eBay

rose-dee · ‎11-20-2013

OMG, when are they ever going to make this service work reliably? Now I seem to have two problems!

I just finished paying nearly $43 for an Xpresspost label, went to print it, and got about a 1" x 1" label printed.

Thankfully, I had seen others mention this issue, and at least one temporary solution offered. I completely backed out of Paypal and eBay, closed Chrome (which I had been using because Explorer-printed labels weren't reading), went back into Paypal and printed the label from the Paypal transaction page using Explorer. So far so good - it at least printed in the proper size.

My husband took the parcel to the P.O., and the clerk couldn't scan the bar code - oh joy! So now - Chrome gives me readable bar codes but teeny-tiny labels; Explorer gives me normal-sized labels that can't be scanned -- I'm so sick of this, YECCHHH!!!

Those of you who have seen my posts on this previously will know that I switched from Explorer to Chrome for this very reason (unreadable bar codes). Now I suppose I'm going to have to try Firefox. I really don't want to load yet another browser programme into my already stuffed-to-the-gills computer, but I guess I have no choice.

What frustrates me so much about this is that a widely-used and essential feature like Paypal labels should work reliably with most popular browsers. Why the heck can't these guys get it right? It seems as if Paypal labels have been a mess since early 2013.

alamin* · ‎11-20-2013

Hi rose dee, I think it is not because non-readable but because the tracking number has not been in Canada Post system yet.

I notice nowadays, there is delay in update for any paypal label in Canada Post system.

For example if I bought a label on 8 am, the canadapost tracking system will say the tracking number did not recognize it if I track right away after printing.

usually it will be in their system around 11 am -12 pm.

If I brought to the clerk before it updated in canadapost website, the can not read it, but if Canada Post tracking shipping said 'electronic order submit by shipper' it good to go.

I see the pattern have been for couple of month.

If I'm in hurry I just throw my package in street boxes and the always arrived on time anyway.

rose-dee · ‎11-20-2013

Thanks for your reply, but the problem is not that the label doesn't show up in the online/tracking system, but that the clerk at the Post Office can't scan the bar code when I drop it off. She has to manually enter the numbers.

About 3 months ago, the clerk suddenly couldn't scan my Explorer-created labels. There were no problems whatsoever before that point. I switched to Chrome, and the labels have been scanning.

Today, I was forced to switch to Explorer in order to get the label to print out in normal size -- but the clerk at the P.O. couldn't get the label to scan into the system.

I suspect and hope -- don't know for sure because I don't work for the P.O. -- that Canada Post's computerized equipment will beep or signal an error when a parcel goes through that doesn't scan properly. And hopefully this means some human being will actually manually enter the bar code numbers.

Last time an Expedited label of mine couldn't be scanned at the P.O. (and the code had to be manually entered), I did notice that the tracking was showing up normally online, albeit a little slower than expected. This is why I think the bar code was being entered manually.

I am really not impressed at paying for a premium, express service and having the bar code not be able to be scanned by the P.O. This is ridiculous.

rose-dee · ‎11-20-2013

By the way, I should mention (for those who didn't see my posts about the bar code/browser problem 3 months ago) that it was definitely not the local P.O. clerk's scanner that was the problem. Not only did she not have any issues with others' printed labels, but once I switched to Chrome the clerk could suddenly scan every label.

mdf_jersey · ‎11-20-2013

VERY ODD that they were unable to scan. I had the same problem with the labels and switched from chrome to Explorer. I just checked tracking and it is showing up. Thank god, your last post freaked me out. Lousy time to have these kind of glitches

good luck on yours.

my_secret_box · ‎11-20-2013

Hi,

Does your Xpresspost label was for the United States?? because I had this problem too and I discovered that when you are ready to print the label, just print it on the other size of the sheet, I mean, you go to ''preference'' then choose landscape (I don't know if it's called like this in English because my computer is in french and it's called ''paysage'') after that click ''OK'' and then print your shipping label. The reason why the clerk at Post Office was not able to scan the bar code, its because there were few lines that were missing, very hard to see, I found by myself because I did not have any help from Canada Post, nobody was interested to find the problem,....I hope this will help you!

Anonymous · ‎11-21-2013

Hi. I just purchased 2 shipping labels via PayPal Shipping about 15 minutes ago, they are fine. Must be your computer??

rose-dee · ‎11-21-2013

@my_secret_box wrote:
Hi,
Does your Xpresspost label was for the United States?? because I had this problem too and I discovered that when you are ready to print the label, just print it on the other size of the sheet, I mean, you go to ''preference'' then choose landscape (I don't know if it's called like this in English because my computer is in french and it's called ''paysage'') after that click ''OK'' and then print your shipping label. The reason why the clerk at Post Office was not able to scan the bar code, its because there were few lines that were missing, very hard to see, I found by myself because I did not have any help from Canada Post, nobody was interested to find the problem,....I hope this will help you!

Thank you for mentioning the "landscape" orientation. I'll give that a try next time. I'd like to be able to stay with Chrome because I know it produces labels that can be scanned. Apparently Explorer does not, and yet I see the poster above does mention that he uses Explorer with no problems.

It goes back to my original comment -- Paypal/Pitney-Bowes should get their act together and make their service reliable for anybody using one of the 3 or 4 most popular browsers. All these problems really only started this year, so whatever they did in early 2013 has caused a whole cascade of other issues.

triber · ‎11-21-2013

Just got back from the post office and my labels printed with Firefox were fine. The lady serving said that they having problems with certain labels and have to put the codes in every time. Of course, she didn't know what browsers were used. I had no problem printing my labels today, a few weeks ago it was impossible with Firefox.

pjcdn2005 · ‎11-22-2013

I've never had a problem with any Paypal label scanning and I use IE and Firefox. So since some people have one problem that others may not, I can see how it could be hard to figure out what the problem is.

