eBay

knownobob · ‎02-25-2025

I am updating my listings today. I have variations. So, I describe each item by putting bold to the variation name, then the description in regular style. When I make updates and list my item all of the text is bold. Is anyone else experiencing this? Anyone know the fix? Here are two I updated tonight that are doing it. I am 110% sure that when I hit "revise" on the listing that the bold and regular text were separated for all variations. I redid the falcon one so I could be 200% double dog sure.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/114895062593

https://www.ebay.com/itm/113915669336

I'm an experienced seller. I do the same thing over and over again. If you think it is a user error please ignore this post instead of commenting. Thank you...

american_vintage_ads · ‎03-29-2025

Actually, this problem first appeared in February, right around these dates. I listed a bunch of items and then discovered that my entire description was showing up in bold. The HTML code in the template had gone haywire with a massive amount of and tags. Copy-pasting or even creating a brand-new description from scratch didn’t fix the issue—once it went live, it would turn bold again. I think the colors were also changing.

I came here to look for posts about it, but there were none. I reported it online twice within a few days, but nothing got done. Eventually, I got eBay to call me, and I explained the issue. It got fixed the next day.

Now here we go again. The same issue started a couple of days ago. I have about 200 items ready to list, so I decided to call today (Saturday in the US). A support rep told me this: “eBay is always changing, eBay has evolved—so this is just how things are now.” She eventually said she would escalate the ticket to the IT team.

What I think is happening: the description section is periodically getting messed up due to AI integration. I’ve been using my template with the formatting I like for years, and I don’t want it to be changed—I want it to stay exactly as it is.

So guys, if any of you are still experiencing this problem by Monday, get in touch with eBay support,preferrably by phone, and report it.

toyliquidator · ‎03-29-2025

Perhaps ebay is substituting strong for bold for a future purpose such as for use with AI screen reading ( *see below). Also suspect ebay is using AI now for all item description listing evaluation. As others have stated the clean HTML is automatically getting screwed up with <strongr></strongr> without anything in between. First thought it was in part to increase mobile device visibility ( ebay stopped the mobile compatibility test option a while back), but I think AI will know be less optional on ebay.

*There's a semantic difference between strong/b and i/em. Especially they are used by screenreaders for visually impaired people visiting your website. For them it makes a huge difference if you just make some text bold-face, or if you want to add some kind of EMphasis to what you're saying on your website. So be sure to carefully consider making something bold using B or STRONG. The same goes for EM and I.

1819kapu · ‎03-30-2025

Aloha, Im having same prob,
if I make an exact same listing, but on new one, change anything with bold text.(add or edit the 'bold')... the entire listing turns bold below that and some lines of type lose their space and jump up to the line above.
messes up the entire description.... and Ive tried many ways to skirt this or fix it and none work. I havent been able to list any new listings in last few days.. I would have listed 30+ in that time.. Ive wasted at least 2 hours too.

kayleighsteffen · ‎03-30-2025

Im having the same issue and its infuriating.

Its turning the last 2 thirds of the description BOLD and smooshing the paragraphs together.

Leaving it looking messy & hard to read.

I've tried everything I can think of. Even going back in and Re-editing descriptions a couple times over and its still doing it. Seems like another issue for Ebay to fix.

Would be nice if they get on that quick cause i dont think messy hard to read description are going to help sales.

ebooksdiva · ‎03-30-2025

Having the same problem for the past couple of days. There is an open ticket for eBay to fix.

But I am listing any way...glitch or no glitch.

aufili_limited · ‎03-30-2025

This is a really excellent explanation. Thanks for sharing, and I hope the right people at eBay see it. I have also noticed that if I go to edit a listing, check the "Show HTML Code" option, then just click anywhere outside the box -- without even trying to make an edit to the HTML -- it will change the "br" tag to "strongr." In fact, it adds additional "strongr" tags in a row if you click outside the HTML editor box multiple times.

Currently the only way I can get a listing to go live with the correct formatting is to get the HTML together elsewhere, open the draft, click "Show HTML Code," paste the code, scroll down and click "List it" without clicking anywhere else on the page. Certainly not a sustainable way to list... and on a weekend I'd intended to list so many items, too. Hopefully they fix it soon.

spacecoastparts · ‎03-30-2025

This was a colossal waste of my time today until I found this thread. "<strongr>" being added in place of "" seems to be a developer-induced problem in the description editor now as well as cascading iterations of this tag set, driving the browser insane and breaking the layout. As a fix, refrain from using the bold format option from within the editor and add it in HTML view yourself. It will revert to "", but won't cause the "<strongr>" glitch.

kykri-8395 · ‎03-31-2025

This issue has been going on for almost a week and apparently is impossible to fix.

eenus-56 · ‎03-31-2025

I had the same issue for the past few days, maybe a week. But tonight it looks like it's been resolved. I made a new listing on my selling account and the formatting all looks as it should. I went back and fixed my affected listings from the past week and they all display fine now, too. Those extraneous <strongr> tags are no longer being inserted and tags work correctly as well.