eBay

rose-dee · ‎05-13-2017

I've tried four times this morning to get to Paypal labels through my eBay transaction (Selling Manager), and continue to get a screen saying "this feature is not currently available".

What is going on? Has anyone else had difficulty getting through to Paypal labels today?

If this is the case (and since we no longer can use Paypal labelling directly if we want the discounts), this is a big concern. First the back door is closed, now the front. If we're no longer going to be able to get eBay discounts directly through Paypal, eBay needs to make darn sure their link is functioning each time, every time.

I'm disgusted, to say the least.

lucitabby · ‎05-23-2017

Just tried to print a postage label in Paypal - Tracked Packet to the US.

Still not working - Got same error message.

Bah.

qottie · ‎05-23-2017

@trikiliki wrote:

After entering my Canada Post account number in that pop up and then discovering Light Packet was no longer in the list of shipping options I drove myself nuts thinking I had clicked on a phishing link or got a virus!

I tried to ship directly from Ebay, directly from PayPal, I cleared cookies, refreshed my browser, tried to ship from two other browsers as well as my mobile device, restarted my computer, ran a virus scan, network scan.. and nothing helped. I thought I was crazy, but I am seeing a lot of other people having the same trouble now.

If they have purposely removed Light Packet, what an awful way to go about it!

Hi trikiliki,

Light Packet is a service that is not broadly offered by Canada Post, but should be available via eBay rates. However, per my comments below, a change was made on the PayPal platform which appears to pull rates and services from Canada Post's Solutions for Small Business plan, which I believe doesn't include Light Packet. We are working to resolve this ASAP.

qottie · ‎05-23-2017

mjwl2006,

Sorry you are having issues with printing. I think that the printing issue has to do with the change to PayPal's platform (per my message below). We are trying to get this solved and will update ASAP.

qottie · ‎05-23-2017

Unfortunately this issue has not yet been fixed. We are communicating with PayPal to try to resolve this ASAP. I will post an update when we have a better sense of timing for a resolution.

rose-dee · ‎05-23-2017

@qottie wrote:
rose-dee,

Per my comments below, there was no change made to the eBay link. However, PayPal made a change in the way they manage label printing across their platform, and it impacted what sellers see on their site when they try to print eBay labels. This change was not expected and against our agreement with them, so we are working to reverse it for eBay label printing.

Will keep you posted as we get updates.

The biggest immediate problem, please understand, is not the discounts (since many of us use Light or Small Packet which have no discounts anyway), but the inability to print a label at all.

You will have seen 'mjwl's' screen shot on another thread dealing with this issue, showing the "dead-end" once a seller inputs all the required information and goes to pay for their label. That screen is exactly what I and others have reported. It started about a week ago for me, and I haven't been able to get an eBay label to print since then using the eBay "Print a shipping label" from Selling Manager.

I did manage to get a Tracked Packet label to print yesterday, by going directly from within the Paypal transaction details, but in that case I only got my Solutions for Small Business 6.25% discount, as opposed to the ca. 10% discount I'd have received through eBay. Also, both Light Packet and Small Packet were missing from the available CPC options at that time, so I had no choice but use the more expensive Tracked Packet in order to get a label.

hlmacdon · ‎05-23-2017

@rose-dee wrote:
The biggest immediate problem, please understand, is not the discounts (since many of us use Light or Small Packet which have no discounts anyway), but the inability to print a label at all.

The discounted rate ties into the problem in the sense that paypal is now using a generic small business account (and corresponding rate table) when submitting the API request to Canada Post, meaning that contract specific services like light packet will not be returned. Until they correct this and use the same account before (presumably eBay's which has light packet as part of the contract agreement/rate table with CP) light packet will not appear.

qottie · ‎05-23-2017

@rose-dee wrote:

The biggest immediate problem, please understand, is not the discounts (since many of us use Light or Small Packet which have no discounts anyway), but the inability to print a label at all.

You will have seen 'mjwl's' screen shot on another thread dealing with this issue, showing the "dead-end" once a seller inputs all the required information and goes to pay for their label. That screen is exactly what I and others have reported. It started about a week ago for me, and I haven't been able to get an eBay label to print since then using the eBay "Print a shipping label" from Selling Manager.

I did manage to get a Tracked Packet label to print yesterday, by going directly from within the Paypal transaction details, but in that case I only got my Solutions for Small Business 6.25% discount, as opposed to the ca. 10% discount I'd have received through eBay. Also, both Light Packet and Small Packet were missing from the available CPC options at that time, so I had no choice but use the more expensive Tracked Packet in order to get a label.

