eBay blocking Irish users to pay for auctions

Lemming

Hurrah!!! eBay have officially lost the f*cking plot as far as Ireland is concerned.

Their new "pay now" process involves providing your address among other things, and then insists that you provide a zip code or else it wont proceed to the next step (payment method, etc.). Now I would love for eBay to tell me what a "valid" zip code is for Ireland considering we don't have any and it'll be news to the An Post.

So after a live conversation with an eBay representative, eBay are full of regrets for this that and the other, but it's a "security feature" you understand ...

Well I'd call blocking an entire country's worth of users from using your software less a security feature and more a fairly f*cking serious bug.

eBay ... congratulations on raising the bar of stupidity ...

MrJoeSoap

Ebay.ie or .com or both?

Lemming

MrJoeSoap wrote: »

Ebay.ie or .com or both?

well, ebay.com at any rate. Even with country specified (and then it goes and populates the 'county' drop-down list box as well), it still demands a zip code when attempting payment

MrJoeSoap

Lemming wrote: »

well, ebay.com at any rate. Even with country specified (and then it goes and populates the 'county' drop-down list box as well), it still demands a zip code when attempting payment

Pretty ridiculous, something similar happened me with Expedia recently.

Creamy Goodness

can't you not just stick in ROI or 0000 for a zip code? or does it actually check to see it it's valid?

Lemming

Cremo wrote: »

can't you not just stick in ROI or 0000 for a zip code? or does it actually check to see it it's valid?

I tried variants. I also asked the eBay rep what eBay considered a "valid" zip code for Ireland considering we don't have a zip code system and if eBay have implemented one it'll be news for the Irish postal service.

Needless to say I didn't get an answer to that question ...

doh.ie

Had this problem too ages ago when it came to setting up an auction - the reason is cos some early users of eBay were on the (then the only one) original eBay.com. When the other country-specific URLs were introduced, they didn't quite "move" everyone over to .ie, .co.uk, .de etc properly so those who were there from the start often encounter such annoyances as auction-creation pricing in dollars or what-not. The only way around it is to ask to be fully transferred to the .ie version. That'll remove the ZIP crap and any other specific American info required.

Annoying, but there you go. Seems lots of people have had the problems, but they're not quick about emailing those likely to be affected (i.e. anyone who stated they lived outside the US, but are still on the .com side of things registration wise) and telling us to move over. I had one of those long-winded, but helpful, eBay rep live chats and got mine fully sorted a while back. No issues since.

Lemming

doh.ie wrote: »

Had this problem too ages ago when it came to setting up an auction - the reason is cos some early users of eBay were on the (then the only one) original eBay.com. When the other country-specific URLs were introduced, they didn't quite "move" everyone over to .ie, .co.uk, .de etc properly so those who were there from the start often encounter such annoyances as auction-creation pricing in dollars or what-not. The only way around it is to ask to be fully transferred to the .ie version. That'll remove the ZIP crap and any other specific American info required.

Annoying, but there you go. Seems lots of people have had the problems, but they're not quick about emailing those likely to be affected (i.e. anyone who stated they lived outside the US, but are still on the .com side of things registration wise) and telling us to move over. I had one of those long-winded, but helpful, eBay rep live chats and got mine fully sorted a while back. No issues since.

Well, I've been fine up until this week. I won and paid for auctions inside the last week and a half and all was fine. So why now? The payment process is new inside that time-frame. I reckon some dumb f*ckwit (or several) just assumed every country used the same addressing system as the US since the US is great and all ...

rubadub

Lemming wrote: »

Needless to say I didn't get an answer to that question ...

I must say I find ebay excellent at answering my questions;). No matter what I ask I get a fast reply saying "we value your custom blah blah, a sales person will contact you blah blah" and thats the end of it, spamming big dick robots have more intelligence than their system.

Absolute arseholes, and paypal, the lack of communication is shocking, if you have disputes with ebay or paypal just go straight to your c/c for a chargeback, dealing with those kunts is not worth the stress and time, and then they will screw you on currency too.

And dont come on with your "I work for paypal, and I am sound, blah blah, boo-hoo", I am sure hitlers cleaner was a nice lady too...

