Why is eBay hiding descriptions again?
Seems eBay is hiding descriptions again and making buyers click a 'Show More' button to see it. Can anyone explain what the benefit of hiding the seller's description might be? We just go through the effort of making that so they don't see it? It's already bad enough that so many people don't read anyway.
They experimented with this before and I thought it resulted in problems.
60 comments
sticky-art-uk
·3 years agoAnother stupid idea to make things more difficult for sellers.
And eBay wonder why so many sellers are leaving to sell on other platforms
sailinship
·3 years agoI so agree with the op. I can't for the life of me imagine why they are doing this, but, I don't run ebay, and I never buy on ebay using the app. It's too hard to get the search results I want.
sextons-sweet-deals
·3 years agoI would like to see a response from eBay on this. This not the only post on this issue.
This just opens more doors for fraud, false claims by buyers who didn't read full details or did not ask questions. They never clicked on the new "GLORIOUS" 'show more' button in item description.
I had a recent offer from buyer. They either were playing a word game with me or trying to act dumb. I don't know.
My listing is for pick-up only. They made an offer. LOW BALL! They then made another offer with this comment: I saw that some names are in it. But 2$ a card for the others is very fair. I just want to finish a few sets and your lot would help.
Key word for me is 'I saw that some names are in it'. Are they just looking at photos only? Did they not use the "GLORIOUS" 'show more' button?
My response was: the complete list of cards & qty is in the listing details / description and that this listing is for pick-up only.
They are in MN and I'm in IN.
wastingtime101
·3 years agoeBay's response is they're testing some new views on the listing page (LINK). Anybody that doesn't like it should use the feedback links to let the developers know.
Is "glorious" a comment directed towards me? That's part of the signature that appears on all of my posts which links to a funny video of my avatar. "Glorious" does not describe how I feel about these tests. Any time you see that horizontal line with text below, that's a poster's signature appearing on all their posts.
globeminerals
·3 years agoIt appears to depend on the browser; my listings display the "Show more" button from Mozilla Firefox, but I can see the entire description using Google Chrome.
carparts4sale_inc
·3 years agoWhat is the point of having an item description just to have ebay make it so difficult to see. Does ebay want to create more returns? What is the best way to send ebay a comment letting them know this is a bad idea?
cardsforauction
·3 years agoThat's one example of eBay doing silly changes. They also are hiding sellers feedback. Before you could easily click on the feedback number and see All the feedback now you have to navigate around to locate it. Another one, eBay hides the seller feedback on your Purchases section which is really annoying because again you have to navigate to find a lot of information about the seller, purchase details, and other items for sale, according to the last time I checked.
cardsforauction
·3 years agoPurchase details you can find. My mistake.
Also, sometimes I have a hard time getting to see other items for sale by a seller in "List View" it seems there is some kind of bug once in a while that only shows Gallery view, because when I look for "List View" the feature is missing.
house*of*paws
·3 years agoHi @gear-house
I have never seen a screen like that. I can see Descriptions easily ... so I assume that eBay is NOT the cause of what you showed us in your OP.
obtanium_enterprises
·3 years agoThe "Show More" button is all over eBay. I _was_ browsing for stuff I need earlier but now I'm exhausted from showing more so I'm searching on Amazon.
shipscript
·3 years ago@house*of*paws
This is an eBay test that only some buyers are seeing. It affects listings with either HTML or plain text descriptions, as shown in my tests. From a programming standpoint, the addition of the "show more" button can only occur if eBay programmed it to be there. It is not a browser thing or a malware issue.
Here are screenshots of what I saw when viewing my own listings from a different account...
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Why-is-eBay-hiding-descriptions-again/m-p/33608927#M2176206
While I don't see the issue when using this account, I checked again in incognito mode, and still see the same from that other account.
But here is an interesting side note. In both versions of the listing description for my first sample listing, the description frame opens partially with a scrollbar. The page then continues to load (as can be seen by the spinner at the top of my browser). For one view, after loading is complete, the description frame opens fully and there is no interior scrollbar for the description. On the other view, the frame opens and then closes back to a partial, where a fadout and a "Show more" button are added.
gear-house
OP3 years agoYeah, it's definitely eBay. When they do tests like this not everyone sees the same thing. When I browse eBay every listing I look at has the listing description hidden until I click the 'See More' button, I must be part of the test group, whereas you're part of the control group.
obtanium_enterprises
·3 years agoBecause reading has become optional, along with thinking and other previously thought-to-be-useful skills that are now irrelevant antiques of a long-forgotten age... Spoken in the voice of Don Lapre. And because "Show More" has electrolytes!
