eBay website showing as Text only

[henlestudio]

Here is an issue that happens lately, every day, for hours. The website shows as text only. When this happens, there is no way to contact customer service, and even if you do, they can't help. They just say, change browsers.

I use Firefox, have had eBay store for 15 years, and this has never happened before, until this week. Every few hours, it will suddenly appear as normal, then in a few minutes, will go to text only when you click on a page.

I have done everything- cleared cache, history, content, refreshed browser, nothing works. Then, hours later, its fine. for a few minutes.

This issue has happened to many others, yet eBay says it isnt happening.  It seems that eBay does not care to help either sellers or buyers when they need it. They should at LEAST have placed an article on this issue, with a FIX, rather than continue to be the source of absolute frustration for so many people. 

[neptel]

Sadly Chrome is also a problem on .co.uk

Seems a wider issue than just one browser

[eburtonlab]

@neptel 

Ebay whether you believe it or not - it's an issue.

It's losing you business and income.

If it's a browser incompatibility - it's for YOU to sort with browser supplier not your users/customers.

eBay is not here -- this is a user discussion board.

ebay.co.uk loads fine in Chrome for me, so there is no browser incompatibility.

Trying another browser is a good way to check if the problem is browser-related. Aside from incompatibility (which is rare if you are using a common up-to-date browser) you may have a problem with your browser cache, settings, or plug-ins.

You may want to try reloading the page while holding down the shift key if a particular page is not loading for you; if multiple pages on the site are not loading correctly, you should consider clearing your browser cache or possibly deleting your eBay cookies. If that does not help, disabling plug-ins might be worth trying.

A cache problem may correct itself as the old cache files are overwritten, but clearing your cache can speed things up if a site is unusable otherwise. A problem with your particular settings or a conflict with a browser plug-in may be harder to diagnose.

If you are not interested in troubleshooting your browser, using another browser is one option to consider.

[bermudawrecktangled]

It has nothing to do with your browser. It has everything to do with Ebay wanting to TRACK your every move even more.

If you have 'Tracking Content' turned on in Firefox, it will create the condition you are referring to. Change the setting to allow "TRACKING" and the problem goes away. I experienced the exact same issue you are referring to, and with the free app 'Privacy Badger' you can see the tracking scripts that Ebay is loading, if you block them the site will load as a text page.

As of this writing, the only way to get around this is by allowing Firefox setting to allow TRACKERS! This is complete **bleep**!

[mrr-direct]

I have unblocked eBay on a Chrome Browser extension called - Disconnect. It worked for me instantly. 

[jd0nn]

a total bull**bleep** answer that jelps no one..... chrome was aorking perfe tly yesterday but on ebay it isnt working now......walmart has the same problem ,it quit working 6 months ago and now shows the same text **bleep** that ebay is shpwig today........every other website on the internet works perfectly so chrome is working...its ebay and walmart that is not working right. and cleaning catches doesn't do a thing.

[eburtonlab]

@jd0nn 

chrome was aorking perfe tly yesterday but on ebay it isnt working now......walmart has the same problem ,it quit working 6 months ago and now shows the same text **bleep** that ebay is shpwig today........every other website on the internet works perfectly so chrome is working...its ebay and walmart that is not working right.

Many different problems can affect whether style sheets are loading for a particular page or site.

If the page loads correctly in another browser on the same device (did you check?), that would seem to point to a problem with the original browser -- either the browser cache, cookies, settings or add-ons.

See the rest of the thread for other suggestions of things to try.

[lori1171963]

p me too, and when I click on the bell above to go to my sold's it gives me an error, so tried of this, will ebay give the sellers who have stores credits for the missed days we can not sell, because of this **bleep**.

My programming instructor would have gave them a F or fired the whole programming team ebay has for this kind of sloppy programming.

They need to have two teams, one who work on code for pc, laptops, desktop , and another team who works just on tablets and phone codes.

I as a seller use pc and do not want pc version looking like a phone version... There is a reason why I use the pc and not the phone version because the phone version is awful.

[lori1171963]

I have same issue and have tried this on 4 DIFFERENT browser with the same thing others are saying, You say ebay isn't here this is a user discussion forum, yes it is and  why do we come here is because when we try to get help from ebay, they say I need to submit a form to the team for problems or suggestion.

Ebay tells me they can not help, and it is apparent neither can this user forum, as this forum on technical issue is a joke as you all can not fix something the programming team has obviously done. 

This has all started with the new listing way, and continues too get worse everyday.

I am a programmer and network specialist, and I can tell you that if my boss seen code and all the error's the ebay team has done, he give them one day to fix or they be heading for the door.

Trying to make the pc experience look like the phone experience is just plain dumb. 

Those who use the pc, use it for a reason and do not use their phones for a reason.

AND you say "ebay.co.uk loads fine in Chrome for me, so there is no browser incompatibility."

just because it works fine for use doesn't mean it not fine for others... Just look through this tech issue forum, lots of people having the same problem.

