ShipScript has been an eBay Community volunteer since 2003, specializing in HTML, CSS, Scripts, Photos, Active Content, Technical Solutions, and online Seller Tools.
eBay drafts don't last very long if left untouched, but you can cycle through the list every few weeks and edit each one to restart the timer on those drafts. What people really need is more of an archiving method, and that is where third-party tools should help. But small sellers often can't afford the subscription price of third-party tools. I believe eBay stores have a mechanism to create inventory items, but that is yet another subscription. Since the tool you mention is free, you might try it for a few items and report back...
File Exchange is a spreadsheet that can be fed into eBay to create listings, so it doesn't create drafts in that sense. Instead, since the spreadsheet is created and maintained on your own computer, it would be a failsafe way to create content that won't disappear over time and that can be preserved for annual products or as product archives.
One downside is that photos to be uploaded to eBay through File Exchange must be entered as URLs in the spreadsheet, so they must be hosted on a website where eBay can fetch them. They can't be pulled from your computer.
Another downside is that every product category will have a different list of item specifics that eBay would like to see in the listing, so you'd have to pull in an item specifics template for each category where you list. This might mean a different spreadsheet for each of your major category groupings.
@tiger7eye wrote:
Thank you, Bob. I list a lot fewer than 50 items a month, so SixBit, which sounds like a good app, would be too expensive for me.
What you -list- is only one half the equation. What you -sell- is the other way of looking at things. One listing, of a popular item at a great price, could create dozens of sales a day. SixBit also manages that side of the equation, tracking sales, payments, shipping, and it can even track customer service (I use it at one client to keep track of returns, customer "issues", and to track items that generate those).
When I first started actively/consistantly listing & selling on eBay, there were almost no 3rd party tools - eBay was just too new and the Internet wasn't nearly as pervasive as today. I would keep my listings archived in Word files -- Title, Description, (there were no pictures), pricing & shipping data. When pictures were added, I used an extremely inexpensive and highly recommended hosting company (pair.com) to host my pictures and simply added those URLs to the Word docs. When the first version of Auction Assistant Pro (what is now SixBit) came out, I installed it for a trial just like the dozens of others I'd tried... but this one clicked. The Word files were needed no more.
Spend a bit of time to define, as exactly as possible, what your goals are. What are you looking for, what needs do you have that are as yet unmet. Encompass the entire life-cycle, even product acquisition and eventual disposal. Reporting needs. Do you want something that lives on your system, or are you comfortable with something that lives in the cloud? I've found that just writing things down, that very basic physical activity, helps me to focus and to draw out things I believe I knew but just wasn't allowing myself to consider. There's always a "bright/shiny" to distract us (some more than others), but the more basic process of writing with paper and pencil brings back that focus and clarity.
For some. For others, it's "what's a pencil?" 
-Bob.
