Weird Ebay problem

[Muse]

Have a problem with my refrigerator and I figure the defrost thermostat is quite possibly the reason for it. It's deformed, for one thing (bulging top).

So, today I called the local appliance parts store (1+ mile bicycle ride) where I bought a defrost timer a couple days ago and they don't stock the defrost thermostat.

I found it on ebay, there's several. I have a couple in my watchlist. When I try to buy either of them (either Buy it now or Add to cart), using either of my two every day laptops I get this. It just sits there, I have no idea WTF is going on. I've tried 2 browsers, Firefox and Chrome.

 

[Muse]

Looks like maybe Javascript is turned off on those browsers, have no idea how or why. Edge allowed me to make a purchase.

 

[Muse]

Evidently javascript is already enabled in my Firefox. I have no idea WTF is wrong. Still can't buy anything on ebay using Firefox.

 

[nakedfrog]

Firefox has a "Troubleshoot" mode you could try, if it works there, then it's most likely an add-on or configuration item causing the issue.

 

[iRONic]

Definitely weird AF. I use Firefox on my desktop and I have never had that problem purchasing items from eBay with it.

Windows 10 OS

 

[Muse]

Definitely weird AF. I use Firefox on my desktop and I have never had that problem purchasing items from eBay with it.

Windows 10 OS

Yeah, I'm still on Win10 on my laptops. Been wanting to go to Win11 because of the support for Win10 dropping in Oct., last I heard. Have just had so much else to do I haven't gotten around to it. Need to make a list of all the stuff I'm gonna have to do when I change OS, i.e. install programs I'll want to use and who knows what other issues to deal with.

 

[Muse]

Definitely weird AF. I use Firefox on my desktop and I have never had that problem purchasing items from eBay with it.

Windows 10 OS

Yeah, I don't recall a problem like this using ebay, I'm made tons of ebay purchases.

I did manage to buy one of those defrost thermostats using Edge, so should have it within 5 days. Meantime I think my fridge will probably not let my refrigerated food spoil. It's been a weird 9 days with that concern going on!

 

[iRONic]

Ugh… I'm seriously contemplating just doing a fresh install of Win10 right before they stop support. Don't wanna fuck with a new OS…

 

[nakedfrog]

Yeah, I'm still on Win10 on my laptops. Been wanting to go to Win11 because of the support for Win10 dropping in Oct., last I heard. Have just had so much else to do I haven't gotten around to it. Need to make a list of all the stuff I'm gonna have to do when I change OS, i.e. install programs I'll want to use and who knows what other issues to deal with.

I performed a straight upgrade from 10 to 11 on the laptop I'm currently using and have encountered no issues with the existing applications that were already installed. This was... uh, a couple months ago?

 

[IBMJunkman]

I found that item using Firefox on my iPad. When you click Buy the box pops up asking about optional warranty. If you click around in the upper right corner of the box you may hit the invisible X to close the box.

 

[Muse]

I found that item using Firefox on my iPad. When you click Buy the box pops up asking about optional warranty. If you click around in the upper right corner of the box you may hit the invisible X to close the box.

Yup, that' what it is. It's the add warranty box. I just found that out by searching on this string:

when I try to buy something at ebay I get a white rectangle in center of screen and nothing happens

AI comes up with various things. One was clear cookies. I cleared all Ebay cookies, which didn't solve the problem.

Another suggestion was turning off my ad blocker for the site. That didn't stop this happening either.

Another suggestion was different browsers, like I said in the OP, Chrome AND Firefox didn't work, but I found that Edge did.

Another suggestion was open a private window. That DID work. I could see the blank rectangle was really the optional warranty popup.

Well, I still don't know what's keeping that window from working, I suppose it's an extension I have installed. I suppose I'll have to experiment to find out what. AI says the ebay forums have a lot of posts from people having this or similar problem.

 

[Muse]

I'm wondering if NOSCRIPT is doing this. It's installed and enabled in my Firefox and probably Chrome too. I just got a popup involving NOSCRIPT and did a search on it. It provides greater security but can cause some websites to not function "properly." Including blocking popups that are driven off javascript. I figure my attempting to purchase on ebay may have been blocked by that. However, I've never seen that happen before, so it may be something else. I think I have 20 or more extensions installed.

