1. often reported here-from far away over the ocean-you have to wait till it in your part of USA is ALSO same day as here in EUR-the system automatically translates it to time here. Australians and kiwi´s have the same reverse-they are many hours advanced in time.
2. OR you use other means to do RES-see last.
3. noone ties you to just those trains-well over 95% of all trains running here in EUR are without any need to RES. But all the tipical newbees seemingly all want to use exactly those lines and trains that are the hardest to get. PLUS that with a little inside knowledge-dispensed here daily a few times, it wil also be possible to do this trip for much less, but in a little more time with an extra change.
4. NO-again confused-all railways set their ow rulings-and ESpana is the very worst for that, followed by FRance-this is about the only one to have those quota. Just like in your own all the 50 states aso very much like to set own rules if they can. EUrail is-to the utter surprise of many a yank, not a company running trains-it is a loose coöperation of some 100+ railways in 33 countries
5. End: anna fra sverige greets all newcomers with an overview and links to howtodo RES other ways+more tips-and also saves money.

This is a known bug. You need to set the time zone on the device where you make the reservation to CET. Then you restart the device and make the reservation. Then the date on the reservation should be correct. 

@mcadv 

“OR you use other means to do RES-see last.

noone ties you to just those trains-well over 95% of all trains running here in EUR are without any need to RES. But all the tipical newbees seemingly all want to use exactly those lines and trains that are the hardest to get. PLUS that with a little inside knowledge-dispensed here daily a few times, it wil also be possible to do this trip for much less, but in a little more time with an extra change.”

The question I had is about this system not how to find alternative trains. Why be condescending?  There’s a reason why most people make the specific plans that they do. We all know we could choose one of the other hundreds of routes that don’t require reservations. This “typical newbie” doesn’t have 8-14 hours to spend, or I would have. I’ve read the “little inside knowledge dispensed here daily a few times” and it didn’t, unfortunately, answer the question. Pleas don’t assume that because we are making a specific plan it’s because we don’t know there are other options. 

@AnnaB This is super helpful thank you!! I assumed that similar to airlines, the times noted are local time and account for the time change. I really appreciate your help!

Most of the time the reservation work fine from overseas but almost every week there is someone who gets in trouble with this. Custom Support don't really see the problem so the more people the send error reports on this, the better.