How can I create drafts off line that do not expire?

[seamssewwright]

I am a slow lister, really slow.  I do not have turbo lister and apparently can no longer sign up for it.  I would like to be able to create drafts at my own pace, off line.  I would only be using a PC.  I do not like to work from a phone becasue of vision issues.  Nothing fancy, I like to keep things simple.  I would just like to be able to start a listing, using a template, add photos later, sometimes months later and descriptions at another time.  So I need the drafts to never expire.  It would be nice to be able to have a third party be able to access them without using my ebay ID, but not necessary.  I have done a search of the boards, but most of the posts are quite old, so I am not sure any of those options are still viable.  I would really appreciate some suggestions.  Thank you.

[happydaysantiques]

I'm a slow, tiny seller, too, and have found eBay's 50 free templates to be plenty for me (and they don't expire).  Go to your MyEbay page.  At the very top and to the right, click on the word "sell."  That takes you to a page where you can create a draft.  OR you can create a template and copy it as needed...up to 50 of them.  I keep one or two generic ones, and delete any that sell.  It works great for a little peanut seller like me.

[ittybitnot]

I use a freeware program called Kompzer.  It is a simple wysiwyg (what you see is what you get) html program.  If you host your photos elsewhere, you can include them in the draft, and they will be there when you wish to load the listing.   You will have to copy and paste the html view on to ebay for it to work.

Even if you use ebay photos, you can use the program to get professional looking posts with "formatting" in text color, bullet points and size, so it doesn't look like you typed it on your phone in a hurry. 

[susieq908]

The problem with ebay's drafts is that they expire after a certain length of time...maybe 30 days?? Sometimes I use them and often when I am doing research on an item I will save as a draft, then when I actually get around to listing said item, it I go to drafts and it's gone. 

[happydaysantiques]

You're right, susieq.  And I don't use drafts for that reason, they expire.  I create TEMPLATES.  They don't expire.  The only time I use drafts is when I'm modifying one of my own items that didn't sell, and I'm planning to relist it in the near future.

If I'm researching, I just save a couple in my "Favorites" until I'm ready to revisit them.

[susieq908]

I have never tried the templates...I don't think those weren't available when I signed up for sellersourcebook many moons ago. I usually only use the draft feature when it is something out of my normal spectrum and mainly questioning the proper category to use.

Sellersourcebook is cheap only $8 a month and I have thought about discontinuing it a few times but at this point it would be a hassle since so many of my listings are based there and they would go POOF. 

I will say when all the hub bub about listings being HTML compliant came up, sellersourcebook made the process so much easier as they had tools and edit features on their site to fix everything...saved me so much time and aggravation!!

[nowthatsjustducky]

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@stickboy1974 wrote:

Google the words "download turbo lister" and you will get a couple of links.

I have not personally checked them out though. If you do download a program, make sure to run an anti-virus on it.

I love turbo lister. Yes, it's old and slow but it is FREE.

I do not use it for creating or for listing, but it's great for holding my descriptions - a rough sort of inventory system. Once I post my item on eBay,  I sync TL (Turbo Lister) and it keeps a record.

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TL is still working fine for me as well.  In fact, I just recently discovered how to speed it up.  You just have to keep the Activity Log purged regularly, and if you don't edit listings while live using TL, you can keep the Listing Activity section purged as well. (Compacting the database occasionally helps too).

That said, ever since I did the big purge of those two sections, TL has been nice and snappy for me in all aspects..

[lightlily_arts]

I'm kind of slow too and there are so many distractions around me that I can't finish a draft.  But if you look at the bottom of the listing page you can click on "save and continue later."  Then when you are ready to finish that listing look for your drafts and finish it.  There have been times that my computer crashed while I was working on a listing and I will find later in that draft folder.