 

[lxskllr]

I recently bought a couple things on ebay, and have noscript installed. I didn't have your mystery window at any point. That doesn't mean you haven't blacklisted something I didn't, but my setup's pretty restrictive. Everything is blocked by default. Over time, I white/blacklist things after I assess their risk.

 

[lxskllr]

Ok. I went to ebay and added something to my cart, and it popped up this window. You can see my noscript settings that are currently active. Ublockorigin is disabled. I guess I had problems with it on ebay, and didn't feel like dicking with it. I have that setup to be highly restrictive also.

 

[Muse]

Last night I went to order a box of 10 reams of printer paper at Officedepot online. I clicked button to add it to cart and nothing happened. I'm not gonna chase this into the woods. I guess Edge will work. But next time it happens I'll see if disabling NOSCRIPT or whatever stops it. I haven't made any changes that would make this stuff happen, it's come out of the blue.

 

[Muse]

I made a couple changes in NOSCRIPT (including UNTRUSTING Doubleclick) on ebay and it didn't stop the behavior. I removed NOSCRIPT entirely from my Firefox install, still didn't stop the behavior. I went to Private Window in Firefox and the behavior disappeared. So, that's a workaround, but I'd like to figure out what's wrong.

AI has ideas but alot of the time they're wrong.

 

[Muse]

Dang. So I add NOSCRIPT again from Mozilla Extensions site. Go to Ebay and it's not working. I can't see my watchlist. So, I remove NOSCRIPT again. This is nutty.

 

[Muse]

Now I can see my watchlist but if I go to buy an item the blank popup appears and the page is dead, just like before.

 

[Quintessa]

I'm wondering if NOSCRIPT is doing this.

Yeah, NOSCRIPT is almost certainly the culprit here.
eBay’s checkout flow is one giant spaghetti ball of JavaScript + iframes + third-party payment gateways. If NOSCRIPT is blocking even one of those scripts (especially anything under pay.ebay.com or payments.ebaystatic.com), the “Buy It Now” button will silently fail, exactly what you’re seeing.

 

[Muse]

Yeah, NOSCRIPT is almost certainly the culprit here.
eBay’s checkout flow is one giant spaghetti ball of JavaScript + iframes + third-party payment gateways. If NOSCRIPT is blocking even one of those scripts (especially anything under pay.ebay.com or payments.ebaystatic.com), the “Buy It Now” button will silently fail, exactly what you’re seeing.

But (see above) I removed NOSCRIPT and went back to ebay and I couldn't do anything. My watchlist wouldn't show. Ebay's been nutty the last few days. A weird screen with blue text pops up when I do there and disappears in 3-5 seconds and other squirrely stuff. I added NOSCRIPT back and I can see my watchlist and ebay appears to be acting more normally but the blank popup thing happens again if I hit buy it now or add to cart.

 

[Muse]

Eh, I figure to do fresh installs of Windows 11 on both my active laptops in the coming weeks. Not sure if I should go fresh with Firefox or export and import settings. Reentering all my passwords would be a pain.

 

[Quintessa]

I removed NOSCRIPT and went back to ebay and I couldn't do anything. My watchlist wouldn't show.

Try in incognito mode (NOSCRIPT disabled). See if your watchlist appears normal there. If so, that's an indication that you need to clear the cache/cookies in normal mode.

 

[Muse]

Try in incognito mode (NOSCRIPT disabled). See if your watchlist appears normal there. If so, that's an indication that you need to clear the cache/cookies in normal mode.

All cache/cookies or just ebay? I haven't cleared all for a long time, over a year for sure.

 

[Indus]

Ugh… I'm seriously contemplating just doing a fresh install of Win10 right before they stop support. Don't wanna fuck with a new OS…

Try Linux Mint.. you'll thank me someday!

And you can use your data/ files in mint just fine!

 

[Quintessa]

All cache/cookies or just ebay?

Incognito mode doesn't retrieve cache and cookies data when loading pages. If that solves your problem and you expect the same in normal mode, you should clear all cookies and cache. However, you can just try deleting eBay cookies as a test, as deleting all cookies will log you out of all websites, erase your saved preferences and login data, and erase your browsing history.