PayPal Community

I feel for you. I noticed yesterday that any button I created or edited would now have a zero weight. Since I set up a weight-based shipping profile, these items all now process as $0 shipping. Advanced variables for shipping, weight, or anything related no longer work.   I did speak to PP about this and was told to migrate my entire website and all items to 'smart buttons' like this was some 5-minute operation. When I pointed out that implementing smart buttons wasn't a trivial operation and would take many, many hours, I was told there was no work-around and I was basically SOL. I have a live production site and I am having to eat shipping costs with every order.   PP isn't a real business solution any longer so I am working earnestly on a new site over at Shopify. I will have a big smile on my face when I can close my PP account and be done with these people forever. ... View more

It is worse. Shipping profiles based on weight will now just produce $0 shipping as the weight variable for PP classic buttons has been removed. If you edit an existing button or create a new one, the weight will be set to zero. Advanced Variables for weight or shipping no longer work.   PP support told me this is part of their effort to transition to 'smart buttons'. When I pointed out that there was no notice of this change and the Smart Button paradigm essentially involved modifying my entire website and all products which would take many, many hours, I was basically told I was SOL. I now have to eat about $150 of shipping expense from yesterday's sales.   I've used PP since it was created, but I am now done with it. It can't be depended upon and it's clearly not a real business solution. ... View more

**caution** - as of 7/4, if you edit a classic PP button, the weight reference will be removed. So if you had set up a weight-based shipping profile, the item will now have a weight of zero producing a shipping cost of $0. A newly created button will do the same. I talked with PP support about this and there is apparently no solution. This is part of their effort to phase in 'smart buttons' so features of the old buttons (like the weight variable) have simply been removed without warning. ... View more

I talked with a PP manager yesterday (7/4) and it turns out that they have simply begun disabling the 'old' button functionality and suggest you implement the entire 'smart button' solution. So now if you create a new button - or edit an existing button - there will be no option to set weight. So if you had previously set up a weight-based shipping profile, the customer purchase will go through with $0 shipping. The Advanced Variables for 'shipping' and 'shipping2' no longer will work. Be very careful not to edit any old button or the weight-based shipping will be wiped out and process as $0 I asked what merchants like myself were supposed to do with 50+ buttons already created, the smart button paradigm not a trivial solution to set up, and no advanced notice? Basically I was told I am SOL. So now I have to eat about $200 in shipping costs from yesterday's orders. I've concluded that PayPal is no longer a real business solution and I am now moving as quickly as I can to another eCommerce solution. This also isn't a trivial process but at least I'm going to work with a vendor that understands the importance of not acting in any way that can adversely affect a live production site and that should such a dramatic change be necessary, they would provide lots of notice and assistance to help merchants make any necessary changes. ... View more

Same problem and of course this is just as I'm launching a holiday sale. Why would any rational development team make these sort of changes that will affect thousands of users with no guidance or notification? PP is working hard to get me to change to any other platform for processing web transactions. ... View more

I've been using the PP shopping cart for 10+ years and based upon my experience and having worked in IT for many years, the development team is likely overseas, never uses the product, and isn't checked by anyone here in the U.S. that actually uses the product.  Strange way to run a business but sadly becoming the norm. ... View more

I haven't found an answer for this either but have the same problem.   I don't know why it's so hard for PP to make these types of format options available to users, but let the user decide if they'd like to change them. Every time PP tried to 'help' me, it wastes more of my time. ... View more

Sadly, as with many large e-commerce players it appears that the platform programmers/developers never actually use the product. I'm sure all development is all outsourced overseas to save a few dollars, and those overseas programmers don't understand how the platform is used, don't really care, and aren't held accountable. Regrettably, there aren't many better alternatives. ... View more