Anyone else experiencing EXTREME lag/slowdown when using eBay on desktop?

[retroman303]

I'm finding eBay's desktop site so absurdly slow that it is becoming virtually unusable.

A page take minutes to load - that's no exaggeration, I do mean minutes.

Creating listings is an absolute nightmare, and takes so long that I feel like giving up, just when I've made the decision to ramp up my listing activity.

Doing yesterday's listings made me want to jab my eyes out with a screwdriver (well, eBay's eyes, if it had any). For example, a single action - ticking an Item Specific - took over half a minute to register, i.e. for the tick to appear in the box. Trying to type, there is a massive delay between keypresses and the text appearing. After just about any action - typing, clicking on something, uploading photos (itself an exercise in utter frustration) - I have to wait for whatever process(es) is/are going on in the background to complete before I can perform another action.

I don't like using the mobile site unless absolutely necessary (e.g. if I'm away from my laptop). My phone screen is relatively small, and my phone's battery life is poor.

The app is not compatible with my 'ancient' Android 9 phone - although that's by-the-by here due to the fact that I prefer to use the desktop site, especially for listing. However, not having the app adds a great deal of extra time to photo uploads - instead of uploading photos from my phone, I have to upload them from my phone to Google Photos, download them from Google Photos to my laptop, then upload them from my laptop to the listing. As if this wasn't time-consuming enough, it takes ages for the photos to upload to the listing due to this lag/slowdown problem.

I keep getting a message (not from eBay) telling me that AdBlock Plus and Ghostery are slowing down my browser. I turned them both off, but it made no difference whatsoever to the speed of eBay. Also, eBay was (and still is) the only one of my open tabs that runs slowly, all the others are fine.

I normally use Firefox. I opened eBay in Microsoft Edge, and it was as slow as on Firefox.

I'm wondering if the problem lies with my laptop, even though my other open tabs are fine. If it were a common problem, these boards would be flooded with complaints.

Is anyone else finding eBay's desktop site so slow and laggy that it is vitually unusable? Does anyone have any suggestions I could try? I am at the end of my tether!

[retroman303]

This really is beyond a joke.

It has taken me about 5 minutes just to do the item title on a new listing (typing, waiting, watching the typed text appear bit by bit, editing it, waiting for the edit to take effect...).

I feel a primal scream coming on.

[eburtonlab]

I keep getting a message (not from eBay) telling me that AdBlock Plus and Ghostery are slowing down my browser. I turned them both off, but it made no difference whatsoever to the speed of eBay.

That indicates those add-ons are having problems coexisting with eBay. Disabling both of those at the same time should eliminate those particular issues, though. So there may be other issues involved.

Grammar checkers and Language tools are associated with problems entering text. Try disabling those or uninstalling them completely if possible.

If you are using Malwarebytes' Browserguard, try disabling that. Some users have reported issues with that when on eBay.

Try another browser -- preferably a new install of a current browser with default settings and no add-ons installed. See if that allows you to list.

If you want to continue to use Ad Block Plus, try disabling the "ABP Filters" -- those in particular are associated with slow loading eBay pages.

[retroman303]

Thanks for that helpful post, sorry for the late reply.

The problem must be my laptop and/or something on it. I dug out my old Windows 7 laptop, and eBay ran fine on that.

I'll try out some of your suggestions. Thanks again!

[eburtonlab]

You are very welcome -- glad to hear you at least have a workaround that allows you to list.

Most likely there is some combination of browser/history/settings/add-ons that is causing a problem; if you can figure out which it is, you should be able to use your newer laptop again.

[gpw1057]

Hi, yes been slow for a week now, ebay says its me, but I have starlink and I run a business, every other website is super fast, except ebay, did this a few months ago and I wasted so much time tryimg to track it down on my computer, its def ebay, despite what they say

[eburtonlab]

I have starlink

Try another network connection to rule out starlink as the issue.

[gpw1057]

Good idea, will try and get back

[gpw1057]

I changed to Edge from chrome and no lag at all, so its down to chrome , will reinstall and see if that works, only extention I have is password manager, made no difference when i disabled it and restarted.

[gpw1057]

I have now reset chrome  SETTINGS / RESET SETTINGS I let it choese default, now its working great, no lag

[la_cards]

this is not so. Even slower in Firefox and just as slow in Safari. The lag is on the server side, and it's horrible and has been for months. 

[dj-warpedcore]

It is so painful !!! yesterday it took 3 hours to list 15 things! you type a word and it takes 15 seconds or more for that word to appear and then the page freezes , upload a picture and it takes forever to upload , scroll down to add details and the page goes blank in areas and takes ages for it to load up 

This is the first time in months I have used Ebay to sell and couldn't believe it ! thought maybe it was a high amount of users so got up early today and it exactly the same ! tried it on the laptop and phone app and both so slow

With the amount of money they are taking you would think they could maintain things!!!!!!!!!

[retroman303]

TL;DR - Five listings per hour? I envy you!

I get everything you mention in your first paragraph.

Still, it's all relative. For me, listing an average of 5 items per hour would be going at a fair clip. I can possibly manage at best two listings per hour tops. Not only do I have the agonising slowness to contend with, but because my phone is incompatible with the latest version of the eBay app, I am also forced into a lengthy process to get photos onto my listing. I have to take the photos on my phone, upload them to Google Photos (GP), wait for them to upload (it usually takes several minutes), go to GP on my laptop, download them from GP to a file location on the laptop, then upload them to the listing from that location.

Then there's the photo editing. At the very minimum, I usually have to rotate many of the photos, as they're upside down. Each 90 degree turn takes a few more valuable seconds. Other than getting the right orientation, I don't edit the photos much, normally just cropping them. I've no idea why so many of my photos are upside down when they appear in GP! 

The above is why I don't exaggerate when I say that, for me, listing on eBay is a chore. Strike that, it often feels more like a battle, with me trying to defeat the many obstacles in my way.

When the best listing rate I can achieve is one per half-hour (on a good day), is it any wonder I don't list more? And I have hundreds, possibly thousands, of items to list.

Without wishing to sound sorry for myself, I do feel like I'm at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to listing. I"d find it hard to believe that there are others who cannot even achieve a rate of one completed listing per half-hour (where their slow pace was due to technical factors rather than lack of listing experience).

Hopefully, assuming I still have the will, listing will be quicker once I have a new laptop and phone, but those purchases are on the dim and distant horizon. The phone's fine apart from having to lose a couple of no-longer-compatible apps and the need for frequent recharging, and although my W10 laptop cannot be updated to W11, I've given it at least another year of operation by opting in for the one-year extension of security updates. That's good for my wallet, but means I will have to continue plodding along for another 12 months when I'd rather be sprinting.

[retroman303]

Just to repeat what I said in my OP, I don't just encounter this slowness when listing (although that's by far the area where it's the most frustrating), it's also navigating around the site generally (checking seller hub, browsing other sellers' items, etc.).

[gpw1057]

Sorry to repeat myself, but its not ebay, its a setting in your computer somewhere, mine flies around, no lag now