27-2017

Yeah, I found it from the bits of the search url shown in your image.

Displayed "shipping not specified" in the search result when I looked, but thought maybe you had seen something different, been in contact with the seller, or that the seller might have changed something between when you looked and I looked.

I also doubt that car radio would be shipped in a box that big, which blows the Smartpost theory out of the water (unless it is Smartpost and the seller had 2 typos in the dimensions - it needs to be bigger than 17 x 17 x whatever to fail).

Have to poke at this maybe tomorrow and see if USPS services can be pushed to fail with the zip code error like Smartpost does.