Anyway, I'm in the process of redesigning my template to copy the "mobile summary" (a/k/a the "tl;dr low-IQ-description") at the top with minimal styling. Whether eBay reverses this button thing or not, refer back to George Carlin suggesting to consider the abilities of the average person...and then realize half of the population are even less able. So, maybe take pity and try something like this. Or, could this make the situation worse... Hmm. Gotta drink some Brawndo... BRB.
adkhighker
·3 years agoSame with my listings and I've checked them from different browsers where I'm not signed in to eBay. Only the first few lines are there, the rest can't be seen until the "Show more" button is clicked. eBay has made lots of dumb changes over the years, but this one could be close to the top of the list of "Dumbest Changes" yet. All it takes is for one of those buyers from that percentage of buyers who will only read what's visible up front and not bother to hit the "show more" button to buy something and then return it only because they failed to see the rest of the description that perfectly described the flaws.
Like so many of eBay's changes, this one will only make things worse and makes zero sense as well.
(This is not my selling ID)
whiteyswrecking
·3 years agoYes a very stupid move, we already have a problem with people that can't read, now start hiding important information ?!?!?!?!
This place needs to get a CLUE !
deecies
·3 years agoOh dear - this is awful. As if having the incredibly poorly designed "item specifics" section above the description which - A. Rarely has useful or totally correct information B. NO ONE looks at and C. Most buyers hate as it's a messy block of small text. Now they want to take away control of the item description. - the one place on eBay we can actual employ good design.
We already get masses of questions every day from (presumably mobile users) who haven't read the description and skip past the FAQ. We employed a huge banner at the top of our description which only appears to EU buyers to explain the UK to EU VAT situation and guess what - no one bothers to look at that either.
The entire eBay website is a complete design mess and has been since it launched - there's never been a coherent design language. Parts of it get updated to a new design language, but the only do that section We've now got 4-5 legacy eBay designs left in place for various seller options and features.
If we had totally control we'd show nothing but the item description filling the screen, but that of course wouldn't get eBay their advertising fees on top of the thousands of FVF we generate for them.
It's getting to the point now where on both mobile and desktop you might as well use the pictures for all your item description and information at least it appears at the top of the page for both. Buyers will still skin over them and not read it to ask the same questions but what else can you do!
movieman630
·3 years agoExactly. I don' t understand what the point is? It's been one way since the beginning. NOW all of the sudden we need to hide the description block? So how important is description if they're going to hide it? People don't read or look at photos anyway. Most impulse shoppers buy off title.
I just can't anymore with the changes like this. Seriously. What for?
shipscript
·3 years agoI actually don't mind a "Show more" button, as I'm accustomed to that elsewhere on the web, mostly in reviews where a lot of them are stacked up, or in news stories. And the fade-out is a common way to indicate there is more, but the button should be centered where the eye is already engaged in the content. and a "Show more" button should be available, even when there is no scrolling, to unfade the description.
However, in a desktop item description, I don't understand why it is needed. The description is already below the important content (photos, buy, price, watch, shipping, seller info, etc). The only thing below the description on desktop is competitor advertising. Why would anyone want the description minimized in favor of additional ads?
But wait, eBay is now putting a large chunk of seller info below the description. I wonder if the seller badge up top will disappear? In the overall scheme of things, we can see how unimportant the description appears to be, as it is given perhaps the smallest slot on the page.
wastingtime101
·3 years agoYep - that visual says it all @shipscript. It's all about ads. The question becomes how the heck do we get buyers to read descriptions when they're now hidden behind see more links and not shown at all on the quick view pop-ups? Had a buyer just this week insist I send them a full refund because they wanted a 14" model even though the 9" size they purchased was clearly spelled out in the description and item specifics.
The seller info at the bottom does appear to be slowly replacing what's at the top. If you go to a MQ listing that has enough sales to generate item-specific FB in that bottom panel it screws up navigation when you click the seller's FB link at the top.
Here's an example:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/254763804956
Click on the seller FB number at the top right. It will force you down to the seller info panel on the bottom of the listing page. When you're in that bottom panel there's another link to "see all feedback" but if you actually want to see "all" feedback then you need to either:
Toggle from "this item" to "all items" on that seller panel before clicking see all. Or you need to delete the search terms once you do get to the FB page.