You do seem to have really bad luck with ebay/Paypal computer related issues.

rose-dee · ‎11-24-2013

Reading the other posts here, I'm totally perplexed. It seems others have had the same problem with different browsers than the ones I've used. If I try Firefox and end up with the same problems, I'll have just wasted more time.

Today again, Chrome produced a 1" x 1" label for me, despite changing to "landscape" (made no difference) and altering the margins (made no difference), and then backing out completely and going into Paypal from a different route - through the Paypal transaction page rather than via eBay (made no difference). I tried this 3 times (made no difference).

I finally gave up, printed my label using Explorer -- it came out in normal size, but I'll find out tomorrow when I go to the Post Office whether the bar code is readable or not. This time I tried printing using the highest quality resolution on my printer. I'll just cross my fingers and hope.

This is absolutely ridiculous -- is anyone out there at eBay/Paypal/Pitney-Bowes paying attention?

mr.elmwood · ‎11-24-2013

Rose, I am having none of the problems you describe. I was getting the wasted second page, but, I changed print to "page 1 of 1" and that stopped that. I printed four labels today, Firefox, and no problems.

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rose-dee · ‎11-24-2013

Well, I suppose I'm going to have to download Firefox -- where can I get it safely? Just hit "firefox.com"?

bellwether51 · ‎11-24-2013

I have printed hundreds of labels with Chrome with no problem. Then, suddenly, last week I got the teeny, tiny 1" square labels. And the problem persists. Totally frustrating. Next time I will try Explorer and/or Firefox - I didn't know it was a browser problem - so I appreciate the heads up. Like Rose, I cannot understand why PayPal/Pitney Bowes don't address this issue!!

mr.elmwood · ‎11-24-2013

That is all I did to get Firefox. Some things run better on Firefox and some do not.

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rose-dee · ‎11-25-2013

@bellwether51 wrote:
I have printed hundreds of labels with Chrome with no problem. Then, suddenly, last week I got the teeny, tiny 1" square labels. And the problem persists. Totally frustrating. Next time I will try Explorer and/or Firefox - I didn't know it was a browser problem - so I appreciate the heads up. Like Rose, I cannot understand why PayPal/Pitney Bowes don't address this issue!!

Well, minor update: The label I was forced to print with Explorer in order to get a normal size wouldn't scan at the P.O. today -- I wasn't surprised. However, my very helpful and friendly P.O. clerk noticed that the extreme far right side of the label was being slightly cut off! This is no doubt why the bar code couldn't be scanned.

I believe 'pococomputing' mentioned something a while ago about increasing (or changing??) margins in Explorer, but I'm not sure how to do that, or maybe he was referring to changing the margins in the printer's preferences? This might make sense, and I'm going to give it a try next time. Also, someone mentioned changing to "landscape" orientation, which might hopefully capture any missing text when using Explorer. Maybe setting the printing preferences to print borderless might do the same thing?

I have all my bookmarks set up in Explorer and really would prefer to just keep using it, so I'm going to try experimenting with the options next time I print a label with IE and see if that does the trick. It's now useless using Chrome to try to print labels -- they all come out 1" x 1" no matter what I do.

It would be really very nice to hear from someone at eBay/Paypal about this issue.

pocomocomputing · ‎11-25-2013

Not your computer printer setup but your Internet browser page setup.

In Internet Explorer 8, top left

File > Page Setup > Lots of options here

Select Portrait and Shrink to fit. Set all margins at 0.5 inches. Set Headers & Footers to -empty-.

Similar in other versions of Internet Explorer. Similar for FireFox and Google Chrome.

pocomocomputing · ‎11-25-2013

rose-dee, about your old problem with PayPal labels printed in Internet Explorer 8 not being able to be scanned.

I am wondering if your PayPal label is ever so slightly being truncated on the right margin losing just a small part of the barcode. Just enough to make the barcode not being able to scan but still having all of the numbers printed underneath so the postal clerk can enter manually?? Speculation on my part.

Next time you have a PayPal label, print a copy in Internet Explorer and reprint in another working browser (looks like you will have to try Firefox browser since Google Chrome is printing small labels). Then compare the two labels to see if the IE label is truncated ever so slightly on the right.

pocomocomputing · ‎11-25-2013

As for the Google Chrome PayPal labels printing small, someone mentioned in another topic to clear your browser cache and cookies. Has anyone tried that who has the tiny label problem in this topic? Try it and report back if clearing browser fixes the Google Chrome tiny label problem.

rose-dee · ‎11-25-2013

'poco' -- Thank you for all your input on this. You must be getting tired of having to repeat the instructions regarding the IE margins -- I'll print them out this time and stick them on the wall above my printer!

As far as the bar code problem is concerned, you are right I think about a tiny bit of the right-hand side of the printed page being cut off. The P.O. clerk happened to notice that just a sliver of the last digit in the date (at top right) was cut off, and she wondered if that might be affecting the bar code as well. I always print out an extra copy of the label for my files, so I can see what she meant. The bar code itself looks OK on the right-hand edge, but it's hard to know if there's a tiny but vital part missing.

So... I'll go back to IE, try your suggestions re altering the margins, etc. in IE, and see if that's the charm. I may also try printing in landscape orientation if I can, as that way none of the bar code can possibly get cut off.

As for Chrome and the miniature labels, I'll try clearing out my cache and whatever else I can think of, and will report back.