diff --git a/app/ui/expiryOptions.js b/app/ui/expiryOptions.js
index 494093f4..2ee489f7 100644
--- a/app/ui/expiryOptions.js
+++ b/app/ui/expiryOptions.js
@@ -31,12 +31,11 @@ module.exports = function(state, emit) {
       counts,
       num => state.translate('downloadCount', { num }),
       value => {
-        const max = state.user.maxDownloads;
-        state.archive.dlimit = Math.min(value, max);
-        if (value > max) {
-          emit('signup-cta', 'count');
-        } else {
-          emit('render');
+        const selected = parseInt(value);
+        state.archive.dlimit = selected;
+        emit('render');
+        if (selected > parseInt(state.user.maxDownloads || '0')) {
+          console.log('Chosen max download count is larger than the allowed limit', selected)
         }
       },
       'expire-after-dl-count-select'
@@ -58,12 +57,11 @@ module.exports = function(state, emit) {
         return state.translate(l10n.id, l10n);
       },
       value => {
-        const max = state.user.maxExpireSeconds;
-        state.archive.timeLimit = Math.min(value, max);
-        if (value > max) {
-          emit('signup-cta', 'time');
-        } else {
-          emit('render');
+        const selected = parseInt(value);
+        state.archive.timeLimit = selected;
+        emit('render');
+        if (selected > parseInt(state.user.maxExpireSeconds || '0')) {
+          console.log('Chosen download expiration is larger than the allowed limit', selected)
         }
       },
       'expire-after-time-select'
diff --git a/app/ui/selectbox.js b/app/ui/selectbox.js
index cf1d1a4f..ce3e3ef8 100644
--- a/app/ui/selectbox.js
+++ b/app/ui/selectbox.js
@@ -1,32 +1,28 @@
 const html = require('choo/html');
 
 module.exports = function(selected, options, translate, changed, htmlId) {
-  let x = selected;
-
+  function choose(event) {
+    if (event.target.value != selected) {
+      console.log('Selected new value from dropdown', htmlId, ':', selected, '->', event.target.value)
+      changed(event.target.value);
+    }
+  }
+  
   return html`
     <select
       id="${htmlId}"
       class="appearance-none cursor-pointer border rounded bg-grey-10 hover:border-blue-50 focus:border-blue-50 pl-1 pr-8 py-1 my-1 h-8 dark:bg-grey-80"
+      data-selected="${selected}"
       onchange="${choose}"
     >
       ${options.map(
-        i =>
+        value =>
           html`
-            <option value="${i}" ${i === selected ? 'selected' : ''}
-              >${translate(i)}</option
-            >
+            <option value="${value}" ${value == selected ? 'selected' : ''}>
+              ${translate(value)}
+            </option>
           `
       )}
     </select>
   `;
-
-  function choose(event) {
-    const target = event.target;
-    const value = +target.value;
-
-    if (x !== value) {
-      x = value;
-      changed(value);
-    }
-  }
 };
diff --git a/server/config.js b/server/config.js
index d530610f..833ddf10 100644
--- a/server/config.js
+++ b/server/config.js
@@ -3,6 +3,23 @@ const { tmpdir } = require('os');
 const path = require('path');
 const { randomBytes } = require('crypto');
 
+convict.addFormat({
+  name: 'positive-int-array',
+  coerce: (ints, schema) => {        // can take: int[] | string[] | string (csv), returns -> int[]
+      const ints_arr = Array.isArray(ints) ? ints : ints.trim().split(',')
+      return ints_arr.map(int =>
+        (typeof int === 'number')
+          ? int
+          : parseInt(int.trim(), 10))
+  },
+  validate: (ints, schema) => {      // takes: int[], errors if any NaNs, negatives, or floats present
+    for (const int of ints) {
+      if (typeof(int) !== 'number' || isNaN(int) || int < 0 || int % 1 > 0)
+        throw new Error('must be a comma-separated list of positive integers')
+    }
+  },
+});
+
 const conf = convict({
   s3_bucket: {
     format: String,
@@ -25,7 +42,7 @@ const conf = convict({
     env: 'GCS_BUCKET'
   },
   expire_times_seconds: {
-    format: Array,
+    format: 'positive-int-array',
     default: [300, 3600, 86400, 604800],
     env: 'EXPIRE_TIMES_SECONDS'
   },
@@ -40,7 +57,7 @@ const conf = convict({
     env: 'MAX_EXPIRE_SECONDS'
   },
   download_counts: {
-    format: Array,
+    format: 'positive-int-array',
     default: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 20, 50, 100],
     env: 'DOWNLOAD_COUNTS'
   },