It's definitely more complex navigation. It appears that this new FB layout in that bottom seller panel is being displayed the way other sites will put up product reviews underneath item info, no?
I don't remember when/where but eBay did say at one point they were going to remove the seller info panel from the top of the page and move it lower to make the view more consistent with mobile website. Might've been the Spring 2022 seller update?
wastingtime101
·3 years agoFound one of the references. Winter 2022 Seller Update.
https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/resources/seller-updates/2022-winter/business
Section titled "Your brand and feedback will be more visible across all platforms"
wastingtime101
·3 years agoNow it's official @shipscript - seller info removed from right side panel. Clicking on the userid will take you to the seller's storefront, but the formal "see other items" and "visit store" links are gone from the top of the listing. So you can either click on the seller ID or you can go to the seller info panel below description to see other items.
I expect next they'll move TRS and MBG info. Question is will they fill that real estate with ads, or will they widen the item info, perhaps with a different photo layout or something better for variations (I said, laughing)?
I'm dreading that space being filled with ads. They already tested filling that space with ads for stores which was awful because it looked like the listing was part of the advertised store so when the ad prompted you to click it gave an impression you were looking at more items from the same seller.
valueaddedresource
·3 years ago@wastingtime101 that was exactly my thought when I saw this - those ads they are testing for stores will be even worse now if they keep them in the same place because they will be where buyers expect to see the store info for the seller whose listing they are on.
eBay still hasn't given us any info about those ads but I am still seeing them on some listings now with actual stores, not just eBay test accounts.
siamjane8
·3 years agoAgain another waste of time change that is worse for sellers and buyers. What could possibly be the reason to justify making people click an extra button to see the description?
If they want to test things.... Why not test giving sellers 1/2 off fvf?
Or test actually showing people what they search for instead of 78 promoted items on a sellers listing page? Or test letting people go back to the classic listing tool? Lol
You don't even need to test whether people want to be in a constant discussion and confusion by unwanted tested testing.... Because eBay is known for "change for change sake"
Of course a "see more button" is just plain obviously stupid. A serious lack of any week design experience or common sense...... Why would you inconvenience your buyers and make them take extra steps to see the description...... It's almost scary seeing what these designers are coming up with and even more scary when you realize that your management approves the "test"...... They are so disconnected with reality and what their customers want.
dhbookds
·3 years agoJust a comment.........that I see the "see more" button on almost every large marketplace......Etsy/Wmart/amazon, etc......not to say I like it anywhere........but it's pretty common......
jaksvortex
·3 years agoOk. Whew. I thought my browser broke eBay or something.
Well, this is irritating. Sorry to not any substance, just wanted to confirm, this is what I'm seeing on the current Firefox, too. Except that I came here because I don't get any "see more" button at all. I can't fathom why they would tinker with this since, unlike most online shopping, do they think someone WOULDN'T want the full info straightaway?
Argh. Well, things were working pretty well for me for the past year, I guess it's time to screw around with the product.
backwoods_mystical_and_oddities
·3 years agoWe are experiencing the same issue... Chrome browser on PC... does not seem to be happening in firefox/edge... Seems like it must be a beta test of some sort. I contacted ebay for business and they stated they looked into it and "no changes where made" Seems like they arent keeping ebay CS/techs in the loop on these constant random changes... It is all but impossible to get people to actually read descriptions to begin with... Now that they have to click an extra button to read it, It will likely get even worse with people opening INADs on things that are clearly stated in descriptions.
windigard
·3 years agoI'm here because I saw the same thing and googled "ebay show more button" and quickly found this thread. Add me to the list of people that HATE this new feature. There's also a convenient "tell us what you think!" button on each page. I clicked it, gave 1/5 stars, and told them to get rid of this "show more" button. I don't need more clicks to see things. I have a scroll wheel for this.
fastwecks
·3 years ago+1 on the "OMG PLEASE NO!"
It is bad enough people on mobile don't read descriptions and generate INAD's inaccurately, please let's not add it to web!
And take it out of mobile, while they are at it!
siamjane8
·3 years agoThese ridiculous tests of obviously bad ideas are why ebay has such a huge problem with seller and buyer retention. It annoying to be in a constant state of flux. All we want to do is buy and sell- not be continually trying to figure out how to find descriptions.
