eBay Sellers Perplexed By Loss Of Background Removal Function

Liz Morton
Liz Morton


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UPDATE 4-7-2024

Sellers are experiencing a problem with the image background remover that turns the shape of the main item in the image white and makes the background completely black.

eBay has temporarily disabled the background remover in the app while they work to correct the issue, but it should still be available in the desktop listing experience.

eBay App Background Remover Error Turns Item White With Black Background
eBay sellers report problem with app image background remover that turns shape of main item in image white & makes background completely black.

UPDATE 8-27-23

The background removal tool has also now been updated for desktop to remove the paintbrush and eraser functions that allowed sellers to fine tune the results.


Sellers are struggling to list items using the eBay app as previous functionality in background removal tool has disappeared.

background remover tool on app and website doesn’t show eraser or pencil
When I use the background remover tool on photos, in app and on website, it removed the background, but the eraser and the pencil have disappeared. No way to make corrections. Is this just me?

When I use the background remover tool on photos, in app and on website, it removed the background, but the eraser and the pencil have disappeared. No way to make corrections. Is this just me?

Picture Editing Tool Background Remover is missing eraser, hands etc
Hi Would anyone know a fix? When I click on the picture background remover it will no longer allow me to erase, crop or anything? I see others have had issues with this but it is a first for me.

Would anyone know a fix? When I click on the picture background remover it will no longer allow me to erase, crop or anything? I see others have had issues with this but it is a first for me.

Photo editing won’t let me fix background to white with eraser/paintbrush option any longer?
For the last two weeks I haven’t been able to fix the background of my photos with the eraser/paintbrush anymore? it just now let you only remove background but won’t allow you to touch up the area(s) around the photo using those tools. Is this an ongoing problem? I’m not seeing others post about th…

For the last two weeks I haven’t been able to fix the background of my photos with the eraser/paintbrush anymore?

it just now let you only remove background but won’t allow you to touch up the area(s) around the photo using those tools. Is this an ongoing problem? I’m not seeing others post about this issue (save for one other eBay user), and no one has replied to that thread but myself. How do we report this to eBay? Is this an option they removed from photo editing? And if so where was this disclosed to eBay sellers? I haven’t seen any updates about it.

Same problem here too—as of two days ago. Takes longer to remove background and then no editing tool. I used it all the time. I’ve tried to find an app I could use instead but none of the ones I’ve looked into are free. If this is gonna be a permanent change, I’d love for someone to point me in the direction of a free equivalent alternative.

Photo Editing had not worked since last week
Whenever I use the crop out the background/whitening tool, it no longer allows for hand edits like erase or fill-in. All of my scheduled listings are on hold now because I can no longer edit my photos properly to remove the backgrounds. When will this be fixed? It’s been a week now. Ridiculous

Whenever I use the crop out the background/whitening tool, it no longer allows for hand edits like erase or fill-in. All of my scheduled listings are on hold now because I can no longer edit my photos properly to remove the backgrounds. When will this be fixed? It’s been a week now. Ridiculous


The background removal tool was introduced as part of eBay's move to a "unified listing experience" back in 2021 with functionality to have eBay automatically remove the background, but also providing users with an eraser and paintbrush tool to refine the results in case the automatic version doesn't get it quite right.

eBay’s Unified Listing Experience
eBay’s new listing tool takes a one size fits all devices approach to design - and comes up short.

Here's what the tool looks like on the desktop site:

Both the Android and iOS apps also used to include the eraser and paintbrush options to refine the results, but that functionality appears to have been removed from both in recent updates.

While the automatic option does a better job of removing the green in this image, without the ability to refine the results, sellers may not be able to edit the picture the way they want.


Has this change to the background removal tool on the eBay app made it more difficult for you to list items for sale? Let us know in the comments below!

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Liz Morton is a 17 year ecommerce pro turned indie investigative journalist providing ad-free deep dives on eBay, Amazon, Etsy & more, championing sellers & advocating for corporate accountability.

3 comments
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amyscozyclassics
I am most unhappy with this change! For most items, the automatic background remover doesn’t do a good enough job so I am having to post without removing the background.😡
3
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DD
"UPDATE 8-27-23

The background removal tool has also now been updated for desktop to remove the paintbrush and eraser functions that allowed sellers to fine tune the results."

Anyone know if eBay ever fully restored this magical innovation, or is it still flailing w/partial functionality?
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Administrator
Liz Morton
The eraser and paintbrush tools for the background remover are still gone from both desktop and app, at least in my testing. Seems like it was an intentional change to a "magical" new version they thought wouldn't need any fine tuning....but not so magical after all? 🤷‍♀️

1

Recent Comments
Avatar Placeholderlessthanthreerecords5 hours ago
Happening to me too. On my active listings page (with the full list) it looks fine, but when I click on them, many have the random characters. I reported it, and that's when one glitch led to another! As I was typing the message after clicking the "?", letters were repeatedly not coming up (usually one or two at the end of a word). I was finally able to get the message entered, but how tedious!
Avatar Placeholderbritishsoeedw-019 hours ago
I'm having the same problem, Vat has ben added to my listings and sales have literally stopped.
Avatar PlaceholderblazeagloryYesterday
I've been selling on ebay since 2003 but i had to get a new account because after having a perfect feedback with ZERO negative feedback, i had one sale go south where the item i had i simply couldn't find in my inventory! So i ended up Ebay roughly 250$. You'd think they'd call me or message me and work out a plan but no, immediately PAY NOW PAY NOW OR YOUR ACCOUNT GETS CLOSED! I sell hand to mouth and usually each sale gets spent on bills QUICK, so i told Ebay i could pay monthly or weekly and pay the balance off in a month or sooner. Anyways, they closed my perfect TRS account. I mean no sympathy or anything after roughly 20 something odd years...SO now my new account after not selling for several months has only a couple sales. I dunno if things have changed but traffic seems waaaaay down but with this last sale, a nice vintage DAVID YURMAN silver bracelet, i had to ship to an authenticator, which I've never had to do. Hey I'm all for it because on ebay the last 20 years, the silver jewelery market has been HIGH RISK fakes labeled .925 yet NOT! LOL So I'm ok with an authenticator program that actually WORKS! So now the bracelet has been in Carlsbad since Monday May 19th 2025. I'm hoping it gets verified by tomorrow. I'll keep you all posted