Lemming

I got a reply to my technical issues report this morning. I'm left wondering if eBay even read the mail I sent them?

eBay Representative wrote:

Dear xxx,

Thank you for writing eBay in regard to getting invalid zip code error.

Please be assured that eBay updates our ZIP code databases regularly;
however, due to the numerous changes that take place in the ZIP codes,
it may be possible that your area code has not made it into the database
as yet. Since it is not possible for us to manually edit that database,
you can try updating your ZIP code at a later date after it has been
updated in our system.

There are also two workarounds that we can offer you:

1. You can try using your 9 digit ZIP code.

2. You can try placing a different address for your registration. It
must be an address where you are accessible. Example: Office address,
Parent's address, etc.

To order to obtain your 9 digit ZIP code, please follow the steps below:

1. Go to http://www.usps.com

2. At the top left of the USPS page, please click on the link for "Find
a ZIP code".

3. You will need to fill out this form to the best of your ability. Once
you have done so, click the "Submit" button, and USPS will find your 9
digit ZIP code.

It is my pleasure to assist you. Thank you for choosing eBay.

Sincerely,
Annie S.

eBay Customer Support

Geeh whizz, thanks for that Annie. Now go back and read my f*cking report again. Of course it's entirely possible that my zip code hasn't made it into the database yet. Not terribly f*cking difficult since ... wait for it ... Ireland. Does. Not. Have. A. Zip. Code. System. So where the f*ck this 9 digit mystical magical zip code is coming from I'll never f*cking know. I'm fairly certain it'll be news to An Post as well. Let me just ring them and check, ok?

Dumb f*ckwits ... :rolleyes:

jor el

Dumbwit wrote:

It is my pleasure to assist you. Thank you for choosing eBay.

Sincerely,
Annie S.

It's amazing that even when you get a reply from an actual human being, it can be less helpful than an automated bot-reply. That's about the gist of every email I've ever gotten in reply from eBay. The read the title so they know what subject (in general) the question is about, then copy in the stock answer to some random question.

Idiots.

It's worrying that we may not be able to purchase from eBay because of this. I'm tempted to buy something now to try this out, but there's actually nothing I'm looking for on eBay at the moment. Just went to check out Xbox games and there's nothing I'd buy, or what I would is too much just now.

Lemming, can you clarify a few points. I take it you won an auction, or used buy it now, then when you click Pay Now this is where the fun begins. It used to just come up with a cost + postage summary and then re-direct straight to Paypal. You're saying it now asks you to input an address, including a zipcode, before going to Paypal. Is this correct?

kaimera

I bought on ebay.ie just over the weekend and it was fine.

Did this happen just yday/today?

Lemming

jor el wrote: »

It's worrying that we may not be able to purchase from eBay because of this.

I've pointed this out several times to them now, both in live chat sessions and twice in correspondance that they have effectively blocked an entire country from payment (thus also depriving eBay of their sales-percentages).

Lemming, can you clarify a few points. I take it you won an auction, or used buy it now, then when you click Pay Now this is where the fun begins. It used to just come up with a cost + postage summary and then re-direct straight to Paypal. You're saying it now asks you to input an address, including a zipcode, before going to Paypal. Is this correct?

The fun beegins when you attempt payment yes. You're sent through what appears to be 'stages' for payment now and this is a new feature - I won & paid for other items within the last two weeks and this wasn't there before. Stage one of this new "wonderful" payment system is your address along with any shipping charges & vouchgers. The address fields are auto-populated and since we have no zip codes, you're prompted to provide one, which will never work since we do not have a zip code system at present. Thus you are prevented from continuing to stage two which is specifying your payment method (or appears to be at least)

kaimera wrote: »

I bought on ebay.ie just over the weekend and it was fine.
Did this happen just yday/today?

It would appear to be very new and "very" well thought out ...

jor el

Lemming, have you contacted the seller of the item you're buying to let him know that eBay are preventing you from paying? Maybe if sellers start to contact them saying their buyers are unable to pay and demanding refunds from eBay for the listing fees then they might take notice.

Lemming

jor el wrote: »

Lemming, have you contacted the seller of the item you're buying to let him know that eBay are preventing you from paying? Maybe if sellers start to contact them saying their buyers are unable to pay and demanding refunds from eBay for the listing fees then they might take notice.

