Problems with character limits in item descriptions

[ESL-Mark]

Each item on an invoice has a 1,000 character limit for the description. In the lower right of the description box, it shows the character count. Sometimes it will be around 970 characters, but when I attempt to save the draft, I get an error message that the description exceeds 1,000 characters. I cannot figure out how to know what magic number is the limit because it doesn't seem to be the 1,000 that appears in the error message.

My descriptions sometimes includes special characters, so I thought maybe they are counted as more than one character. However, today my text had nothing beyond what is entered from the standard keyboard yet I still had the problem. I hate to think of how many hours have been wasted over the years trying to abbreviate words and weaken the description to get down to some number that Paypal considers below 1,000.

[ESL-Mark]

This problem has gone from bad to worse. I use Paypal to invoice for tutoring. Each item is a different class date. The description details what as covered in the class; therefore, each description is unique.

I started working on an invoice today thinking that I wouldn't have a problem since the description was 870 characters. That should be well below the 1000. To my chagrin, over the past day or two Paypal seems to now be limiting the description to 400 characters. No notice of this. No explanation of why. Just some arbitrary decision.

The next big question is, will the limit actually be 400 characters of will 325 or 358 or some number below 400 cause the "over the limit message"?

[Lighthouse24]

Same issue here. 400 characters is not enough for the required legal description of the services we provide, and as you say, this was changed without notice leaving us suddenly unable to invoice clients via PayPal. This needs to be restored to a minimum of 1000.

[VCGUK]

And the same for me - 400 characters is not enough. I can no longer invoice with adequate descriptions of service carried out in one panel. I have to continue in a second 'description' panel.

Not at all tidy and looks very unprofessional.

1000 character limit needs reinstating ASAP

[SolarInside]

Through the web interface, it looks like the description is 400 characters now.  

But through the API, it is still at 1000 characters.  

Strange indeed.  I hope the API doesn't go down to 400 characters per description.  Not sure what is the logic of going lower in the web version.

[IASLLC]

I have the same problem. My invoice description previously worked. I do photo shoots at multiple sites in a package. I include the dates and addresses of each location. 400 characters nowhere near not enough. I was around 600 characters before, and it worked fine.

[markGV2023]

I am also a photographer and have had the same type of problem. Something that worked for me was to add another item box and break up the descriptions into smaller sections. I just make sure I explain to the client in comments that it's broken up into sections and it has worked so far.

Good luck

[VCGUK]

Looks like PayPal have something against photography - two photographers and me a photographic equipment repairer! 😂😂😂 I have been using multiple 'description' boxes but it looks really amateurish at best and terrible at worst There seems to be to be no logical reason for PayPal to have cut the character count. I didn't want to have to spend the time to integrate the API into a website to get 1000+ character descriptions, but might have to. I got nowhere with customer service - not even an acknowledgement of my chat with them ...

[MTS_Chiranjeevi]

Good day  @ESL-Mark / All,

Thank you for posting to the PayPal community.

We understand that you're having trouble passing the valid count of "items description" value while drafting the invoice, but system is returning error. 

I believe your trying to integrate "Invoice" REST API - https://developer.paypal.com/docs/api/invoicing/v2/

Having issues with the "error" >>> "item description exceeds the limit"

Invoice "items description" can be <= 1000 characters.

I would suggest to try performing a new API request call with "items description" <= 1000 characters. If they still getting error, please create a MTS ticket via - https://www.paypal-support.com/s/?language=en_US with detailed error information. 

https://developer.paypal.com/docs/api/invoicing/v2/#invoices_create!path=items/description&t=request

https://developer.paypal.com/docs/api/invoicing/v2/#invoices_create!path=items&t=request 

https://developer.paypal.com/docs/api/invoicing/v2/

description

string <= 1000 characters The item description for the invoice line item.

NVP legacy API integration - https://developer.paypal.com/api/nvp-soap/create-invoice/#link-invoiceitemtypefields

description

xs:string, (Optional) Item description. Maximum length: 1000 characters.

Sincerely,

Chiranjeevi

PayPal/Braintree MTS

If this post or any other was helpful, please enrich the community by giving kudos or accepting it as a solution.

[ESL-Mark]

Thanks for trying to help, Chiranjeevi, but the response isn't related to my situation. I'm not a developer, and I'm not trying to integrate Paypal into other systems. I simply log on to Paypal, select Create an Invoice, and type in the information. Very basic. If it's a problem with how different APIs are used, then the team at Paypal who manages the front end would have to address this.