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. 

[sportscarsalvage]

+1 on the "OMG PLEASE NO!"

It is bad enough people on mobile don't read descriptions and generate INAD's inaccurately, please let's not add it to web!

And take it out of mobile, while they are at it!

[thebackwoodsbrand]

We are experiencing the same issue... Chrome browser on PC... does not seem to be happening in firefox/edge... Seems like it must be a beta test of some sort. I contacted ebay for business and they stated they looked into it and "no changes where made" Seems like they arent keeping ebay CS/techs in the loop on these constant random changes... It is all but impossible to get people to actually read descriptions to begin with... Now that they have to click an extra button to read it, It will likely get even worse with people opening INADs on things that are clearly stated in descriptions. 

[jaksvortex]

Ok. Whew. I thought my browser broke eBay or something.

Well, this is irritating. Sorry to not any substance, just wanted to confirm, this is what I'm seeing on the current Firefox, too. Except that I came here because I don't get any "see more" button at all. I can't fathom why they would tinker with this since, unlike most online shopping, do they think someone WOULDN'T want the full info straightaway?

Argh. Well, things were working pretty well for me for the past year, I guess it's time to screw around with the product.

[siamjane8]

Again another waste of time change that is worse for sellers and buyers. What could possibly be the reason to justify making people click an extra button to see the description?

If they want to test things.... Why not test giving sellers 1/2 off fvf?

Or test actually showing people what they search for instead of 78 promoted items on a sellers listing page? Or test letting people go back to the classic listing tool? Lol 

You don't even need to test whether people want to be in a constant discussion and confusion by unwanted tested testing.... Because eBay is known for  "change for change sake"

Of course a "see more button" is just plain obviously stupid. A serious lack of any week design experience or common sense...... Why would you inconvenience your buyers and make them take extra steps to see the description...... It's almost scary seeing what these designers are coming up with and even more scary when you realize that your management approves the "test"...... They are so disconnected with reality and what their customers want.

[dhbookds]

Just a comment.........that I see the "see more" button on almost every large marketplace......Etsy/Wmart/amazon, etc......not to say I like it anywhere........but it's pretty common......

[partfinds]

I am not sure why you are feeling so insulted when I just add details to what you said which was extra device and the newest update on the device I use (that frequently glitches).

When I am all the time having issues with how Ebay functions on my device, weren’t you asking me what device and what software my device is on and that you are using same device but don’t see issues? Fact is that I am annoyed that my reports are invalidated but later on more people have same issues and then your response changes too.

It looks that Ebay is putting my account through tests that I didn’t consent to and they make my selling a hell. 

[shipscript]

I actually don't mind a "Show more" button, as I'm accustomed to that elsewhere on the web, mostly in reviews where a lot of them are stacked up, or in news stories. And the fade-out is a common way to indicate there is more, but the button should be centered where the eye is already engaged in the content. and a "Show more" button should be available, even when there is no scrolling, to unfade the description.

However, in a desktop item description, I don't understand why it is needed. The description is already below the important content (photos, buy, price, watch, shipping, seller info, etc). The only thing below the description on desktop is competitor advertising.  Why would anyone want the description minimized in favor of additional ads?

But wait, eBay is now putting a large chunk of seller info below the description.  I wonder if the seller badge up top will disappear?  In the overall scheme of things, we can see how unimportant the description appears to be, as it is given perhaps the smallest slot on the page.

[movieman630]

Exactly.  I don' t understand what the point is?  It's been one way since the beginning.  NOW all of the sudden we need to hide the description block?  So how important is description if they're going to hide it?  People don't read or look at photos anyway.  Most impulse shoppers buy off title. 

I just can't anymore with the changes like this.  Seriously.  What for?

[wastingtime101]

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@partfinds wrote:

I am not sure why you are feeling so insulted when I just add details to what you said which was extra device and the newest update on the device I use (that frequently glitches).

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No idea how you took a simple statement of confusion and came up with "insulted." Super strange, dude.

I was one of very few people to take your concerns seriously and help you troubleshoot. Your response was to throw a fit when you didn't like my suggestion to try a different browser to see if you could duplicate the results. Price disappearing on the listing form is not a test and so far I haven't seen others reporting the same issue.

I'd prefer to spend my time helping posters that want my help.

Back to the topic at hand, an eBay rep confirmed the "see more" link on descriptions is a test: 

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/not-on-every-listing-but-some/m-p/33609373#M2176314

[wastingtime101]

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@shipscript wrote:

However, in a desktop item description, I don't understand why it is needed. The description is already below the important content (photos, buy, price, watch, shipping, seller info, etc). The only thing below the description on desktop is competitor advertising.  Why would anyone want the description minimized in favor of additional ads?

