question

geckoproductsaus asked Sep 10, '14

Missing shipping address in GetOrders

We wish to write a custom PHP based application to automatically retrieve orders that require freight delivery so that we can calculate shipping costs based on the buyer's address and automatically invoice the buyer. The problem is, when using GetOrders to retrieve these types of orders (freight that requires manual invoicing), the shipping address is always empty. We found that if we manually calculate the costs and then invoice the buyer ourselves, the shipping address is filled within GetOrders. Is there a way to retrieve the buyer's address within the eBay API before an invoice has been sent?

shipping order invoice freight

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jourbandts answered Sep 10, '14

Do you have a sample item currently available online that I can take a look at? From my understanding, you offer Freight shipping, but you have to manually calculate the cost when the buyer asks for a shipping cost. So you want to automate this correct? And in order to do so you need the buyer's address?

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geckoproductsaus answered Sep 11, '14

Yes, that is correct. We would like to automatically calculate the shipping cost and this requires the buyer's address. Here is an example item: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=131274570323 As far as I have researched, eBay had ways of automating this process itself, but I don't think it supports this feature in Australia. While eBay allows me to enter the product shipping weight and dimensions, eBay does not seem to calculate freight costs itself.

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jourbandts answered Sep 11, '14

Hmm, not quite sure about this. There are a few key points to this. One, you cannot get a buyer's address unless you have a transaction relationship. So until the buyer actually makes the purchase you will not be able to get their address. Two, I don't see any API to calculate freight shipping. Everything I can find in our docs says you have to contact the seller. Therefore I am not sure it is possible to automatically calculate the shipping using eBay. Here is an article I found that has a little info but nothing to help you exactly, https://ebaydts.com/eBayKBDetails?KBid=1832.

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geckoproductsaus answered Sep 12, '14

Looks like we will have to stick with manual processing for now. The only other way I could think of right now is to workaround it via HTTP requests. If someone finds that this is actually possible via the eBay API, let us know. It would be nice if eBay could allow this in the future for their API. It's quite inconvenient for both us and the buyer to have to manually calculate shipping then send the invoice (which could delay the sale by a day and potentially lose the buyer). In the meantime, thank you for your help jourbandts.

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