I have. I don't think he understood me first time since he just issued the invoice with a "Pay Now" via ebay link as opposed to paypal. I've mailed him back to point out that ebay is the problem

jor el

Must be just an ebay.com problem too. I thought of something I needed so I had a look on ebay.co.uk, which I normally use. Won auction, went through to payments.ebay.co.uk and it auto-filled my address in, I have 00000 registered as my Postcode and that's always worked. Had no problem this time either, payment went on to Paypal and it's all done now.

Lemming, can you try logging into ebay.co.uk and go to My eBay and the auction should be there too. Try the pay link off this, though if the seller is on eBay.com then it might just re-direct you there. Other than that I can't see anyway to get around this if eBay won't change it.

HarryD

try entering "default" for Ireland..
I seem to remember something with that on ebay recently.

Lemming

jor el wrote: »

Must be just an ebay.com problem too. I thought of something I needed so I had a look on ebay.co.uk, which I normally use. Won auction, went through to payments.ebay.co.uk and it auto-filled my address in, I have 00000 registered as my Postcode and that's always worked. Had no problem this time either, payment went on to Paypal and it's all done now.

Lemming, can you try logging into ebay.co.uk and go to My eBay and the auction should be there too. Try the pay link off this, though if the seller is on eBay.com then it might just re-direct you there. Other than that I can't see anyway to get around this if eBay won't change it.

I paid the guy directly via paypal, so f*cks to eBay. Next time (do I really want to try this again because eBay are being retards?) I'll try this although I really don't hold out much hope. Both eBay representatives had not the presence of mind to suggest I try a regional eBay site which would suggest that they are not aware of this problem (and that it is a problem)

HarryD wrote: »

try entering "default" for Ireland..
I seem to remember something with that on ebay recently.

Well, entering "default" into a field looking for digits is going to fail. Or at the very least I should sincerely hope it will fail, otherwise eBay are not validating user form input data which is a serious and fundamental BIG no-no.

[edit]: Upon checking this by creating a new address (and then just deleting it), the zip code field does accept the word "default". But any shipping address then appears as:

Name
Street Address
Dublin XX DUBLIN default
Ireland

Of course, if you're on the payment screen, none of this is not obvious. These people are retards!
[/edit]

HarryD

Lemming wrote: »

But any shipping address then appears as:
Name
Street Address
Dublin XX DUBLIN default
Ireland

I get loadsa packages with default in my address.
I think a few years back the ebay system converted no postcode to default.

. These people are retards!

I agree.. .try dealing with the same retards under the paypal front.
They told me to return an item (because it was fake), which I did.
3 months later they told me to bring the same item to a store to prove it was fake.
Duh!!.. absolutely no sense in their logic.

Lemming

HarryD wrote: »

I get loadsa packages with default in my address.
I think a few years back the ebay system converted no postcode to default.

Nope, never had a problem with no zip/post code until yesterday. Never had a problem with putting in something like 'Dublin 16' or '-' instead until now either. And never had 'default' appear on a package until now. They've changed something very recently and whomever "thought" it through (or didn't in this case ... ) obviously forgot to consider that the borders of the world do not stop at the US border. I'll say it once again; these people are retards!

jor el

Lemming wrote: »

I'll say it once again; these people are retards!

Who also seem to believe that only people in the US are using ebay.com. I've had some sales go through the .com site before when dealing with HK sellers, and obviously when you buy from US sellers it'll go that way.

mikep

Try using all zeroes....

I have also put in none and that has worked...

Lemming

The saga just gets worse ....

They're now suggesting ... wait for it ... that I go and have a conversation with a livechat representative. Other than the minor point that I had a conversation with one last night before I submitted the bug report and was told to submit a report since my issue would not be forwarded on by the livechat representative, everything is f*cking rosy ...

/sigh

kaimera

Just paid for an item on ebay.ie there now.

Hit pay now and it brings me to the next screen which has my delivery address there; selected paypal at the bottom and bingo.bango, paid for.

