Is there any way out of "The listing you're looking for is no longer available" purgatory?

[votefordavid]

This is a waste of my time and data, and it makes ebay look really, really incompetent.  A click-through to get to the page I want is a bug in the user experience.

If I wanted to see open items I would click on open items. I am clicking on completed items because I want to see details on those specific completed items.

It doesn't help me feel better about ebay's competence when this is the garbage-grade of results I'm getting every day.  The top is what they redirected me to and the bottom is what I wanted to see.  Completely useless "feature" you've got here, ebay.

[mikgile-39]

Check your advanced search options to make sure you are not looking at sold or completed listings. If you are pulling up items in your watch list or purchase history the listings may have ended and could explain why you are seeing this. You may need to copy the tittle and run a new search to find the sellers new listings.

[berserkerplanet]

There is a way out for those using Firefox, Chrome, and maybe other browsers, and willing to be proactive and fix the problem themselves (eBay doesn't consider it a problem but instead an intended feature so don't expect it to be changed)

Short summary: a method and rule to change item page URLS on the fly and prevent the issue.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Bidding-Buying/I-guess-eBay-just-wants-to-lose-business-by-making-it-h...
and some updated info (even though issue addressed is different)
https://community.ebay.com/t5/Technical-Issues/Bug-found-when-clicking-on-See-Other-Items-or-Seller-...

There are other methods involving scripts or bookmarklets, but this is the easiest and most transparent to the user.

[svrcek]

I agree completely. It does this on items that just ended, or items that ended 2 months ago. I used this to research and find items that I wanted to buy or sell, get prices, info about the item, even find out what it is. Now I have to hunt several items to find the exact item I am researching that this message does not come up on. Time consuming. Ebay, again trying to fix something that ain't broke. I think it's about time to spend this time, energy and money changing the shape and colors of the ebay logo. Maybe this change won't screw up the features we need, like and use. Just saying.

[dhbookds]

If you look at the line in blue that says ........This LISTING is not available, blah, blah...and click on the word LISTING, it will take you to the original listing........

[svrcek]

Thanks for the solution,  Rockstar, I would never have seen that "listings" link if you did not mention it. I would be just sitting back getting mad while searching. 

Hope others see it quick.

I love ebay!

[votefordavid]

This worked on my firefox 52 ESR, and a coworker reports that Quantum says the add-on should be able to install. Thanks so much.

[berserkerplanet]

Great. You will find all sorts of things Redirector can fix.

The second link I provided above points at a more recent post where I had done some more poking around, and determined that the addon does indeed work on FireFox Quantum version and also some? Chrome, Opera, and Vivaldi versions. There are also alternative addons for Firefox and others.

In any case, glad someone took the plunge, and that it worked for you.

If you have any questions about Redirector rules I can try to help - I'm not great at RegEx but can usually work them out.

Reminder to all: If you use Redirector rules (or Adblock Plus or uBlock Origin rules, or GreaseMonkey or TamperMonkey scripts, or Stylish rules, or whatever) keep that in mind if something appears to go wrong - like something disappearing from a page, or a web page control not working. You ARE modifying the page, and when the website changes things, unexpected interactions can occur, and you need to disable those rules to see where the problem may lie.