Why is eBay hiding descriptions again?

[gear-house]

Seems eBay is hiding descriptions again and making buyers click a 'Show More' button to see it. Can anyone explain what the benefit of hiding the seller's description might be? We just go through the effort of making that so they don't see it? It's already bad enough that so many people don't read anyway.

They experimented with this before and I thought it resulted in problems. 

[joseh1445]

ebay does, what its best for ebay.  That simple.  

[lakefor94]

When I first click on your listing from my Samsung tablet, I see your description. Same with my Samsung Phone.

[inhawaii]

You are not looking at the listing page.

The listing page shows you everything.

[gear-house]

Yes, I sure am looking at the listing page. I have shown a screenshot of it.  It does it on my listings and other sellers' listings that I visit as well. Maybe they are not doing this for everyone.

[gear-house]

The only thhing showing in my description is basically the title, everything else is hidden and you need to click a 'show more' button to see it.

[chapeau-noir]

What happens is if you click the listing from the search page, it comes up with the screen shot @gear-house  shows, a 'quick view' of the item where you have to click further to see the description.  It's a popular view option for online catalogs but IMHO pretty much invites the buyer to simply click to order the item without reading the description, especially on mobile.  Great if you're a large company who can afford returns from people who don't bother to investigate what they're buying.  Not so great for sellers of pre-owned/one-off items who can't manage the 20-30% average  online return rate.

[inhawaii]

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@gear-house wrote:

Yes, I sure am looking at the listing page. I have shown a screenshot of it.  It does it on my listings and other sellers' listings that I visit as well. Maybe they are not doing this for everyone.

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You are NOT looking at the listing. 

You are looking at a "quick view".

The listing is here....

https://www.ebay.com/itm/275570351552

[hartungcards]

I've come across many Item Descriptions that not only should be hidden, but should be removed altogether.

[gear-house]

LOL, I know what I'm looking at, I've been on eBay for over 20 years and wouldn't be complaining about this if it wasn't the listing page. Here's a screenshot of the page/ link you just sent me.  Maybe you just aren't seeing it, it's possible they are using some accounts as tests for this new feature they are trying.  It looks this way for every page I visit on eBay, not just my own.

[inhawaii]

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@gear-house wrote:

LOL, I know what I'm looking at, I've been on eBay for over 20 years and wouldn't be complaining about this if it wasn't the listing page. Here's a screenshot of the page/ link you just sent me.  Maybe you just aren't seeing it, it's possible they are using some accounts as tests for this new feature they are trying.  It looks this way for every page I visit on eBay, not just my own.

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Then my apologies.

I've looked at that listing from 2 different computers and 2 different accounts.

Mine shows everything and DOES NOT have that "show more" link.

Anybody else?

Does anybody else see that "show more" link if you go to this URL?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/275570351552

[wastingtime101]

Hey @gear-house. The last times this happened there were several factors.

- One was a test eBay eventually abandoned.

- One was a way to deal with prohibited active content and html.

- One was an issue based on browser.

I checked your listing in a few browsers on a Mac but couldn't duplicate the results.

Then I ran your listings through @shipscript's active content scanner here:

https://www.isdntek.com/ebaytools/ActiveContentScanner.htm

It turned up 591 listings that need repair (missing link targets), however item 275570351552 was not one of those listings. Plus you said you're seeing this on all listings from your own store and others' stores.

On which browser(s) / OS are you experiencing this? And more specifically, which version of the browser?

Having that info will give others the best shot at duplicating your results. If nobody can duplicate it using the same parameters then it could point to eBay running another test to which your account is opted in.

[dhbookds]

@wastingtime101     You might check this thread out:  looks like a test to some of us.......

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/not-on-every-listing-but-some/m-p/33606876#M2175679

[onlinecentral]

Does anybody else see that "show more" link if you go to this URL?
I see the full description. No show more button.
Desktop PC, Windows 10, Edge 110 browser

[wastingtime101]

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@dhbookds wrote:

@wastingtime101     You might check this thread out:  looks like a test to some of us.......

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/not-on-every-listing-but-some/m-p/33606876#M2175679

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Thank you. That does confirm it's either a test or a phased roll out. Will keep tracking that thread to see what eBay reps say.

What happens with the see more link - does it expand the description within the listing or does it result in a pop up? If the result is a pop up I would one thousand percent prefer a scroll option instead of a see more button.