My address
Dublin
default
Ireland

spurious

Just paid for an item a couple of minutes ago - was worried because of this thread, but all went OK.

jor el

Must just be ebay.com that's throwing up that problem. .ie and .co.uk seem to be fine.

eoinhealy

Try putting in 5 zeros 00000

Works on must other sites that require a zip code.

PDD

Not working for me either, talk about a bunch of ****ing muppets. Not only because they have an allegedly "localised" version with a .ie domain name but they have their major EMEA operations centre here and they still send out useless nonsense boilerplate responses. Honestly I just don't get the mentality of some US companies. If your not willing to enter into the market with and provide a reasonable level of service then don't ****ing bother just stay at home pandering to the american flock of brainless bible bashing bush voting gob****es while counting your nose diving piss poor dollars and don't **** up other niche markets that only serves to drive potential customers into the arms of waiting competitiors.

The sheer stupidity and arogance of this zip code bollox is enough to make me never use ****Bay again or maybe just fly a cesna into their building just to give them a wake up call and let them know that customers should be listened to.

If this was due to one guy making a **** up in the code (very unlikely) then him and anyone from their QA/testing that missed this bug should be taken out back and stoned to death with 1Euro chineese made tactastic leprechaun figurines from O'Carrolls!

PDD

Has anyone managed to find a way around this?

jor el

If you've made a purchase and now need to pay for it, but eBay/Paypal won't allow you, then you should contact the seller about alternatives. Explain what's happened and see if you can work something out.

If you still want/need to use Paypal, get the sellers Paypal email address. Log in then and select Send Money. Put in his email address, the amount and in the comments box put the eBay item number. Clear all this with the seller before hand.

One drawback about this method is that you are now making the payment outside of eBay and as such will not be covered by eBay or Paypal's buyer protection. It may be your only option though.

tech77

rubadub wrote: »

I must say I find ebay excellent at answering my questions;). No matter what I ask I get a fast reply saying "we value your custom blah blah, a sales person will contact you blah blah" and thats the end of it, spamming big dick robots have more intelligence than their system.

Absolute arseholes, and paypal, the lack of communication is shocking, if you have disputes with ebay or paypal just go straight to your c/c for a chargeback, dealing with those kunts is not worth the stress and time, and then they will screw you on currency too.

And dont come on with your "I work for paypal, and I am sound, blah blah, boo-hoo", I am sure hitlers cleaner was a nice lady too...

Lemming wrote: »

I got a reply to my technical issues report this morning. I'm left wondering if eBay even read the mail I sent them?



Geeh whizz, thanks for that Annie. Now go back and read my f*cking report again. Of course it's entirely possible that my zip code hasn't made it into the database yet. Not terribly f*cking difficult since ... wait for it ... Ireland. Does. Not. Have. A. Zip. Code. System. So where the f*ck this 9 digit mystical magical zip code is coming from I'll never f*cking know. I'm fairly certain it'll be news to An Post as well. Let me just ring them and check, ok?

Dumb f*ckwits ... :rolleyes:

jor el wrote: »

It's amazing that even when you get a reply from an actual human being, it can be less helpful than an automated bot-reply. That's about the gist of every email I've ever gotten in reply from eBay. The read the title so they know what subject (in general) the question is about, then copy in the stock answer to some random question.

Idiots.

It's worrying that we may not be able to purchase from eBay because of this. I'm tempted to buy something now to try this out, but there's actually nothing I'm looking for on eBay at the moment. Just went to check out Xbox games and there's nothing I'd buy, or what I would is too much just now.

Lemming, can you clarify a few points. I take it you won an auction, or used buy it now, then when you click Pay Now this is where the fun begins. It used to just come up with a cost + postage summary and then re-direct straight to Paypal. You're saying it now asks you to input an address, including a zipcode, before going to Paypal. Is this correct?

Ah FFS. :mad:
Does this mean if you buy from a US seller on ebay.ie or ebay.co.uk that you will have this zip code problem?
Would any old bull$hit like "a1" or a uk postal code work?

And yes, these people are indeed retards.
Ask anything remotely complex and they go into automated response mode ignoring the actual query.
Completely unaccountable retards.

Padraig Mor

Only came across this problem in the last couple of days (I'm on .co.uk). Between this and other service "enhancements" eBay seem to be doing their best to drive people away! Anyway, I got it to work using 'NA' as the postcode - N/A, 0000 didn't work.