But wait, eBay is now putting a large chunk of seller info below the description.  I wonder if the seller badge up top will disappear?  In the overall scheme of things, we can see how unimportant the description appears to be, as it is given perhaps the smallest slot on the page.

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Yep - that visual says it all @shipscript. It's all about ads. The question becomes how the heck do we get buyers to read descriptions when they're now hidden behind see more links and not shown at all on the quick view pop-ups? Had a buyer just this week insist I send them a full refund because they wanted a 14" model even though the 9" size they purchased was clearly spelled out in the description and item specifics.

The seller info at the bottom does appear to be slowly replacing what's at the top. If you go to a MQ listing that has enough sales to generate item-specific FB in that bottom panel it screws up navigation when you click the seller's FB link at the top.

Here's an example:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/254763804956

Click on the seller FB number at the top right. It will force you down to the seller info panel on the bottom of the listing page. When you're in that bottom panel there's another link to "see all feedback" but if you actually want to see "all" feedback then you need to either:

Toggle from "this item" to "all  items" on that seller panel before clicking see all. Or you need to delete the search terms once you do get to the FB page.

It's definitely more complex navigation. It appears that this new FB layout in that bottom seller panel is being displayed the way other sites will put up product reviews underneath item info, no?

I don't remember when/where but eBay did say at one point they were going to remove the seller info panel from the top of the page and move it lower to make the view more consistent with mobile website. Might've been the Spring 2022 seller update?

[wastingtime101]

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@wastingtime101 wrote:

I don't remember when/where but eBay did say at one point they were going to remove the seller info panel from the top of the page and move it lower to make the view more consistent with mobile website. Might've been the Spring 2022 seller update?

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Found one of the references. Winter 2022 Seller Update.

https://www.ebay.com/sellercenter/resources/seller-updates/2022-winter/business

Section titled "Your brand and feedback will be more visible across all platforms"

[deecies]

Oh dear - this is awful. As if having the incredibly poorly designed "item specifics" section above the description which - A. Rarely has useful or totally correct information B. NO ONE looks at and C. Most buyers hate as it's a messy block of small text. Now they want to take away control of the item description. - the one place on eBay we can actual employ good design.

We already get masses of questions every day from (presumably mobile users) who haven't read the description and skip past the FAQ. We employed a huge banner at the top of our description which only appears to EU buyers to explain the UK to EU VAT situation and guess what - no one bothers to look at that either.

The entire eBay website is a complete design mess and has been since it launched - there's never been a coherent design language. Parts of it get updated to a new design language, but the only do that section We've now got 4-5 legacy eBay designs left in place for various seller options and features. 

If we had totally control we'd show nothing but the item description filling the screen, but that of course wouldn't get eBay their advertising fees on top of the thousands of FVF we generate for them. 

It's getting to the point now where on both mobile and desktop you might as well use the pictures for all your item description and information at least it appears at the top of the page for both. Buyers will still skin over them and not read it to ask the same questions but what else can you do!

[whiteyswrecking]

Yes a very stupid move, we already have a problem with people that can't read, now start hiding important information ?!?!?!?! 

This place needs to get a CLUE !

[adkhighker]

Same with my listings and I've checked them from different browsers where I'm not signed in to eBay.  Only the first few lines are there, the rest can't be seen until the "Show more" button is clicked.  eBay has made lots of dumb changes over the years, but this one could be close to the top of the list of "Dumbest Changes"  yet.  All it takes is for one of those buyers from that percentage of buyers who will only read what's visible up front and not bother to hit the "show more" button to buy something and then return it only because they failed to see the rest of the description that perfectly described the flaws.

Like so many of eBay's changes, this one will only make things worse and makes zero sense as well.

(This is not my selling ID)

[obtanium_enterprises]

Because reading has become optional, along with thinking and other previously thought-to-be-useful skills that are now irrelevant antiques of a long-forgotten age...  Spoken in the voice of Don Lapre.  And because "Show More" has electrolytes!

Anyway, I'm in the process of redesigning my template to copy the "mobile summary" (a/k/a the "tl;dr low-IQ-description") at the top with minimal styling.  Whether eBay reverses this button thing or not, refer back to George Carlin suggesting to consider the abilities of the average person...and then realize half of the population are even less able.  So, maybe take pity and try something like this.  Or, could this make the situation worse... Hmm.  Gotta drink some Brawndo... BRB.