Item Description not showing up.

[pukwudjivc]

  I'm a new seller and my latest listing had issues where the description wasn't showing up in Chrome or Edge.  I kept trying to edit it and add a description but it wasn't working.  Then a search on the community turned up articles related to mobile, but mine was on a desktop PC.  I finally found something that mentioned "Your html may not be right."  Out of curiosity I revised my listing and pasted my description with HTML formatting.  This worked.  I don't know how many of my past listings were missing descriptions, but this was a pain.  I'm just glad I could get my posting fixed.

  Understand, I'm not a professional seller so I don't have fancy description templates I'm trying to use.  I was just typing a text description and there's nothing in the listing creation tool that indicates the description has to be formatted in HTML now.  Is this a bug on EBay's side?

[eburtonlab]

If the problem is that the item description is disappearing when you list or edit, the problem may be tied to a browser add-on. Other users have pointed to issues with Ad Block, Duckduckgo and a grammar checker called Language Tool. If you have any of these add-ons installed in your browser while listing or editing, a conflict with the new listing tool may cause the item description to be lost. It is possible that there are issues with other as-yet unidentified add-ons as well.

Try temporarily disabling those add-ons while listing or editing. Or else try using another browser that does not have those add-ons installed to list or edit your items.

[pukwudjivc]

It can't be a plug-in.  I've tried two browsers and they both do it.  One browser, Edge, has no plug-ins. 

[lacemaker3]

@pukwudjivc,

I checked two of your most recent sales, and I confirmed that there was no description showing for the first sale, but the second sale did have a description. So your fix worked. But, I don't think this is a browser issue or add-on issue, because the missing description was not saved on eBay at all.

		Item #:	Descr. ?	Sold:
Item Link:	https://www.ebay.com/itm/234813825008	234813825008	yes	12/13/2022 16:22
Desc. Link:	https://vi.vipr.ebaydesc.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemDescV4&item=234813825008
Item Link:	https://www.ebay.com/itm/234800723444	234800723444	no	11/30/2022 10:33
Desc. Link:	https://vi.vipr.ebaydesc.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemDescV4&item=234800723444&

However, if you check the second link for each listing, the URL that begins vi.vipr. that is the link the description where it is stored on eBay. If you click on the description link for the one sold Dec 13, you can see the description text.

But, if you click on the description link for the one sold Nov 30, it is blank, just like the listing.

That means that this is not just a display issue, so it's not a browser issue and it doesn't have anything to do with add-ons or ad-blockers. The description is not being saved at all, it's not just being blocked from display. It's not there.

I'm not disputing that browser issues or add-ons can cause similar problems, but that's not what the problem is in this case.

By any chance were you typing descriptions in MS Word (or a similar word processing program) and then pasting them into the listing form? That isn't recommended, because a copy/paste from word carries with it a huge amount of unnecessary HTML code that has caused issues with eBay listings many times in the past.

That's just a guess, but here's a good thing to try first: if you want to type your description ahead of time, do it in a text formatter (like Notepad, or better, Notepad++) instead of a word processor. That way, the copy/past is pure text, without any unneeded formatting.

[eburtonlab]

But, I don't think this is a browser issue or add-on issue, because the missing description was not saved on eBay at all.

From the details provided by users experiencing this, it appears that listing or editing a listing with the new listing tool using a browser with certain add-ons installed can cause the item description to be completely lost at the time the item is listed or edited.

Users encountering this issue should try creating an entirely new listing using a browser without those add-ons installed, and see if the descriptions post properly, and then avoid editing those listings with any other browser.

[pukwudjivc]

 I manually typed my description in the listing's Description box.  I was able to get the description in by creating the text in word then telling it to show HTML.  I pasted the HTML in and it displayed perfectly.