eBay Descriptions Disappear Sell One Like This Redirects To Add To Cart In Latest Listing Glitches
eBay users report multiple technical issues affecting listings with descriptions disappearing due to ad blocker settings and "sell one like this" functionality redirecting to add to cart.
The disappearing description glitch appears to be an issue with AdBlock Plus hiding parts of the View Item page after loading.
In testing in both Chrome and Firefox with AdBlock Plus turned on, the usual two rows of ads between the image and description field initially pulsate like they are trying to load then that area goes blank and the description field disappears.
Reloading the page causes the issue to repeat - but as soon as AdBlock Plus is disabled and the page is refreshed, both the ads and description load like they should.
Multiple users in the eBay community forum reported the same experience, confirming that the issue only occurs with Adblock Plus enabled and stops when it is disabled.
Item description not showing on listings
OK, I "think" I just "fixed" it for me. I have free Adblock Plus. I went to myEbay, clicked on what looks like a small puzzle piece top right of the screen.
This shows Adblock Plus. I clicked on that and then toggled to OFF the Block ads on "this website" and "this page". And so far, I can now see the Item descriptions. Maybe that will work for someone else?
I think you've got it - I also have AdBlock Plus - I'm using Firefox browser, so it's not just a Google issue. I just disabled adblock on eBay and now I can see descriptions - thanks!
It's not the first time that ad blockers have been the source of disappearing listing trouble for eBay, though in the past it has mostly affected search results not item descriptions.
Liz Morton
There are also reports of the problem in the UK, Australia, and Canada eBay community forums, so it appears to be a widespread global issue that could be affecting millions of potential buyers.
eBay has not yet addressed the issue or advised whether sellers will be protected from negative feedback or not as described claims during this time when many buyers are not being shown critical information in item specifics and descriptions.
Other sellers say when they try to use the "Have One To Sell?" links on listing pages to streamline the listing process for similar items, the link adds the item to the shopping cart instead of opening a new listing draft page.
Have One to Sell? Sell Now Link is Adding Item to My Shopping Cart instead of Giving Listing Template
Was trying to list some flatware and I found a listing like my item so was wanting to sell one like it but when I click on the "Have One to Sell? Sell Now" link it is adding it to my shopping cart. Thankfully I could remove it from my cart. What is going on?
Sell Similar Button is Sending the item to my cart!
Hi there, every time I click the Sell Similar button it thinks I want to buy the item and it's putting the item in my cart! Is there a fix?
These are just the latest in near daily business impacting technical issues that continue to plague eBay and disrupt both the buyer and seller experience on the site.
Back in 2019, eBay and then CEO Devin Wenig faced activist investor pressure from Elliott Management calling for changes at the company, with constant site glitches and technical misexecution called out explicitly as one of the major problems plaguing the platform.
Six years later, it's shocking just how much of Elliott's "Enhancing eBay" plan still rings true today.
Wenig infamously said at eBay Open 2018 that technical glitches are unacceptable and really pissed him off.
eBay has since removed the video they had posted on YouTube of the eBay Open 2018 Q&A segment, but the interviewer asked:
There've been a lot of site glitches recently on eBay. What are you guys doing to get rid of them?
And Wenig responded:
Here's the simple answer - unacceptable, unacceptable. And we're making a lot of changes. When you make changes there are times that things happen but that's not an excuse and it's not ok with me and this summer in particular there have been a number of issues that directly impacted sellers like people not being able to see their view counts and a few other things and it's just not ok.
I'm extremely proud of a lot of things we've done, I'm not proud of that and in fact I hold my team accountable and it's not important, it's an internal matter but, we made changes to people and teams because shipping product that isn't ready is not ok. It's not ok with me and it's not ok with my team.
So the short answer is it's not like we don't get it. We are making a lot of changes and I want to make those changes, we need to make those changes, but making changes and then having to back up and fix things is not cool and I totally get it. Most of the issues from this summer have now been remedied but I was pissed off.
Mazen Rawashdeh was Chief Infrastructure and Architecture Officer at the time, but somehow managed to escape the wrath of a "pissed off" Wenig.
He was then promoted to Chief Technology Officer in 2019, after a brief period where he co-led Core Product & Tech along with Mohan Patt when Steve Fisher was being shuffled from CTO to SVP Payments "in order to focus on a personal matter."
Patt and Fisher both later left the company, but Rawashdeh remains as CTO today and has recently been given even more control and responsibility as part of an executive shakeup which saw Chief Product Officer Eddie Garcia step down earlier this week.
Liz Morton
Will persistent and systemic technical misexecution put eBay back in the cross hairs of activist investors again?
