eBay

boxcarted · ‎03-10-2021

When you go to make a copy of a draft it gives the woops warning and does not work. It was working last night and now it is busted again. How are we supposed to list if we cannot use a saved draft as a template? The work around does not work either. How does Ebay manage to stay in business selling their stock to their shareholders when the system barely functions as planned. There are so many glitch's in the system it's a wonder it just doesn't crash. I just want to make copies of my drafts, change them to a new & different item and then list them. It's not rocket science to code a program so that one can have it work right. After all, TurboLister got fixed years ago and it worked right more or less - at least one could make copies and templates with it, then Ebay cancels the program that works and gives Sellers this piece of junk.

sss1301 · ‎03-12-2021

Still broken. I'm sure their IT developers forgot to test this when they were trying to fix some other error. That's usually what happens. There's a step called "regression testing" that they must just skip, since they're constantly re-introducing known bugs back into the system.

There really is no workaround anymore, which can't be good for anyone. My approach for now is to do a "sell similar" with one of my existing listings. Since you can't save it midstream, I go ahead and list it with a "photo coming soon" (I usually add photos as a last step). It might work to just end the item right away and then relist it when you would typically want the listing to go live. Yes, a bunch of extra steps.

Seems like there should be some sort of compensation to buyers when they aren't able to use the functionality that they pay for. Just dreaming...

boxcarted · ‎03-13-2021

After 72 hrs., Ebay either has not been able to fix their problem or no one at Ebay has attempted to do so. I have a work around that may work for some if not all.

Go to your Seller Hub.

Scroll down to "Listings" and click on "Active Listings". This will take you to the "Manage Active Listings" area of Seller Hub.

If you have any listings currently up, you can check the box next to an item where it says "Revise" on one of the listings. Just next to the right of the "Revise" box is a tiny arrow for a drop down menu for "Actions" you can now take. Click on the arrow and the drop down menu will appear.

Click on "Save As Template". You have now created a Template from an active listing, either BIN or Auction, it doesn't matter. You must name the Template. What you choose for a name is up to you - it may be the first letter of the alphabet or a number ascending or an easy to remember name - it doesn't matter as long as you recognize it latter.

Scroll to the bottom of the screen and click "Save Template". The system will save the template for you under the name you gave it. When the dialog box appears click on link "I'm Done Now" and you will be returned to the Seller Hub "Manage Active Listings" page where you started.

Once there, look on the left left hand column under "Settings", click on "Listing Templates" just below
"Settings" and you will be taken to the "Manage Listing Templates" area.

Next to a template it states "Edit". Click on the arrow drop down menu next to "Edit" and then click on "Create A Listing". You will be taken to the "Create Your Listing" area of your Drafts page and you can re-work the Template as you see fit.

Scroll to the bottom and click "Save As A Draft" or list the item. You will be taken to your Drafts page You can also change all the templates you just created into Drafts by saving them and then working them in your Drafts page as you see fit. To help find the Draft(s) you just created, you can scroll through Last Updated Date" column towards the right side of the Drafts and find the time and/or you last updated and then there the new Draft (or copy) is.

This method may sound a little tedious at first but once the system has converted the Templates to Drafts, you are free to modify as you see fit. Note that you can save as up to 50 different Templates in your "Manage Listings Templates".

This worked for me last night. If you have any questions, post them here and I will answer to the best of my knowledge as I check this thread from time-to-time but I am also busy modifying my Drafts.

bimm_corp · ‎03-13-2021

@boxcarted

>The work around you suggest does not work any longer.

This morning I didn't have any problems with templates, but could not get copying drafts to work. New workaround for both is to go to a scheduled or ended page, right click on the drop-down box and click on "List similar". Edit this item entering the info for the item you want to list. When complete, if you want to save it as a draft, click on "Save as draft" at the bottom. If you want to save as a template, click on "List Item" and at the next box click on "Create template" and then "Save template". It's a good idea to take a quick check on your Active items to see if it's been listed, but I did not have that problem.

A real PITA, thanks to eBay's inept programming, but it works for me. Don't count on eBay getting this fixed anytime soon.

pennybov · ‎03-14-2021

SAME HERE - DRAFTS NOT COPYING - WORK AROUND NO LONGER WORKING.

boxcarted · ‎03-14-2021

Because Ebay has not announced on their "Announcements" page anything about this issue, Ebay does not consider this to be a very big problem. I am sure that down the line Ebay will probably state that the Drafts area cannot be fixed and Ebay is coming up with an entire new way to list, blah, blah, blah. In other words, Ebay will slowly back out of providing this service. After all, they chose not to update TurboLister. When TurboLister first came out it was a complete disaster. Then a German Ebayer started posting tricks and tips to get you through those bad times. Finally, Ebay got the message and put a few people in charge to fix it and what do you know - it became stable and started working as designed, and they even improved it.

According to Ebay and some who have Ebay's DNA in their mouth, TurboLister had to go, because, in case you haven't noticed, Ebay has been re-designing their entire site. TurboLister did not fit any longer and could not be improved. Fine, okay, it's their site and they feel a change is needed to follow everyone else on the Web instead of leading, go for it - but do not end a feature on the site that probably 2/3's of all the Sellers that use Ebay worldwide list with until you have a stable, improved, fully tested and easier to use replacement feature. Ebay, you should have never got into a Listing program if you were not going to support it with all your resources instead of treating it like an unwanted step-child. "You knew the job was dangerous when you took it Fred".

In order to provide this service, planning, thinking and commitment to the feature from the designer(s) is needed. Like that's ever going to happen.

Oh, by the way, it is Sunday afternoon March 14th. as I write this and the feature is still not fixed. The "Drafts" page became non functioning on Wednesday, March 10th. Maybe it's time to throw in the towel and bring in someone who can fix it. It's a business expense, so you can completely right the expenses off the top of your taxes. Considering the great increase lately in your income, Ebay, you loose more just chit-chatting about the changes you will be making in the coming months and trying to repair the Copy feature of the "Drafts" page.

Ebay, the only accomplishment you have achieved with this lack of planning and poorly thought out re-vamp of the site is to alienate Sellers (as well as Buyers) and watch them leave to other platforms. Proof of this is everytime I talk with Ebay CS now, they thank me for being loyal to Ebay and still selling here. So Sellers must be leaving in a quantity large enough for Ebay to take notice. Remember, Buyers are more important than Sellers - we can get Sellers anywhere and at anytime (So a CS Supervisor let slip one time on the phone to me). I have used Ebay for Buying and Selling since before Ebay went public and they hired Meg. I have seen the changes come about since I signed up and this re-vamp is an entire failure. Just take the time to look at the messages here on the Technical Board. Why are so many complaining?

recordsrecordsrecords · ‎03-15-2021

Any idea if this is likely to be resolved - so frustrating

boxcarted · ‎03-16-2021

... We can now cope with Copying again as apparently Ebay finally fixed the Copy feature on the "Drafts" page. It took 'em a week but they trudged through the cold and the snow and finally got there. I attempted to make a Copy and it worked. Well, at least it worked for me. Your mileage may vary.