PDD

Hi Guys,

I got this reply from eBay yesterday:

Hello,

Thank you for your reply. I understand that you are unable to make the
payment for the item number ############

Please note that you can add a zero in the post code section and then
continue to make the payment. There are three steps to complete the
checkout.
1. Review Your Purchase
2. Choose Payment Method
3. Confirm Your Payment

I hope this information is helpful. Please let us know if we can be of
further assistance.

Kind regards,

Hubert Seaver
eBay Customer Support

Ive no items to be purchased as they are all strikes against me now. If someone could let me know if this works it would be helpful.

Dave

dfer

Because paypal was talking to me either, I had to go to the bank yesterday and get a crappy Bank Draft and sent it off by snail mail!!!

5.80 for registered letter and a small fee for the bank draft!!

De good auld bank draft days!! lol

dfer

PDD wrote: »

Hi Guys,

I got this reply from eBay yesterday:

Hello,

Thank you for your reply. I understand that you are unable to make the
payment for the item number ############

Please note that you can add a zero in the post code section and then
continue to make the payment. There are three steps to complete the
checkout.
1. Review Your Purchase
2. Choose Payment Method
3. Confirm Your Payment

I hope this information is helpful. Please let us know if we can be of
further assistance.

Kind regards,

Hubert Seaver
eBay Customer Support

Ive no items to be purchased as they are all strikes against me now. If someone could let me know if this works it would be helpful.

Dave

I just tried it there, i put in a single Zero for the post code. Did'nt work form me.

No luck, sorry mate!!

tech77

Is this $hit happening if you're buying from a US seller on ebay.ie or ebay.co.uk.

And what happens if you buy from someone who only accepts paypal (and no other payment method).
Do you get an unpaid item strike against you, and/or negative feedback.

tech77

On a (not completely unrelated) matter, aren't anpost due to introduce postcodes here any time soon anyway.
Let's hope we find a solution to this problem before they get around to doing that

byte

tech77 wrote: »

On a (not completely unrelated) matter, aren't anpost due to introduce postcodes here any time soon anyway.
Let's hope we find a solution to this problem before they get around to doing that

AFAIK Irish postcodes won't be introduced til next year at the earliest.

Even so, on sites asking for ZIP, they might not accept an Irish postcode.

dfer

Can someone please do somthing?!!!!

I dont want to be sending off f***in bank drafts until next year!!! Its really awkward and annoying!


Has anyone tried toping up a 3V card and transfering it to paypal and then pay directly from paypal?

robinph

Just had this problem myself. It was a UK seller but I had found the item via ebay.com, that then refused to let me procede to the payment page until I'd entered a ZIP code for them. Just went and opened up a new tab and relogged into my ebay account via the .co.uk address and then clicked through the items to be paid links and it all went through fine then without ever redirecting me back to the .com address.

jor el

dfer wrote: »

Can someone please do somthing?!!!!

Nobody here can do anything about it, only eBay, who don't seem to be too bothered about it or even accepting there's even a problem.

Has anyone tried toping up a 3V card and transfering it to paypal and then pay directly from paypal?

You can't do that, money can't be transferred into Paypal from a credit card. Wouldn't help anyway as it seems the problem occurs before you even leave eBay and those who tried paying direct from Paypal can't get it to work.

ted1

its actually fairly easy to wrok around it. when sites demand an ZIP code i use "90210" its the only US postcode i know. who said you don't learn anything from TV

PDD

Ive tried this and many others but no joy while it works for others, I think its an intermittent issue so we are pretty much ****ed coz eBay are too lazy to do a damn thing about it. If only there was someway that buyers or sellers could punish eBay for being such ***** and force them into delivering a better level of service esp when it comes to support.

robinph

I tried 90210 and other US or UK codes that I know and it was "clever" enough to realise that the country field didn't match the code I was using. Does logging in directly to the UK or IE sites not work for any of you? It shouldn't matter which site your accont was originally registered through, you should still be able to access your ebay account through any of the others and click through to the payment pages which are then dealt with from the site that you just logged into rather than the one that you placed the bid on.

PDD

I've tried .ie, .co.uk, .com and none of them work.