"Item cannot be accessed" with draft mode

[zee-chan]

Has anyone encountered this error before with drafts? I saved about 30 drafts from Nov 20 and was just about to list them with the current promo, and that's the error code I got which prevented me from listing... 

When I tried to complete the draft listing one by one instead, I got "Looks like something's wrong. Please try again.". Welp?

[ypdc_dennis]

Try again later.

eBay has had some intermittent problems over the last day or so.

[zee-chan]

still didn't work by the end of the promo 😞

[tyler@ebay]

Hi @zee-chan - drafts can be tricky, particularly as they age. The maximum that a draft will exist is 30 days from the last edit - however because of the way they work, it's increasingly likely to encounter those types of errors the longer they remain. 

The reason for this is that a draft listing operates on a snapshot of data from when you began it - that is, if you made them on the 20th of November they haven't received any of the weekly site updates since then. Depending on the content of the weekly updates, they can end up unable to integrate and give you the error you received. 

If you're looking to make some listings that don't run into this issue, consider a 3rd party offline listing tool. We offer one for free called File Exchange (though it can be difficult to learn). There are others on the market too, many with low costs. These would allow you to create listings and upload them to eBay when you are ready to offer them for sale. Because they don't create a draft, you avoid this error. 🙂 Thanks!

[zee-chan]

If they are not going to work properly when it has only been 25 days then might as well get rid of draft mode on eBay. I'm glad that it's only 30 listing that I'm going to lose (2 hours). If it's 100 listings you bet I'm gonna rage quit eBay. You had any idea how frustrating it was to keep checking back to list them during the promo just to get an error message every time? That's clearly a technical aspect that is not even supposed to be so broken. Why recommend a 3rd tool when the IT department should be making sure the main site tool works properly?
Now imagine it's a newbie seller that was just about to try eBay, spent hours making drafts, came back 3 weeks later to list, and then get hit by this error? Pretty sure they'd quit eBay even before they started and maybe tell all their friends not to use eBay. Newbies are not gonna come to the discussion board to find out about a 3rd party tool that they need to learn to use.

[mrdutch1001]

I have also encountered various issues with draft listings , but I have discovered that sometimes the listing(s) in draft mode that show that they can not be accessed or have some sort of error message, can be retrieving by using "create a copy"...be sure to  also  check "copy pictures"... although, depending on the age of the drafts, sometimes the pictures do not carry over.....

[tyler@ebay]

Definitely get that it can be frustrating @zee-chan - I'm not saying that it will happen each and every time you have a draft that nears the 30 day limit, just that it's increasingly likely. 

Drafts aren't intended to be a long-term listing tool, and there are problems with its functionality as they age. This isn't a technical issue as much as it is a system limitation, so there's not something that our tech team can correct. 

We work hard to make listing quick and simple, particularly for new sellers. This is in an effort to reduce their dependency on drafts for many reasons, this issue included.

I'm glad to hear that while it was definitely a lot of work lost, it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

[zee-chan]

Dutch: I did try create a copy but got an error as well. I can see that the photos are still alive.

Draft mode needs a "use-at-your-own risk" label. This is nothing against you Tyler, but I can't buy into the "system limitation" excuse. Website functions are man-made and should be tested and made sure they are working properly for end-users. Surely the selling platform on eBay isn't rocket science. If the current system does have the possibility of drafts dying by day 25, then please put a warning with draft mode. Nobody here should be expected to know what eBay's platform's "system limitations" are.

[mrdutch1001]

Yes, I realize it isn't always successful and know that first hand, having lost countless drafts and hundreds of photos over the past couple of yrs...it seems I spend more time unnecessarily "re-doing" listings because of this. Thank goodness I have most of my items listed on other venues so that I don't completely lose the listing descriptions. I also recently downloaded Turbo Lister again as a backup for my listings.

[around_again_records]

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@mrdutch1001 wrote:

I also recently downloaded Turbo Lister again as a backup for my listings.

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Can we still use Turbo Lister????? OMG I quit using it over a year ago, when eBay said it would not be functional. I can't count the number of hours and headaches the loss of Turbo Lister has added to my listing process.

I'd love to start using it again, but don't want to have everything entered just to loose it again.

[mrdutch1001]

I installed and uninstalled Turbo Lister several times over the past couple of years due to issues with TL...the updates always seemed to create glitches and/or lock up my computer so I had not used TL for the past year. I recently reinstalled TL again and used it  to upload a few listings to eBay to assure myself that TL was still functional. I don't list as much or as often on eBay anymore so losing listings and/or photos became common and it is so time-consuming to re-do them. With sales from eBay plummeting over the past couple of years, I have moved most of my items to other venues, but I do still want to keep my eBay presence until sales start happening on the other venues...

[drob2237]

July 1, 2020
Drafts on my PC desktop do not save to Apple iphone.
It did last week.
What the point of the mobile app"sell one yourself" if I can't use it now

[zee-chan]

Zombie thread. Please feel free to start your own thread with applicable screen caps etc so that we have a better picture of your issues 🙂

[kh-leslie]

Hello Everyone,

Due to the age of the thread, it has been closed to further replies.  Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thanks for understanding!