Ad blockers blocking listings including listings that are not promoted

[backpacktreasures]

A previous post has a green checkmark, but this issue is not resolved.

Ad blockers are blocking listings including listings that are not promoted.

I was doing some searches and have discovered that my ad blocker on Google Chrome is blocking a large portion of my listings regardless of whether or not they are promoted and it is doing the same thing for many other listings. When I disable my ad blocker, the listings reappear. This seems to be a recent occurence although conversations about this have been going on for years and it it why many sellers refuse to use promoted listings. The fact that non-promoted listings are also being blocked is very scary. I do not know the exact date that this started happening, but it may have been in one of the recent updates as this corresponds with a sudden crash in my sales down 50%. I believe that ebay has a way of programming things so that the ad blockers do not think that promoted listings are sponsored ads. As for non-promoted listings, I have no idea why they are being blocked except for perhaps they were once promoted and they are somehow recognized as stll being promoted even when no longer promoted.

This post is not looking for a solution on behalf of sellers to take action as we have already figured out what to do. But how are buyers supposed to know that they need to disable ad blocker to see our listings? How many sales are we losing because our listings are not being seen? And while we cannot control whether or not a buyer uses an ad blocker, ebay can correct the situation by making our listings visible to all even those using an ad blocker. 

[books_n_more]

A lot of news sites suggest (and sometimes require) the end user disable ad blocking software.  Perhaps Ebay could have  a pop-up appear saying that some listings may be hidden if ad blockers are on.

[partempire]

Sometimes I can't find my own listings in my own store because of this, and I don't have any promotions.

[vintagecraze50]

Many people are just inundated with these ads and they prefer not to have it come up constantly on their searches. Very annoying for many. One of the obstacles to using adds.

[readabouthorses]

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@books_n_more wrote:

A lot of news sites suggest (and sometimes require) the end user disable ad blocking software.  Perhaps Ebay could have  a pop-up appear saying that some listings may be hidden if ad blockers are on.

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I come across those news sites. Some of them may have 300 ads that might pop up if you disable your ad blocker. If I disabled my ad blocker for 300 ads my internet would take 5 hours to download all those ads. LOL

[eburtonlab]

If I disabled my ad blocker for 300 ads my internet would take 5 hours to download all those ads.

The problem seems to be limited to a certain set of filters known as "anti-circumvention" filters.

If you are using Ad Block Plus and you want to see all search results, try disabling your "ABP filters":

If you are using Ad Block, try disabling the "Anti-Circumvention filters":

Disabling those filters should allow users to block other ads and still see all search results on eBay.

Ultimately, either eBay will have to change the way those items are listed, or else the curators of those anti-circumvention filters will need to alter those specific problematic filter rules in order for all users to be able to see all results by default without having to change filter settings or disable ad blocking when searching on eBay.

[readabouthorses]

Thank you! Great information. I don't dig around in the ad blocker so it is good to hear it from someone who knows the ins and outs of it.

[backpacktreasures]

I do not have a problem disabling my ad blocker specifically for ebay. But I am a seller with the possibility of exchanging technical issues with other sellers on forums like these. But what about the hundreds of millions of potential buyers? They have no clue about this. They just do a search and expect to see complete search results, not a bunch of hidden listings that they are not even aware of.

And just to restate, ad blockers on ebay seem to be blocking random listings that are not even promoted.

[eburtonlab]

The first step in dealing with a problem is to discover the scope of the issue and see if the cause can be narrowed down.

Knowing that the problem has to do with a certain set of filter rules is a necessary step in determining what can be done (and by whom) to fix the issue for all users.

[eburtonlab · Accepted solution]

It appears that the filters that were causing this issue have been updated.

If you disabled your ABP filters in Ad Block Plus or your Anti-Circumvention filters in Ad Block, try enabling them once again. I believe the update should happen automatically; if not try updating manually, if necessary. Then check your searches again to see if the number of search results agrees with the number of searches shown (ignoring the extra sponsored listings, if any).

[backpacktreasures]

I have just verified and it does indeed seem fixed. If others can confirm the same thing that would be great. This has been a very productive thread with people providing concrete examples to get to the bottom of the issue.

[gillnglenn]

Personally, I’m more of a buyer than a seller and I feel another pop up or notice would be part of the same problem. Too many intrusive ads & pop up’s have made us sensitive to the annoyance they create. Out of the many ads that are included on pages, not one have influenced any decision I have made nor have I clicked them with any interest. I consider them a parasite. THAT is what they are.  A spreading infection to be dealt with by using a multitude of blocking means which I do not and will not turn off. I dare say due to the sheer number of blocking software downloads, I apparently, am not alone. I can absolutely do without whatever I am missing by using ad blockers. Have a pop up asking to turn off my ad blocker? No problem, I’ll go elsewhere. As the purveyors of such annoyances get more creative, so do the ad blockers, just takes a little time for them to catch up. The collateral damage it creates is just that.  As far as I’m concerned, EBay should do away with external ads as they already have a lucrative business. The suit that decided external ad space would earn them a few more dollars at the expense of user satisfaction should be sent to the mailroom to be employed for delivery service.  By the way Google, I do not want to sign in and have blocked that little annoyance as well.  Just my 2 cents.

[kh-light]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.