"See more" buttons are NEVER a good idea- they require more work to access info- that is what is called a roadblock to efficiency. That is what happened to the new listing tool and with all the feedback has slowly reverted back away from all the see more popup boxes......because they suck!
At this point- there are no new innovations to web design.......the industry is well established and knows what works best- all they have to do is listen and stop trying to reinvent the wheel.
It shows what the state of the company is in- they think that changing from scroll bars to see more buttons instead of just showing the information will improve sales??- but the obvious and plain as the nose on your face answer is just fix the search engine to show people what they type in the search box! Ebay is just ignoring the biggest problem they have- over manipulated, irrelevant search that effectively hides listings from view when searched. We cant buy what we cant find.- still must use google to see active ebay listings. I am confused by this logic
shag182
·3 years agoYEP! Everyday you see some kind of mind numbing changes, tweaks.
The "SHOW MORE" in the description come and goes. Also, the NEW feedback page jumps you to the feedback page with a few FBs, and you have to click to show the FB normal page, the buyer's purchases page does NOT show feedback icons anymore, and on and on of tweaks, changes.
Instead of the KISS principle, it's the MAKE IT DIFFICULT and cumbersome for BOTH the buyers and sellers.
But if revenue, users, buyers, sellers starts to drop like flies. eBay will raise their fees, add fees; just like the government raise taxes, add new taxes, when revenue is needed.
This is the typical buyer, seller user looking at the tweaks, changes on ebay:
moondogblues
·3 years agoMy Purchase History page has changed also. I have to click on various links to see things that used to be all on one page. I hate it.
partfinds
·3 years agoAnd I have to verify myself and go through captchas when i want to look at buyer profile and feedback.
chapeau-noir
·3 years agoSometimes I'm presented with the quick-view, sometimes I'm able to just click into the listing itself - more often I can just click into the view itself, but I have definitely seen the quick-view that @gear-house describes.
wastingtime101
·3 years agoThis is not the quick view pop up. It's a change to the description area of the full listing view.
shipscript
·3 years ago@chapeau-noir
This is your listing:
slippinjimmy
·3 years ago@shipscript
FWIW
I checked the three links for test listings you posted, all three looked fine, i checked with both Firefox and chrome.
eBay must be rolling out a trial that only some buyers can see.
Definitely seems that way!
chapeau-noir
·3 years agoI'm seeing something different to that. It's a completely missing description with "Show More".
I agree that ebay is running tests.
shipscript
·3 years ago@gear-house
I was seeing the same thing on listings today. eBay must be rolling out a trial that only some buyers can see. When I look at your listing, see the same thing you show in your screenshot. Most eBay listings are a few lines of text. Listings with HTML appear to display what you are showing.
For instance, here are some test listings of mine:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/223271911350 (html - requires scrolling - show more )
https://www.ebay.com/itm/384951647014 (html - fits within window, fades some - no button to show more)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/385464980374 ( text only, but starts to fade out on third line - no button).
wastingtime101
·3 years agoHey @gear-house. The last times this happened there were several factors.
- One was a test eBay eventually abandoned.
- One was a way to deal with prohibited active content and html.
- One was an issue based on browser.
I checked your listing in a few browsers on a Mac but couldn't duplicate the results.
Then I ran your listings through @shipscript's active content scanner here:
https://www.isdntek.com/ebaytools/ActiveContentScanner.htm
It turned up 591 listings that need repair (missing link targets), however item 275570351552 was not one of those listings. Plus you said you're seeing this on all listings from your own store and others' stores.
On which browser(s) / OS are you experiencing this? And more specifically, which version of the browser?
Having that info will give others the best shot at duplicating your results. If nobody can duplicate it using the same parameters then it could point to eBay running another test to which your account is opted in.
dhbookds
·3 years ago@wastingtime101 You might check this thread out: looks like a test to some of us.......
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/not-on-every-listing-but-some/m-p/33606876#M2175679
wastingtime101
·3 years agoThank you. That does confirm it's either a test or a phased roll out. Will keep tracking that thread to see what eBay reps say.
What happens with the see more link - does it expand the description within the listing or does it result in a pop up? If the result is a pop up I would one thousand percent prefer a scroll option instead of a see more button.
rugerskick
·3 years agoThis confirms yet again ebay uses the live network and live seller accounts to test site changes on.
I already had pointed out that one longtime ebay seller reported that ebay does testing using sellers lie accounts, which knocks their store traffic and sales out while its occurring. Its why they report large blocks of inactivity for many hours to days. Then all of a sudden traffic and sales goes back to normal, like a switch is thrown.
