Listing items on Etsy has become a nightmare

[TheWoodenFly]

I have just spent an hour trying to list an item on Etsy. I tried twice. The first time, my listing crashed taking all my work with it. The second time, I made my selection for  "variety" and when I pressed [DONE]. the site froze . . . for 15 minutes. When I finally opted to "leave the page", I ,again, lost all my work.

I have sold almost 200 items on Etsy and over 1,000 on eBay. I am not without some experience in preparing a listing.

What compounds my frustration with Etsy's crashes is Etsy's system for saving drafts. As far as I can tell, Etsy requires a listing to be ready for publication before it can be saved as a draft. This requirement prevents me from saving my work as a draft to lessen the impact of an Etsy-crash.

Nonsense!

According to the Oxford Learners' Dictionary, a draft is, "a rough written version of something that is not yet in its final form."

The time for Etsy to check a listing's readiness for publication is when we hit the [PUBLISH] button. A draft is, by definition, not ready for publication. Requiring it to be so interrupts our natural workflow and , thus, our income.

Please join me inn urging Etsy to "allow incomplete versions of listings to be saved as drafts."

Thank you for your attention.

[ChillwolfArt]

I'm sorry about that; and agree, it shouldn't be that taxing.  I've never used the Draft feature (since 2011); just never trusted it.  I would tell it to Publish, then Deactivate it (and make any edits during that time).  (Desktop computer, Chrome, Windows 10). Yes, you should be able to use Draft.

[TBQSC]

Using the app allows just that … incomplete drafts!

[TheWoodenFly]

I assume by, "the app" you are referring to the [SAVE AS DRAFT] option. If so, this option does not allow me to save a draft for which I have not entered acceptable shipping specifications.

[TheWoodenFly]

Again, for the record, I began a listing with a title and uploaded photographs.

I tried to [SAVE AS DRAFT]. The app refused to do so until I had entered:

• number of items
• price
• shipping details

As a workaround, I have created a shipping profile called "draft ship" with a flat shipping cost of $50 and handling time of one month (in case I list it without altering shipping info).

While this works, I am still of the opinion that a draft of a listing should be any incomplete version there-of.

Thank you for your attention,

Bart

[TheVintagePineapple · Accepted solution]

Saving as a draft needs just the basic information in order to be saved.  I've started listings with one photo, one word titles, one letter in the desc box and a guestimate for the shipping.  Never had a problem saving it to draft.

[hopeandjoystudios]

The app Save as draft has to almost be a completed listing. No point.

[TheWoodenFly]

Additionally, wouldn't a note of some sort explaining that a draft must contain certain information be helpful?

[TBQSC]

@TheWoodenFly  here is your "note of some sort" ... hope it helps!

https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/115015628707-How-to-List-an-Item-in-Your-Etsy-Shop?segment=s...

[TheWoodenFly]

Hi,

This is a list of the requirements for publishing a listing. What I am hoping for is minimal list of the fields that must be completed in order to save a draft of a listing.

e.g. I sometimes spend a half day photographing new items. I edit them in Lightroom as a batch and want to get them sorted by item and loaded to their Etsy listings while they are fresh in my mind. It is distracting to think about anything but the images here.

What I would like to do at this point is create a draft for each item consisting solely of the listing title and the associated images, but Etsy will not let me save a draft with just a title and some images (why not?).

What is the minimum of additional information I must provide in order to save my titles and images as drafts?

Thank you for your attention,

Bart

[PSJewelryCollection]

I don't know if this will help. But I've had the same problem recently but only when I'm using Google Chrome. So I switch to Microsoft Explorer for Etsy and it works fine. Google Chrome works fine for everything else. It only crashes on Etsy. I use Chrome because that's where I have all my bookmarks. But lately I've been using Explorer when I'm working on Etsy. It started happening about a month ago. 

[BeadsFromMe]

I totally agree with you. I find this a constant problem too. For many reasons you cannot 'finish' a listing to be saved as a draft. 

