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Problems printing a shipping label? | Selling | eBay Canada EN

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Problems printing a shipping label?

I've been trying to print a label this morning but once I filled out the info on both Shippo and eBay, the purchase label was grayed out. I was able to purchase a label of Snapship but can't get it to print. I saved it to a pdf file to see if I could print from there but that didn't help. Has anyone been able to purchase and print a label today?

pjcdn2005

3879 View listings

Posted 3 years ago·Last reply 3 years ago

24 comments

flipistics

·3 years ago

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
I've been trying to print a label this morning but once I filled out the info on both Shippo and eBay, the purchase label was grayed out. I was able to purchase a label of Snapship but can't get it to print. I saved it to a pdf file to see if I could print from there but that didn't help. Has anyone been able to purchase and print a label today?

What happened when you tried to print it? Were you trying to print it on a label printer or on a laser / inkjet printer?

BTW, as far as I know EST 2.0 is NOT SnapShip. I believe it's the commercial portal for people who have a negotiated rate with Canada Post.

pjcdn2005

OP3 years ago

I use a inkjet printer. When I try to print it the printer just makes a ding sound and then nothing.

You are right, SnapShip isn't EST 2.0. It is on the SnapShip page so I thought that it was describing the shipping program that they use but it is actually a link and is for heavy volume users.

What doesn't make sense is why some people can print labels today and I can't. I used Shippo a few days ago without a problem and have used SnapShip many times in the past.

triber

·3 years ago

I couldn't use Snapship this morning, I use it for all my labels. I phoned them and was told that there was a problem and to try again in about half an hour, I did that and it was working again.

lotzofuniquegoodies

·3 years ago

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
I use a inkjet printer. When I try to print it the printer just makes a ding sound and then nothing.

You are right, SnapShip isn't EST 2.0. It is on the SnapShip page so I thought that it was describing the shipping program that they use but it is actually a link and is for heavy volume users.

What doesn't make sense is why some people can print labels today and I can't. I used Shippo a few days ago without a problem and have used SnapShip many times in the past.

@pjcdn2005

It never hurts to confirm your printer drivers are up to date. My HP is several years old but still has random updates from time to time.

-Lotz

pjcdn2005

OP3 years ago

That's a good idea, I will do that.

I never did get the label printed but ended up going to the post office and paying for it there so I had to cancel the online labels.

My experience with the QR code..

I did send the QR code to an email address but the post office wasn't able to read it for some reason. I also had filled out an online customs form in case they wouldn't be able to read it, sent that to an email address and printed it out. They were able to scan the QR code on the printed customs form. So all is ok now but I wasted a lot of time.

flipistics

·3 years ago

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
I use a inkjet printer. When I try to print it the printer just makes a ding sound and then nothing.

You are right, SnapShip isn't EST 2.0. It is on the SnapShip page so I thought that it was describing the shipping program that they use but it is actually a link and is for heavy volume users.

What doesn't make sense is why some people can print labels today and I can't. I used Shippo a few days ago without a problem and have used SnapShip many times in the past.

When you open it up in Acrobat (or whatever you use), do you see the whole label there? If so, if you go through the menus to print, is the correct printer selected? If yes, go into Printers & Scanners (in the Windows settings assuming you're using Windows), click on the printer, and click Open Queue. Is your document showing there?

pjcdn2005

OP3 years ago

I just click on print and the label is shown, I didn't go to acrobat. That has worked for years.

I had already checked printer settings so I had the right printer set up. While I was trying to figure everything out I tried printing a few different things and there no problems. The label did NOT show in the queue, I don't know why.

Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions. If you think that you know what the problem was, please let me know just in case it happens again!

flipistics

·3 years ago

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
I just click on print and the label is shown, I didn't go to acrobat. That has worked for years.

I had already checked printer settings so I had the right printer set up. While I was trying to figure everything out I tried printing a few different things and there no problems. The label did NOT show in the queue, I don't know why.

Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions. If you think that you know what the problem was, please let me know just in case it happens again!

Next time try downloading it and printing it, or try a different browser. I've had issues before where printing directly would cause the label not to show up. It's likely that it didn't print because there was nothing there to print. I've also noticed the odd problem with Firefox and Canada Post. For example, a few days ago it wouldn't autocomplete the addresses for me (but Chrome worked fine).

msau4301

·3 years ago

I printed four labels out today with Shippo and had a problem with every one of them! I got different error messages, problem with external extension messages BUT I was finally able to print them. While fumbling around with the first one I found if I hit the refresh button (not the computer's refresh but the little refresh icon on Shippo's page) it worked for me. I was for-warned when doing the next, same thing gain, and then the next. One time I had to even leave the page completely and go back. If it's still happening try refreshing (within Shippo page). Because it happened on four separate labels, but all eventually printed, there is a weird bug but refreshing and persistance seems to help!

lotzofuniquegoodies

·3 years ago

@msau4301 wrote:
I printed four labels out today with Shippo and had a problem with every one of them! I got different error messages, problem with external extension messages BUT I was finally able to print them. While fumbling around with the first one I found if I hit the refresh button (not the computer's refresh but the little refresh icon on Shippo's page) it worked for me. I was for-warned when doing the next, same thing gain, and then the next. One time I had to even leave the page completely and go back. If it's still happening try refreshing (within Shippo page). Because it happened on four separate labels, but all eventually printed, there is a weird bug but refreshing and persistance seems to help!

@msau4301

@pjcdn2005

Update.

Just did a recheck of CP status page.All printing issues have been resolved.

