Captcha Appears When Trying to View Feedback or Stores

[e-arkham]

Whenever I try to view a user's feedback or store, I very often get a captcha page that asks me to pick the "food that tastes sweet" or match a picture of a badly AI-rendered cookie.  It's ALWAYS one of those two options -- I never see "match a bike" or "match a bus" or any of the other expected captchas.

This happens very regularly, on both Firefox and Chrome and has been happening since just before Xmas of 2024.  I am on the latest version of both browsers, Firefox 133.0.3 and Chrome 131.0.6778.205

Frankly I'm very annoyed that I'm being used to train someone's AI with this pattern matching nonsense.

Viewing Feedback or Stores should *NEVER* be behind a captcha.

The only thing I can imagine is that something about my browsing habits makes eBay think I'm a bot.  I don't use automated clickers or plugins, but I do have the common searches I make saved as bookmarks so I can quickly and regularly check them.  However none of those searches are stopped by captcha -- only when I try to look at someone's store or their feedback score.

I know this is the equivalent of screaming into an empty void, but please... someone at eBay look into fixing this.

[buyselljack2016]

For part of your issue.............  just keep refreshing. Maybe you will be able to get bikes, or trains😊

[e-arkham]

You know what... thanks for the laugh, I actually really needed that.  Genuinely.  LOL

[eburtonlab]

Any difference if you try opening the user's feedback page using a private or incognito browser window? In Firefox you can do that from your original browser page by right clicking on the link and choosing "open link in private window". That might be a quick workaround if it works for you.

I have not noticed any additional Captchas when opening feedback page, so it may be only certain links, or there may be something about your particular setup that is triggering that.

Some general Captcha advice, though I know you have already addressed the version issue:

Repeated Captcha requests or failures might be a sign that your browser is having problems saving cookies properly, or else a sign of a network issue. Using a VPN or a hotspot, or certain kinds of privacy software might also cause some issues.

Make sure your browser is up-to-date and has JavaScript enabled (and not blocked) and that cookies are not being blocked:

https://www.whatismybrowser.com/

Try using a different browser or a private or incognito browser window and see if you run into the same Captcha issues. If not, try manually erasing just your eBay cookies once in your original browser.

If you are using an ad blocker, try temporarily disabling it to see if that makes a difference.

Try an alternative link to sign in to rule out an issue with a particular link:

https://signin.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll

If you are using a mobile browser, try changing to a different browser mode: mobile, classic or desktop. Try a desktop browser or a mobile browser in desktop mode.

Or try using the eBay app.

If you contact eBay directly, mention ALERT15299 to have your account added to the open ticket.