We now have another confirmation ebay tests out things on sellers live acounts. Without telling anyone it's going on, they have to notice it and its usually noticed because its negative.
partfinds
·3 years ago@rugerskick They do that. I vopen the browser and ery often see random Ebay site opened instead of what I was last looking at last (not Ebay home page) for example I was at active listings but then it switched to messages or something else I wasn’t looking at . My sales this month are 25% of what they were a year ago with outage lasting several days of inactivity followed by a sale that later becomes cancellation or return.
hartungcards
·3 years agoI've come across many Item Descriptions that not only should be hidden, but should be removed altogether.
chapeau-noir
·3 years agoWhat happens is if you click the listing from the search page, it comes up with the screen shot @gear-house shows, a 'quick view' of the item where you have to click further to see the description. It's a popular view option for online catalogs but IMHO pretty much invites the buyer to simply click to order the item without reading the description, especially on mobile. Great if you're a large company who can afford returns from people who don't bother to investigate what they're buying. Not so great for sellers of pre-owned/one-off items who can't manage the 20-30% average online return rate.
inhawaii
·3 years agoYou are not looking at the listing page.
The listing page shows you everything.
gear-house
OP3 years agoYes, I sure am looking at the listing page. I have shown a screenshot of it. It does it on my listings and other sellers' listings that I visit as well. Maybe they are not doing this for everyone.
inhawaii
·3 years agoYou are NOT looking at the listing.
You are looking at a "quick view".
The listing is here....
https://www.ebay.com/itm/275570351552
gear-house
OP3 years agoLOL, I know what I'm looking at, I've been on eBay for over 20 years and wouldn't be complaining about this if it wasn't the listing page. Here's a screenshot of the page/ link you just sent me. Maybe you just aren't seeing it, it's possible they are using some accounts as tests for this new feature they are trying. It looks this way for every page I visit on eBay, not just my own.
inhawaii
·3 years agoThen my apologies.
I've looked at that listing from 2 different computers and 2 different accounts.
Mine shows everything and DOES NOT have that "show more" link.
Anybody else?
Does anybody else see that "show more" link if you go to this URL?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/275570351552
iamalwaysright
·3 years ago@wastingtime101 I did a few tests about this and this is what I found out. I used two different accounts.
iPhone 12, iOS 14.6
Safari and Chrome with both accounts did not run into this "show more" issue. I made sure to open the desktop classic sites and not mobile.
iPad Pro iOS 15.7
Safari and Chrome with both accounts DID run into this "show more" issue.
Laptop PC Win10
Firefox110 and Chrome 111 on both accounts DID run into this "show more" issue.
When you click on the "show more", you see the listing expand itself and the "show more" button turns into a "show less". When you click the "show less", the description truncates itself back to how it was at default. One other thing I noticed is that with both accounts, some listings still got truncated BUT there was no "show more" button found. Rather than have that button, you see a scrollbar on the far right margin of the description. Shown below for a random listing I found https://www.ebay.com/itm/394437457769 .
Do you guys see the same thing for this listing? Unfortunately for this seller's listing, a size chart is shown below where it says "unisex sizing" that I'm sure most buyers will be even more less likely to see because you have to scroll down using that scrollbar.
Also it gets worse for the iPad because there isn't even a scrollbar being shown. So for this listing on an iPad, no "show more" button, and no scrollbar. Yet the size chart is still down there.
partfinds
·3 years ago@wastingtime101 “
iPad Pro iOS 15.7
Safari and Chrome with both accounts DID run into this "show more" issue.â€
I have Ipad PRO 12†and mine is running padOS (16.3.1) not ios and this is what it looks like
onlinecentral
·3 years agoDoes anybody else see that "show more" link if you go to this URL?
I see the full description. No show more button.
Desktop PC, Windows 10, Edge 110 browser
frodobagginskennedy
·3 years agowhen I follow that link I still see the show more button. It is happening to all of the items I looked at for the past several days. I run on Chrome
gear-house
OP3 years agoThe only thhing showing in my description is basically the title, everything else is hidden and you need to click a 'show more' button to see it.
lakefor94
·3 years agoWhen I first click on your listing from my Samsung tablet, I see your description. Same with my Samsung Phone.
joseh1445
·3 years agoebay does, what its best for ebay. That simple.