As an aside I find this with messages too. If you have to interrupt your messaging before sending the message it will delete everything you have written.  Etsy are so busy fixing or changing other things that don't need fixing whereas there are some operational glitches that could do with some tweaking.

[MirageRiverCreations]

I agree with you. On eBay, you can save a draft at any point, the only thing required is for it to be a potential listing (a title, basically). On Etsy you have to have at least one picture, something in the title box, all the drop downs completed, something in the description, price, shipping options selected… By that point you can publish because nothing else is required for it to be published. 

When listing a couple days ago, I had trouble with photos. The first listing was fine, and every one after that fought and fought not to upload pictures. I was only able to get three of the four up and running with photos, and the last one I was only able to load one photo. I had to come back like 30 minutes to an hour later to finally get another photo uploaded on it and to edit the thumbnail. I thought it was my internet connection, but I listed on eBay the same day with no incident. I was using Brave for my internet browser at the time, if anyone were to care. And all this reminds me I better go make sure those new listings have a return policy in place… So easy to forget that where Etsy has hidden it.

[HollysCollageCorner]

I've always thought that requirement for saving as draft is ridiculous .  As @hopeandjoystudios said - there's no benefit at all.  I copy listings a lot and will copy and save as draft until I make the changes I want.  It is work listing and so frustrating when something goes wrong and you lose all that effort.  All the more maddening when the bots take down a legal listing and when that take down isn't readily apparent.  I really hope Etsy can stop with tests and site makeovers and all the other unnecessary stuff and they try to remember holiday sales are hopefully on the way, and some of us count on this time of year!

[hopeandjoystudios]

This is what I did when I used my phone for pix and the app. I'd copy a similarish  listing and change the photos and save as draft then go to my computer and finish it off as making a listing via the app is infuriating for me. Got a new camera now so I can avoid the app except to check for messages in my shops if I am away from home.

[TheYayAtelier]

I complete the listing in spreadsheet form, upload it to etsy as a draft (Along with many other listings in the same spreadsheet), and then review the draft and publish when ready. Pretty neat, don't have to mess with the web front-end for the most part and I can systemize a large part of the process, making it a lot easier.

[PieceByNumberQuilts]

It’s possible to do batch listings via spreadsheet here on Etsy? Is that one of their premium services, or can anyone do that?

[howtobooksandmore]

I think the poster means they enter details into a spreadsheet and cut and paste them into the Etsy form.  I do this and it works well.  I can work on as many items as I want and then upload them when I'm ready.  I can even add details to help me find items in inventory when ordered, weight so I know which shipping profile to choose and names of picture files.  But you can't directly upload a spreadsheet here.

[TheYayAtelier]

@PieceByNumberQuilts  Third-party service. $5 a month for lots of spreadsheet uploads. Allows for listing creation, and mass updating of listings, with fine-grained tweaking of the variations and personalization info.

[lepropostedimari]

I use the copy option for new listings. I save them as a draft and then change the title, photos etc. I often leave them in drafts waiting to publish them later.

[FeltWithAHeart]

@lepropostedimari Same here, every time. Never have a problem.

[howtobooksandmore]

Listings don't need to be finished to be saved as a draft.  You just have to fill in certain fields.  You can always put in dummy information like a blank picture and outrageous shipping information so no one orders a draft item if you accidentally publish it.  The draft process may be a pain in the you know what but it still beats the original way which was to start a listing, copy the link to it and then crash or close the system because the link was the only way to find it again.

[TonisVintageStuff]

I really HATE doing the listing page.  I find all kinds of things that need to be done, anything and everything I can think of to stall having to address that ADD A LISTING box.  I finally figured out that I could put anything I wanted in since my intent was a draft.  If Etsy wasn't one of the biggest sites I bet a lot of the little guys (like me) would be gone.   It's just so frustrating and God forbid you need an answer from Etsy about why they took or kept money out of your account.    I definitely will start doing what Vintage Pineapple does.