eBay

mangorunner · ‎08-16-2019

This is the exact situation that happened to me today. All of my 10-12 drafts are gone. They were there last night. They had all been edited within the past thirty (30) days. They are all gone today. "Looks like you don't have any drafts" is the message on the Drafts page. (Not funny, eBay.)

I called Customer Service and there is no explanation. They cannot be retrieved.

dhbookds · ‎08-16-2019

@Anonymous

Can you help or tell them how to document the problem so it can be fixed?

myjunqueyourtreasure · ‎08-16-2019

And they wonder why we don't trust ebay to 'store' our unlisted inventory?

Reality is the leading cause of stress.

Anonymous · ‎08-16-2019

@dhbookds wrote:

@Anonymous

Can you help or tell them how to document the problem so it can be fixed?

Hi @dhbookds, there wouldn't be any additional documentation the seller could provide for a situation like this. Once a draft has been deleted or not saved properly there is no way to recover this information. I understand this may be frustrating to run into and will keep an eye out for similar reports to pass along to our tech teams. No additional information would be needed related to this as there wouldn't be a way to recreate what may have occurred.

dhbookds · ‎08-16-2019

@Anonymous

that's what I was afraid of............. perhaps there needs to be a popup confirmation of a deletion? "are you sure you want to delete this item?"

xtngwsr · ‎08-16-2019

The "not saved properly" comment is hilarious!

I have lost drafts (new & edited) repeatedly. Clicked on the "SAVE" button when I was done. Yup, there it is (yesterday). Oops, gone now (today).

So, what part of clicking the "SAVE" button did I not do properly???????????

Anonymous · ‎08-16-2019

@xtngwsr wrote:

The "not saved properly" comment is hilarious!

I have lost drafts (new & edited) repeatedly. Clicked on the "SAVE" button when I was done. Yup, there it is (yesterday). Oops, gone now (today).

So, what part of clicking the "SAVE" button did I not do properly???????????

Hi @xtngwsr, happy to clear up any confusion - when I stated, "Once a draft has been deleted or not saved properly there is no way to recover this information", this was not meant to be taken as "Once a draft has been deleted or not saved properly by the seller there is no way to recover this information." Though I understand it is frustrating to lose drafts that you have been working on, I am sure you can understand why I would want to set clear expectations in a situation where there are no options to resolve a concern and no way to identify the cause of the issue or recreate the issue.

nc-daydreamer · ‎08-16-2019

@dhbookds wrote:
@Anonymous

that's what I was afraid of............. perhaps there needs to be a popup confirmation of a deletion? "are you sure you want to delete this item?"

In SITE PREFERENCES, there is such a setting - but it often fails. I too have had drafts vanish less than 30 days old or refreshed within 30. And I use the hub which means a longer time and more spaces to utilize.

And BTW - what gives with the 16 month warning? I have revised title, pictures, price, description, promotion, condition field, shipping - and that message NEVER goes away! Anyone know how to correct this without ending the listing and redoing it? New ID numbers ruin my bookkeeping - so I HATE ending them. The message says to revise/update - then it fails to recognize when the listing has been revised/updated. frustrating! Thanks for any reply! 🙂

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aerosedan · ‎08-16-2019

I encountered the same situation with drafts on my selling account this past week. At first I thought it was my own fault because I’d let them lapse. However, drafts I edited very recently have disappeared.

There’s also one still listed under saved drafts, but any attempt to open it results in an error message.

It’s very difficult to use this platform efficiently when the work put into creating listings can just vanish.

I keep backups of photos and comprehensive descriptions for certain items. But it is time consuming to go through the process of relisting. Uploading photos again, filling in all the item specifics and formatting the text in descriptions.

I’m just a hobby seller averaging less than 30 listings a month. I can’t imagine what it must be like for business sellers with thousands of listings when this happens.

Anonymous · ‎08-16-2019

@aerosedan wrote:

I encountered the same situation with drafts on my selling account this past week. At first I thought it was my own fault because I’d let them lapse. However, drafts I edited very recently have disappeared.

There’s also one still listed under saved drafts, but any attempt to open it results in an error message.

It’s very difficult to use this platform efficiently when the work put into creating listings can just vanish.

I keep backups of photos and comprehensive descriptions for certain items. But it is time consuming to go through the process of relisting. Uploading photos again, filling in all the item specifics and formatting the text in descriptions.

I’m just a hobby seller averaging less than 30 listings a month. I can’t imagine what it must be like for business sellers with thousands of listings when this happens.

If anyone happens to have screenshots of the drafts that were present prior to sudden disappearances I will be happy to pass this along. I didn't ask for this initially as I don't believe there will be any way of recovering this information but it is something I can pass along with a list of those impacted.

aerosedan · ‎08-16-2019

Thank you.

No screenshots of vanished drafts. But I can provide one for a draft listing that still appears under saved drafts, yet cannot be opened or completed.

There is not much to see though. Any attempt to open it is simply met with the following message: "Looks like something's wrong. Please try again."

Anonymous · ‎08-16-2019

@aerosedan wrote:
Thank you.

No screenshots of vanished drafts. But I can provide one for a draft listing that still appears under saved drafts, yet cannot be opened or completed.

There is not much to see though. Any attempt to open it is simply met with the following message: "Looks like something's wrong. Please try again."

That's something, @aerosedan! If you can share a screenshot of the draft in the saved drafts section and also a screenshot of the error message, I will get this to our tech teams for review.

aerosedan · ‎08-16-2019

The draft listing in question is the last one on the list. To prevent it from being deleted I modified and saved it within the last 30 days, but the date of the last modification shown is over 30 days. This seems odd. Any attempt to open it or "complete draft" leads to the error screen shown.

Some other drafts that were created or modified within the last 30 days have disappeared completely. Sorry, no screenshots of those.

Currently all other drafts that remain saved besides the last one listed will open. Note, all of these correctly show the modified dates as being within the last 30 days.

Thank you.

rockusone · ‎08-16-2019

@mangorunner wrote:
This is the exact situation that happened to me today. All of my 10-12 drafts are gone. They were there last night. They had all been edited within the past thirty (30) days. They are all gone today. "Looks like you don't have any drafts" is the message on the Drafts page. (Not funny, eBay.)

I called Customer Service and there is no explanation. They cannot be retrieved.

I have had this happen to me everall times and complained each time... then I discovered something!!! The drafts expire based on the ORIGINAL CREATION DATE, not the Last Edited Date! Think about that and you'll never loose a draft again!