wjwt

Q: Unable to "Buy Book" in Photos

Hi all

 

I'm really struggling with this...

 

I've previously purchased many photo books using iPhoto - no problems. Now I've migrated to Photos, made a new book, it previews correctly, but when I press "Buy Book" I get the error "Store is not available. Back in service shortly" message. Also, "Photos>Print Product Store Account…" is greyed out.

 

But the store IS available - I've checked using Photos on another machine in the same city.

 

More mysterious - it also works when I boot my machine from my one-month-old backup disk, i.e. problem occurs ONLY when I use the current boot disk.

 

Just to confirm, I have tried everything I could find on these discussions:

  • re-entered all AppleID info
  • ensured the Print Products Store in "Photos>Preferences>General" is set to the same country as my billing address
  • ensured time zone in System Preferences is set to the same city/country
  • signed out of iCloud and signed in again
  • purchased an app from the App Store and a movie fro the iTunes store
  • re-applied OSX 10.11.6 using Combo Update
  • cleared caches using Cocktail, including Photos caches

 

Some details:

  • iMac mid-2010, OSX 10.11.6, Photos 1.5
  • I have multiple Photos libraries — problem occurs on all

 

Any suggestions would be hugely appreciated. Thanks.

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6), Airport Extreme

Posted on Aug 8, 2016 4:19 AM

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Q: Unable to "Buy Book" in Photos

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  • Helpful answers

  • by jameson.h,Solvedanswer

    jameson.h jameson.h Aug 9, 2016 3:16 AM in response to wjwt
    Community Specialists
    Aug 9, 2016 3:16 AM in response to wjwt

    Hello wjwt,

     

    Thanks for reaching out to the Apple Support Communities regarding your issue ordering a photo book. It looks like you're getting the following error message when you try placing your order: "Store is not available. Back in service shortly". Also, you've noticed that Photos > Print Product Store Account is greyed out in the Photos app. I can certainly understand that you'd want this feature to work correctly; I'm happy to assist. 

     

    Before we begin, please create a full backup of your data using Time Machine. You can find more information about this process here: 

    Use Time Machine to back up or restore your Mac - Apple Support

     

    To help isolate this issue to something user-specific or system-wide, I'd recommend creating a "test" user account on your Mac. Take a look at this website for more information:

    How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac - Apple Support

     

    Once you've created the test user account, log in and try placing an order to see if the problem continues. If it does, I'd recommend that you re-install the Photos app as a next step. Since Photos is an app built into OS X, you'll need to re-install OS X using the instructions found here:

    How to reinstall OS X - Apple Support

     

    Cheers!

  • by wjwt,

    wjwt wjwt Aug 9, 2016 3:24 AM in response to jameson.h
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Aug 9, 2016 3:24 AM in response to jameson.h

    Thanks jameson.h, that solved it. I had already tried reinstalling OS X with no success — your post pointed me to the user account, and that turned out to be where the problem was.

     

    The book is now being uploaded to the Print Store — thanks so much for your help.

  • by Corrie84,

    Corrie84 Corrie84 Aug 9, 2016 9:09 AM in response to wjwt
    Community Specialists
    Aug 9, 2016 9:09 AM in response to wjwt

    Excellent, we're glad that resolved the issue for you. Have a great rest of your day!