This is an update on my surprised report of problems with the ebay-paypal connection and how they hadn’t done a proper path for users when an error occurs, as mentioned in the previous article.

A week later they have created such a path.

The error is still occurring for me, but now I get a pretty page when the error occurs (it is still occurring and I still dont know what the problem is), and on this page a link that takes me to the old integration method between ebay and paypal. Exactly what they should have done in the first place.
Except it still doenst seem to work right because when I follow the link paypal considers me a new account, even after I log in, and wants me to enter card details. Thankfully I have found out that if i take 1 item at a time things work…

But to me it is fine - there will always be weird errors and things, and the thing is to not leave the user out in the cold, as I was with a text error pointing me to an unserviced email address…

Although I suspect they havent quite done it the right way, I suspect they have added exceptions to catch the error within the application and handle it within the coded app, but that for any unplanned error people might still be getting the basic text error. I hope not but human nature and development pressures being what they are…

Anyway to me the ideal way is to both
a) check the result of any transaction within the application and catch any error, and handle a recovery path within the application
and
b) not assume there won’t be fundamental errors that the code can’t catch (or that havent been thought of) which then push the user back to the server layer - and to therefore provide a path for the user on these standard error pages when that happens

Perhaps it is because I started 15 years ago when we were all webmasters and webmistresses and did everything from server configuration to menu graphics, but I keep being surprised of how many sites out there haven’t done the basic polish when it comes to simple server and service configuration.

Really basic, web hosting 101 details like having the site work both with and without “www” in front, or having custom error pages… these are still quite common even on high profile sites. Back in the early times it was caused by lack of skill, the industry was in a gold rush and many did not know how to configure things, some hosting companies were cowboys who often didn’t know much themselves, and the client would be told “can’t be done” or “will cost an extra 5000”.

I am not sure what the cause is nowadays, can’t be lack of knowledge. My guess is that it is a consequence of the increasing specialization - this something that falls between the cracks because it is not “development” or “design” or “content” or “marketing”, and nobody checks, or feels it is their remit to pick up the phone and try to get it sorted. So we still see horrible java dumps, or text based 404 messages, or are told that “blumphster.com is not accessible” (made up example, but i could name names!)

But even I was flabbergasted at what happened to me the other day… an example of how not getting the basics right has eroded my trust in one of the largest sites on the net… for not doing something that would take them 15 minutes per year!

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