Marking Items Sold


In the last few days I have had three seperate instances where I inquired about the availability of an advertised product, only to be told it was already sold. I don't mind this but in each instance the ad is still listed without being marked either sold or sale pending. One of these items is even a featured item at the beginning of the category. Since it only costs two dollars to list an ad, can't people just mark their items sold and just relist if the deal falls through. At the very least say that a sale is pending. There are enough ads as it is, without having to inquire after already sold items. Any comments?
128x128jond
Charlie, I agree with you that an email doesn't constitute a sale. However when I reach agreement with a buyer via email and someone else inquires I tell them that I have a sale pending but if it falls through I'll let them know. I never tell someone something is sold or mark it sold until it leaves my possession. The responses I have gotten have stated simply, sorry the item is sold, so I have to assume that a sale has been fully consummated.
And what's even worse is when you enquire about an item and get no response.
In a way, it's nice when an item thats marked sale pending and then sold remains listed. This allows us to "follow the market" and learn the value of similar items. I like the fact that an item stays listed....... even after it is sold..... for a short while. cordially, Richard
There's another good reason to NOT delete the ads of a sold item, that being Audiogon's price-tracking online blue-book feature. If you delete the ad then the selling price doesn't get tracked by their system at all.
I also prefer "sale pending" followed by "sold" when the money order actually arrives. This procedure has worked very well for me especially when a buyer changed their mind, you simply re-edit the ad back to available status. I have actually still received inquiries regarding "sale pending" & then consummated a deal in this manner after the original buyer disappeared.

100% agree with Jond's suggestion ! I have been frustrated by this inadequate info for a while. Just not a user-friendly Web design. But I am not sure what Audiogon admin can do about this: it completely upto the seller to update this piece of information -- pending or sold. How diligent are the sellers then?