3Dsellers Drafts is the place in 3Dsellers where you keep eBay listings that are saved but not live. A draft is a full listing you can edit, copy to another account, publish now, or schedule. Open Listings, then 3Dsellers Drafts in the left segment list. When you publish a draft, 3Dsellers keeps it by default as a backup copy. It deletes the draft only if you ask it to.
⚠️ In 3Dsellers Drafts, ticking Delete draft after listing (or turning on delete the draft once listed from the editor in Settings) removes the draft once the listing goes live. Leave the box unticked if you want to keep the draft as a backup or as a template.
In this article:
What is a draft in 3Dsellers?
A draft in 3Dsellers Drafts is a saved eBay listing that is not live on eBay. You can build a draft from scratch, copy one from an Active or Ended listing, or bring one in by CSV import, URL import or the Images to Listing tool. Drafts are useful for three jobs:
Seasonal listings. Save a listing now and publish it when the season starts.
Templates. Keep one finished draft and publish it again for similar items.
Other accounts. Copy or move drafts to another connected account.
Find your drafts under Listings in the left segment list. The segment is called 3Dsellers Drafts and it has two sub-tabs, Unpublished Drafts and Published Drafts. Ended listings can also land in drafts automatically - see How to Automatically Save Listings to Drafts When They End.
How do I make a draft?
There are two common ways to make a draft in 3Dsellers Drafts:
Open Listings, then 3Dsellers Drafts, and click Create Draft. Fill in the listing in the editor and click Save As Draft.
To copy an existing listing, tick it in the Active or Ended segment, open Bulk Actions and choose Copy to 3Dsellers Drafts. See How to copy listings to Drafts for all three ways.
In the editor of a new listing the action bar usually offers Schedule Listing, Save As Draft and List Item. Save As Draft saves the listing without publishing it. The same Save As Draft button appears when you open an Active or Scheduled listing, so you can save a copy as a draft.
What is the difference between Update Draft and Save As Draft?
When you open a draft in 3Dsellers Drafts, the editor shows List Item and Update Draft. Schedule Listing appears too, in the New View editor only where it is available. The two save buttons belong to different situations:
Button | Where you see it | What it does |
Update Draft | In the editor of a draft you opened | Saves your changes to that draft. |
Save As Draft | In the editor of a new listing, or of an Active or Scheduled listing | Saves the listing as a draft. |
Edits you make in the editor of a draft in 3Dsellers Drafts are not saved to the draft until you click Update Draft.
What are Unpublished Drafts and Published Drafts?
3Dsellers Drafts splits your drafts into two sub-tabs under the 3Dsellers Drafts segment. Hover over a tab to see its tooltip.
Unpublished Drafts - tooltip: Drafts that have not been listed yet.
Published Drafts - tooltip: Drafts that were already listed; the draft keeps a link to the live listing.
A draft that has a link to a live listing shows an external-link icon next to Draft ID:. Hover over it to read Already published - open the live listing, and click it to open the live eBay listing.
A draft moves to Published Drafts after you publish it and keep the draft. A copy of an Active listing made to the same account also lands there. Drafts that you published long ago may still show under Unpublished Drafts.
Published Drafts is a handy place to clean up: these drafts were already listed, so you can delete the ones you no longer need as backups.
Which bulk actions can I run on drafts?
In 3Dsellers Drafts, tick one or more drafts and open Bulk Actions. The menu is the one you know from the Active tab, with these draft actions (outlined in the screenshot):
Publish to Channel - list the drafts on eBay now.
Schedule Listing - list them at a date and time you choose.
Copy to 3Dsellers Drafts - make copies for another account.
Move to 3Dsellers Drafts - transfer drafts to another account.
Delete From Drafts - remove the selected drafts (shown in red).
How do I publish a draft?
Publish many drafts with Publish to Channel
Open Listings, then 3Dsellers Drafts, and tick the drafts.
Click Publish to Channel (or choose it in Bulk Actions).
In the Publish to channel dialog, check Select account, Select eBay Site and the Policies choice (Use draft business policies. or Use other policies:).
Decide on Delete draft after listing, described in the next section.
Click Publish Drafts To Channel.
Schedule drafts to go live later
Choose Schedule Listing in Bulk Actions. Pick a Schedule Time. Tick Stagger listings to list the drafts one after another, with Delay each by a number of minutes you choose, instead of all at once. The dialog also has Delete draft after listing, with the tooltip Check this to delete the draft once the scheduled listing goes live. Leave this unchecked to keep a backup of your listing in drafts.
Publish one draft from the editor
Open the draft and click List Item. The editor has no Delete draft after listing checkbox beside List Item; whether the draft is deleted there depends on the Settings option described below. The editor also has a Schedule Listing button where it is available. Its dialog shows Delete draft after listing: when Schedule Using is set to 3Dsellers, and it works like the bulk checkbox.
Does 3Dsellers keep or delete the draft after I publish it?
