Disappearing Drafts

[sbis3888]

I have often lost drafts which I assumed had an expiration I was unaware of.  However today after a night of adding about 15 drafts I see all but two had disappeared.  Must be a tech glitch?  Why doesn't ebay either fix or remove?  Because this glitch is maddening, sure I can think of a go around but why not use a handy tool when there are so few of them offered?  Please ebay clean up your mistakes!  These types of 'buggy" things linger and erode the quality of the selling experience.  I would think that ebay would take the attitude that if they could respond to a problem like this that could be handled would be taken care of.  Wondering if ebay will begin to value the sellers who make this business happen?  Doubtful if history is any indication.  One last point, this frustrating experience shows up in lots of threads and most mention calling customer service.  That is an experience I try to avoid because recurring problems seem not to be resolved but are promised that they will be reviewed.  But that's for another discussion.

[gwzcomps]

I don't use drafts so I don't know how that part of the site works. eBay is generally lacking from the larger business side of things. I think some people have been recommending an external company "SixBit" for more useful eBay related tools. I personally know nothing about that service though. I find it is easier to recycle old listings or text from old listings.

[earlyant-77]

Yep - I pick up my beer glass and when I put it back down, poof - the draft disappeared!

Oh - not those kind of drafts ...........

Well, for 5 bucks a month, I use Wonderlister so I can do everything off-line. Great program.

[disneyshopper]

If you are not using Seller Hub, there is a limit to the number of drafts you can create as well as to the length of time they are available.  Once you hit that limit, any drafts you create will eliminate one of the older drafts.

[adkhighker]

Yup, that has to be frustrating. Something I always do is type up my descriptions on Wordpad first and save it there before pasting it onto eBay's listing form. That way if something happens I can go back and copy it from wordpad and paste it again to a new eBay draft listing.

[happydaysantiques]

You may want to try TEMPLATES instead of drafts.  They don't expire.  Just go the top right of any ebay page (including this one) and click on Sell.

Hope this helps.

[height-safety-equipment]

Same happened to me. They say if you haven't edited within 30 days but we haven't even had them up for that long. We edited all over the last week. Very costly and frustrating glitch in system.

[skullandcircle]

Stop creating Drafts and start "hiding" Drafts in your Scheduled Listings. Drafts are soooo unreliable. Instead, I create a "scheduled" listing. At the time you create the "scheduled" listing, you will be notified at the bottom of the listing creation page that you will be charged $0.10-$0.75. However, you are not charged the "scheduled listing fee" until eBay actually automatically lists it on the scheduled date/time. It can sit there scheduled and be rescheduled a zillion times and you will not be charged a Scheduled Listing Fee. So I create my drafts as "scheduled" listings that are scheduled as far out in the future as I can make it. Whenever I complete this "draft-hiding-as-a-scheduled-listing", while in edit mode, I simply change the "scheduled" listing into a normal "list now". Magically, the "scheduled listing" charge disappears and it is listed just like normal. The "scheduled" listing area has an option to easily reschedule you listings out farther and farther. So, if I don't get back to completing these "drafts-hiding-as-scheduled-listings" for a while, I just reschedule them out further.