Dismayed eBay Sellers Report Draft Listings Are Disappearing

by: Rexford

Products still continue to disappear from your store as well.   I discovered several items that had been dropped over the holidays.  Who knows when they were dropped, but this has been going on for years. I sell on six sites, and eBay is the only site where this happens.

by: AddyUp

This has been going on for years.

Saving drafts isn't reliable.

by: Lightning

No one likes the fees, but auction management products are usually worth the money.  In saved aggravation alone, plus no duplication of effort, drafts or templates can't ''disappear'', YOU decide when they ''expire'', if ever, (not 75 days).  I'm sure I have listing templates that I created 15-20 years ago, still ready to use today, with a few tweaks.  And you can schedule listings for no added listing fee, host your own photos without outside interference, get meaningful reports, get another view of total active listings to compare to the ebay total in case eBay has somehow lost count (all the time).  There are countless ways to use it and get value out of it.

I would pay double what I am currently paying if I was at risk of having to abandon the program.  I use Auctiva, and have never had ANY of the problems mentioned here periodically. I'm sure other 3rd party tools are just as useful.

Going without it is like losing your microwave oven at home.  Many years ago, I didn't think I needed a microwave - I had a regular oven and gas stove top.  Now you couldn't pay me enough to go without it.  It saves time and money, so why would you do without it?  Get the auction software.  You will wonder how you managed alone in the eBay battle all these years.

by: JimBob

Any comment from eBay as to the chance for recover of the lost drafts,
or are we just hosed .... "sorry about that?

I make it a habit to sort my drafts oldest-to-newest and edit the oldest ones
and re-save just so none get much over 45 days. I have not lost any drafts that I know of for a while...

by: woundedtiger

Lost 2 since yesterday. Calculated losses since Jan1 approx. 50. On Jan 1 I printed all of my ended listings. Thank goodness. Save any ended listings. Seems to only affect draft folder. When I move an item to draft folder, ebay removes 1-5 items so I print my draft folder contents so that I know what has been removed. I have over 5,000 items in inventory and trying to find out what is not for sale is going to be a nightmare.

by: woundedtiger

I just realized one thing. The lost items all carry a .25 listing fee. The majority of my for sale items are media. NONE of them have been removed. Interesting. Is this a ploy for eBay to charge for sellers to pay again to relist the lost items? Just a thought.

by: HarveyG

I have had the same thing occur.  And, like Rexford stated, I actually have listing simply disappear.  I will see something I have on a shelf for my posted items and wonder why it has not sold.  I will check for the listing and, it is gone.  Has occurred many, many times and there is really no efficient way for me to know that all the items I have posted for sale are still listed.  .  .  

by: toolguy

@woundedtiger

What does eBay charge .25 cents for?

I don't see any fee for .25 cents on their fee chart.

by: woundedtiger

In response to Toolguy, Store listing fee for ebay seller is .25 US for new listing. If your listing has been removed, then, to list it again, there is a .25 US fee.

by: woundedtiger

Drafts and all info for listing are still being removed and not replaced