3Dsellers keeps the draft after you publish it, unless you choose to delete it. Where you choose depends on how you publish:
How you publish | Where you choose | Draft is deleted when |
Bulk Publish to Channel | Delete draft after listing in the Publish to channel dialog | the box is ticked |
Bulk Schedule Listing | Delete draft after listing in the Schedule Listing dialog | the box is ticked and the scheduled listing goes live |
Schedule Listing in the editor | Delete draft after listing: in the Schedule Listing dialog (shown when Schedule Using is 3Dsellers) | the box is ticked and the scheduled listing goes live |
List Item in the editor | delete the draft once listed from the editor in Settings | that setting is on |
Check the box before each publish, because it can start ticked or unticked depending on your Settings and your last choice.
Where is the account setting?
Open Listings Manager, then Settings.
On the General tab, find Draft Listings and the line When publishing a Draft.
Tick or untick delete the draft once listed from the editor, then click Save Changes.
The tooltip says that in the bulk Publish and Schedule dialogs this option only sets the default, which you can still change per publish.
See How to avoid duplicate drafts in 3Dsellers for the other options in this section.
How do I move or copy drafts to another account?
3Dsellers Drafts has two different actions for other accounts, and they are easy to mix up:
Action | What it does |
Copy to 3Dsellers Drafts | Duplicates the selected items into another account's drafts. The originals stay. |
Move to 3Dsellers Drafts | Transfers the selected drafts to another account's drafts. The drafts are removed from the current account. |
Move to 3Dsellers Drafts appears in the Bulk Actions menu of the 3Dsellers Drafts tab. Its dialog describes moving drafts to another account and does not mention ending any live eBay listing.
Copy to 3Dsellers Drafts
In Bulk Actions, choose Copy to 3Dsellers Drafts. Pick the Target account and the Copies per listing. Tick Skip listings that already have a draft to avoid duplicates, then click Copy to drafts. The Active tab offers the Copy action as well.
Move to 3Dsellers Drafts
In Bulk Actions, choose Move to 3Dsellers Drafts. The dialog is titled Move drafts to another 3Dsellers account and says that moving transfers the selected drafts to another account's 3Dsellers Drafts without creating duplicates, and that the drafts will be removed from the current account. Choose the Target account; it must be a different account from the one you are on. You can also tick Automatically match policies or Create new policies on the target account. Click Move to drafts to finish.
The Active tab does not offer Move to 3Dsellers Drafts. To copy listings between accounts, see How to copy & transfer listings to other eBay accounts.
How do I delete drafts?
Open 3Dsellers Drafts and tick the drafts you want to remove. Use Published Drafts to find drafts that already have a live listing.
Open Bulk Actions and choose Delete From Drafts.
Read the confirmation, Are you sure you want to delete this items from the drafts?, and click the red Delete Draft button.
Delete From Drafts removes the drafts from 3Dsellers Drafts. Treat it as permanent and check your selection first, especially if you ticked Select all.
Troubleshooting
My draft disappeared after I published it
3Dsellers Drafts deletes a draft after listing when you ticked Delete draft after listing in the Publish or Schedule dialog, or turned on delete the draft once listed from the editor in Settings. Check those places and untick them if you want to keep a backup copy. To get a backup again, make a new draft from the live listing with Copy to 3Dsellers Drafts.
My draft is still in Drafts after I published it
This is the normal behaviour of 3Dsellers Drafts: the draft stays unless you chose to delete it. Look in Published Drafts, where the draft keeps a link to the live listing. Select the drafts and use Delete From Drafts if you do not need the backups.
I wanted to unpublish a live listing but found Move to 3Dsellers Drafts
Move to 3Dsellers Drafts transfers drafts to another 3Dsellers account. Its dialog says nothing about ending or unpublishing a live eBay listing, so do not use it for that. To keep a copy of a live listing, use Copy to 3Dsellers Drafts instead.
A draft was not published
If don't publish it if its SKU is already Active on this account is on in Settings, 3Dsellers does not publish a draft whose SKU is already Active. Turn the setting off if you list the same SKU on purpose.
FAQ
Do drafts stay in 3Dsellers forever?
No - drafts in 3Dsellers Drafts stay until you delete them, move them to another account, or a delete-after-listing option removes them. Ticking Delete draft after listing, or turning on delete the draft once listed from the editor, deletes the draft when the listing goes live. Otherwise the draft stays.
Does 3Dsellers delete my draft when I publish it?
No - by default 3Dsellers keeps the draft when you publish it, as the tooltip says, to keep a backup of your listing in drafts. It deletes the draft only when you ask it to.
Does editing a draft change it?
No - editing a draft in 3Dsellers does not change the saved draft until you click Update Draft.
What is the difference between Published Drafts and Unpublished Drafts?
Unpublished Drafts are drafts that have not been listed yet. Published Drafts are drafts that were already listed and keep a link to the live listing.
Is Move to 3Dsellers Drafts a way to unpublish a live eBay listing?
No - Move to 3Dsellers Drafts transfers drafts to another 3Dsellers account and removes them from the current account. Its dialog does not describe ending a live eBay listing.
Can I publish drafts at a later time?
Yes - use Schedule Listing in Bulk Actions and pick a Schedule Time.