Why [SOLD] instead of deleting post?

While looking through the classifieds, I see SO many sold reptiles. Wouldn't it be better to delete the post after you've sold your reptile? In some cases, the sold reptiles take up so much space it's ridiculous.

It just seems like a waste of space. Other websites, such as Craigslist, make you take down your ad, not just post "sold" on the item.


Thanks.

I never delete ads until the customer has the animal in hand and is happy. That way I have my ad wording with the date of sale stamp in case there's any question about the animal's representation.

Can't speak for anyone else though.

That's a good answer. It makes sense. Anyone else?

Originally Posted by Lizzy65

While looking through the classifieds, I see SO many sold reptiles. Wouldn't it be better to delete the post after you've sold your reptile? In some cases, the sold reptiles take up so much space it's ridiculous.

It just seems like a waste of space. Other websites, such as Craigslist, make you take down your ad, not just post "sold" on the item.


Thanks.

One, What was stated in the first response is right on target for many.

Two, Some would probably like to have the record there for the "just in case" scenario down the road if someone later complains.

Three, gives other customers a past history of what is offered by a particular seller. People may look at a sold ad and inquire with the seller about other available animals or future projects.

So, whose space is it wasting? For one, once it is sold it moves further down the list and doesn't get relisted. Actually it's against the TOS of this site to have the same ad listed twice in the same section. If you want to list a new ad you need to remove the older one.

Next, besides word of mouth and links, How do you think people find this site? It's because of keywords in threads and ads. If we deleted all the ads that's is like cutting our own throat.

We have taken the time to lock old ads but why delete them when they bring many people to this site?

The only time it becomes a waste of space if the owner here decides he doesn't want to keep them and not needed.

Actually, Craigslist doesn't make you do anything. The ads automatically expire unless you relist them or decide to take them down yourself.

I agree, some what of a resume really if you have several sold listings. Whether you're selling quality animals is still up for debate, but sold ads + BOI good guys or no BOI bad guys means you can strike deals and deliver.

Dennis and shaderathe covered most of the reasons why i leave up my ads, but there is one more. Leavong up sold ads also helps to establish market value.

Say you are looking for a particular animal. I'm going to make one up for argument. A widget lizard. This animal is somewhat hard to find, and very few people offer it for sale. You may find one, but the seller is asking $4000 for it. You didnt think it would cost so much, so you look through the ads and see that there were two or three sol last year of similar quality for $2000. You can then see that the sellers asking price is high for the market, add that information go yiur repeftoire and act accordingly.

Personally, i get upset when people take down their ads, as it's basically just throwing away valuable information.

One more: many animals have potential buyers 'watching' them, much like selling a home. They're waiting for a price reduction, or gearing themselves up to spend the money, or hoping it sells so they don't have to part with their hard earned dollars on an animal they can't live without. If it just disappears, well.....?
So it's kind of closure for everyone who may have been truly interested in the animal.

Noelle

Those are really good points.

I know when I was selling off some of my guns to finance my then newly developing car addiction, I used the search function on GunBroker extensively to search through completed auctions to see what similar models actually sold for. That gave me a much clearer picture of what I could actually expect to get for the items I was going to be selling. People can ASK for anything. The true measure of what the market will bear is what they actually SOLD for.

I understand all of your points, however 10 years from now, can you imagine how many pages some of the animals are going to have?!

Maybe they should consider having separate folders for completed sales, like ebay does. Just a thought...

I'm sure if it becomes an issue, staff will address it then. In the meantime, sold or closed ads aren't being bumped, so as said above they'll drift to the bottom beyond the active ads.