Hi rose-dee,

I understand your point. It appears that when the Canada Post account is linked to a seller's eBay account, they are only allowed to buy labels that fall in the Canada Post "Solutions for Small Business" plan. Since Light Packet is not included in that plan, it is likely causing an error message. The same could be true since the discount for eBay rates does not match the CP plan.

One suggestion - try switching the label to a different service, and see if it works? I know this is not ideal, but it may help you print labels in the short term (as a workaround).

As I said, we are working as fast as possible to get PP to make the change, and I will update when I have more detail.

rose-dee · ‎05-23-2017

@qottie wrote:
It appears that when the Canada Post account is linked to a seller's eBay account, they are only allowed to buy labels that fall in the Canada Post "Solutions for Small Business" plan. Since Light Packet is not included in that plan, it is likely causing an error message. The same could be true since the discount for eBay rates does not match the CP plan.

One suggestion - try switching the label to a different service, and see if it works? I know this is not ideal, but it may help you print labels in the short term (as a workaround).

This doesn't explain why Small Packet was also absent from the Paypal shipping options drop-down list yesterday, since it is part of the CPC Solutions for Small Business plan.

I did do precisely what you suggested (switched to another service option) because it was 1:00 a.m. and I needed to get a label printed. But the only options left on the Paypal list that day were Xpresspost, Expedited, and Tracked Packet. The cheapest of those 3 (Tracked Packet) was about twice the cost of the Light Packet service I really wanted to use.

A lot of us are losing money paying for higher services because we need to get a label done -- that is, when the labels will print at all.

If you have any say in the matter, please tell Paypal that yesterday (at least when I tried) there were only the 3 tracked services I mentioned above that were available for labels on their site.

qottie · ‎05-23-2017

rose-dee,

Can you please confirm that the label you refer to - for which you only saw XpressPost, Expedited, and Tracked Packet - was it for a Canadian buer address or US or International?

As I said above, when I print labels for Canada, I see those three options only, but when I print them for US / Int'l I see different options.

rose-dee · ‎05-23-2017

@qottie wrote:
rose-dee,

Can you please confirm that the label you refer to - for which you only saw XpressPost, Expedited, and Tracked Packet - was it for a Canadian buer address or US or International?

As I said above, when I print labels for Canada, I see those three options only, but when I print them for US / Int'l I see different options.

It was for a U.S. buyer. Please see my reply (Post #52) in this thread, which gives as many details as I can recall.

https://community.ebay.ca/t5/Seller-Central/PayPal-Canada-Post-New-Version-No-more-Light-Packet/td-p...

rose-dee · ‎05-23-2017

I should also mention that, in the end, the difference between the price for the eBay-routed Tracked Packet label (which wouldn't print anyway), and the Paypal-direct label was $1.62.

The net price for the Paypal-direct label I actually paid for was $17.52 Cdn; the eBay-routed label would have been $15.90 had I been able to get it to print. I wish I'd written down all the details for the eBay-routed label pricing, but here are the details I recorded for the label I got via Paypal directly (Tracked Packet, $CDN):

Base price: $17.68

Surcharge: 0.95 (not sure what this is)

Discount: (1.11)

Total: $17.52

The shipping cost I had counted on (Light Packet) for this item would have been $11.75 Cdn. My shipping quote in the listing was discounted by about 20% for the buyer, so I lost about $5.77 Cdn on this $22.95 US sale.

Obviously I won't be able to continue to do this.

wonsxela · ‎05-23-2017

Light Packet wouldn't come up for me either when I tried to print a label to ship to Australia. I tried switching to Small Packet Air (which cost slightly more) and got the generic "we are unable to process your request" error. Same when I tried the glacially slow Small Packet Surface.

ypdc_dennis · ‎05-23-2017

@rose-dee wrote:
.... here are the details I recorded for the label I got via Paypal directly (Tracked Packet, $CDN):

Base price: $17.68
Surcharge: 0.95 (not sure what this is)
Discount: (1.11)

Total: $17.52

Tracked packet has a "fuel surcharge".

qottie · ‎05-24-2017

All,

PayPal released a fix to the shipping labels flow was earlier this afternoon, and we think that the service should be back to normal.

Specifically, when eBay sellers choose "Print Shipping Label" on My eBay, and enter the label printing flow on PayPal:

sellers should no longer be asked to register or connect their Canada Post account before printing a label
"eBay-negotiated" Canada Post rates and services (including Light Packet for US / International destinations) should be showing up again as options for label printing

Please do not hesitate to reach out if you are still having issues with printing labels. We will continue to work with PayPal to resolve any outstanding issues that arise. Thanks for your patience as we worked with PayPal to resolve the issues.