[eburtonlab]

@lori1171963 

Keep reading the thread you have not made it to the end yet.

Many different issues can cause style sheet problems. Often -- but not always -- the problem can be traced to a browser issue. That is a good place to start troubleshooting.

Many of the folks posting at the start of the thread in August encountered problems when something changed: either a browser update or a change at eBay caused an issue. In some cases the issue was an ad blocker or a default tracking protection setting. In one case the issue was actually with a VPN. Except for the last one, changing to a different browser was a quick fix until it was possible to determine the exact settings that needed to be changed to allow the original browser to work.

Since you have tried four browsers, unless they are all using the same settings or add-ons, the problem may lie elsewhere.

Folks in the UK had a similar seeming issue in November. In that case the problem was not with a particular browser, but a particular network (or actually three network providers that used the same faulty third party "child safe" setting). In that case, the workaround was to change to a different network or change the child safe setting (for those that were able to do so), at least until the third party was able to update the incorrect settings. That was only found out by trying lots of things that did not work, first.

If you encounter the same problem while using a new browser with default settings and no add-ons, try using eBay over a different network connection; or if you are using a VPN or a custom firewall, try disabling that to see if that changes things.

As a network specialist, you understand how troubleshooting works. You keep other things constant and change one variable at a time to see how it affects the problem, starting with the simple things that are easy to change, gradually working your way up to the things that are harder to change, until you find something that works.

[audioiceman]

I got this problem too. It's so annoying. I can surf the entire web in Chrome, but ebay.de looks messed up, and have to use Safari. I used to get things on ebay, atleast once a week, but I haven't bid on anything for month. You guys should really fix this.

[eburtonlab]

@audioiceman 

Clear your browser cache in Chrome ("for all time"), and possibly delete your ebay.de cookies. If that does not help, try the other things listed in the thread you are replying to.

[art_ps]

I had this same problem after updating Firefox  to 91.7.1esr (64-bit) and changing several privacy and security settings including "Strict" Enhanced Tracking Protection. While I was trying to figure out how to get back to the standard visual eBay interface from the text-only mode, I remembered that setting, and went back to check various settings included in the 'Strict' Enhanced Tracking Protection, and discovered once again that it has a Heads-Up warning - "This setting may cause some websites to not display content or work correctly. If a site is broken, you may want to turn off tracking protection for that site to load all content."  Right after that warning, there is a link - "Learn how" - that will take you to a Mozilla Firefox page about Enhanced Tracking Protection that includes troubleshooting suggestions for fixing pages that have been broken by this setting. When I followed their instructions and clicked on the shield at the left of the address bar to turn off the tracking protection, the eBay page immediately loaded the standard visual interface with all of the ads and, I assume, all of the previously blocked  trackers. When I clicked on the shield a second time to turn enhanced protection back on, the visual interface stayed on, along with the photos and ads. I don't know if it then worked to turn off the tracking, but it seems like it did.  I tried it several times with and without setting the Enhanced Tracking Protection to "Standard", getting different results. Currently it seems to be working with the "Standard" setting of Enhanced Tracking Protection on.

[pengwynn06]

Hello,

This is the soloution for you and anyone else wondering. I use Firefox as it is a private and open source Browser so this problem is very annoying.

Firstly, open ebay in an Incognito window. To do this click on the three lines at the top right and select "New Private Window". Alternatively, you can press CTRL+SHIFT+P. Go to ebay and search for something, if it displays correctly then you have an issue with either your security settings, or most likely your browser extensions.

To fix this, simply go to the extensions and disable them all for the ebay website. You can do this by going to ebay and clicking on the extension at the top right and untoggling the switch. You can also go to the "whitelist" or disbaled sites section of your extensions and add ebay.com and ebay.co.uk (or whatever site you use depending on your region) to the list.

If this doesn't work, click on the shield to the left of the URL, and turn OFF Tracking protection and reload the page.

If this doesnt work, go to Setings (its in the menu in the three lines at the top right of your browser), then go to Privacy and Security. Scroll down to Cookies and Site Data and click on "manage data". From there type in ebay and click on "Remove all shown". Now your ebay should be working, however, you will have to sign in again.

For me, the problem was the "disconnect" addon and to disable it simply click on the "D." icon and under Advertising untick Ebay.

Hope this helps!

[horizon860_7]

I have exactly the same problem in Chrome. I have a fix. I had assumed it *may* be something to do with browser settings. I typically decline cookies and a lot of sites offer only reduced quality experiences if you do to punish people for refusing to accept marketing analytics and spyware.

I tried loading eBay in Edge browser and it works perfectly. I also tried disabling cookies from that browser and it makes no difference. eBay still works in MS Edge even with cookies disabled. 

My recommendation then is try to load the site in a different browser. 

[zambezishark]

I have te same problem