-Lotz

pjcdn2005

OP3 years ago

It's still not working for me.When I click on print my printer makes a little bell type noise but nothting happens. Everything else is printing fine so it isn't the printer.

eBay labels still says no service available after I enter the information.

pjcdn2005

OP3 years ago

I didn't try a refresh button, I will have to look for it. I did try clearing history, cache and rebooting but that didn't help. When I tried last night the eBay label page had a not about Canada Post having problems but that note is gone now.

The email I got had one of those square bar codes that I can get scanned at the post office.

It says that the PO can scan the code on my phone but I haven't ever used that. Does anyone know if they scan it direct from the email or do I have to save it or do something special?

msau4301

·3 years ago

I've never taken the square bar code to the post office but once before when I was having problems with my printer the woman at post office said they could print from that. I'm not sure what the email looks like but in addition to the email maybe take a screen shot so you can enlarge, brighten, etc. if need be. Hope it works out, let me know how it goes in case I need to do that in the future. Good luck!

pjcdn2005

OP3 years ago

@msau4301 wrote:
I've never taken the square bar code to the post office but once before when I was having problems with my printer the woman at post office said they could print from that. I'm not sure what the email looks like but in addition to the email maybe take a screen shot so you can enlarge, brighten, etc. if need be. Hope it works out, let me know how it goes in case I need to do that in the future. Good luck!

It says that the post office downloads it from your mobile device so I opened the email on my phone. The email on the pc shows the QR barcode right in the email but on my phone, it shows a little question mark.

I just get email on my web browser so I might have to set it up on an email app to see the QR code.

I don't have time to do that right now though, especially as I'm not sure that it will help.

pjcdn2005

OP3 years ago

@msau4301 I finally found the refresh button on Shippo that you referred to and the rates came up! So I clicked on buy but when I went to print it the same thing happened as when I was on the Snapship website, the printer dinged and nothing happened. There is a small screen on the printer but no message comes up.

So now I have paid for 2 labels and can't print either. Sheesh

msau4301

·3 years ago

Check your pending items in billing to see if they have been put through (and only once!) but assuming they are listed there in Orders in Shippo there are three little dots on the right hand side that will show drop down of more options, one of them should be "Download label", see what happens there. If you got the rates to come up you've broken through barrier one (same thing happened to me). Click on the rate/service you want (even though you would think it should know) and if it comes up with the Download screen you should be golden.

If it doesn't, and it is showing there in "Orders" on Shippo see if you have more options with those three dots of extra items BUT as lotz has mentioned make sure you aren't being billed twice. Worse case, also there with those three little dots is "Refund Label" so you can have it refunded if you've made two labels for same person in error but I know from experience the refund isn't same day, takes a few days for credit to go through.

pjcdn2005

OP3 years ago

It looks as if I was just billed once. Once I used the refresh button you mentioned there wasn't a problem with downloading the label but the printer just dings when I click on print. At one point it printed the commercial invoice (the second page) but not the actual label. I though perhaps it was a problem with a printer and pdf's but I tried printing a pdf from another source that I had on my computer and that worked.

msau4301

·3 years ago

Sorry, not sure what is happening with the printer not printing it once downloaded, not sure what your printer shows you when you hit print (like if you can see a preview). Mine was okay once I got it to the download stage.

It might have something to do with the fact that you got that QR code, maybe it doesn't let you have that and still print the other way. You can message Shippo customer service with the problems described, often they've given step by step fixes for problems BUT they don't respond immediatley or after business hours.

They have had some kind of update for sure since their landing page layout is different, that gear icon for billing and such is in different place (on top right instead of left hand side) so something weird has gone on today. My first error message said something about DHL not accepted in my area (I've never used them nor thought I was trying to). I wish they had a 24 hour help line.

lotzofuniquegoodies

·3 years ago

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
I've been trying to print a label this morning but once I filled out the info on both Shippo and eBay, the purchase label was grayed out. I was able to purchase a label of Snapship but can't get it to print. I saved it to a pdf file to see if I could print from there but that didn't help. Has anyone been able to purchase and print a label today?

Currently CP is dealing with a service disruption for printing a label

https://status.canadapost.ca/

-Lotz

pjcdn2005

OP3 years ago

Thanks, I had checked that earlier but I thought that the top status EST 2.0 meant that it was working now. I'm sure that EST 2.0 is Snapship but perhaps the site is working except for the actual printing part of it? I would have thought that since I was able to input all the info and pay that it should be working now. It's frustrating!

lotzofuniquegoodies

·3 years ago

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
Thanks, I had checked that earlier but I thought that the top status EST 2.0 meant that it was working now. I'm sure that EST 2.0 is Snapship but perhaps the site is working except for the actual printing part of it? I would have thought that since I was able to input all the info and pay that it should be working now. It's frustrating!

Seems to be only the printing portion that is in limbo. Were you able to confirm if the label officially(you were billed) generated or were you stopped in your tracks at that step?

The CP and Shippo Status pages are updated in fairly close to reat time. The eBay page....Not so much, if ever. Truthfully can't recall seeing anything but all is good on the eBay page in several years.

-Lotz

pjcdn2005

OP3 years ago

Yes it was confirmed that payment went through.

lotzofuniquegoodies

·3 years ago

@pjcdn2005 wrote:
Yes it was confirmed that payment went through.

Refresh at certain steps from past ancient experience "can" cause double billing.

-Lotz

msau4301

·3 years ago

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:
Refresh at certain steps from past ancient experience "can" cause double billing.
-Lotz

I was worried about that too so I went to "pending" in billing section to make sure it hadn't been billed (and it hadn't) before I went any further. There were several extra steps involved and back and forths but I was happy to get it to work since I had a few packages ready to go and wanted to make one trip to save on that gas!

I saw your note that everything is back to normal so that's great!