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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
9 responses Add your response
garfish
1,840 posts
 
Jond; I agree and would go even further and just delete the ad once a deal is made for the item. I see no point in looking at either SOLD or sale pending statements. Craig
texan
48 posts
 
Jond, From my experience it is easier to leave the ad as is, or put sale pending on the bottom of description. If you put sold due to an e-mail and the person backs out, you have lost all the potential buyers such as yourself from even looking at the ad for a length of time. I also do not look at ads that are marked sold, there's no reason to they're saying. I used to put sold, and after some people changed their mind decided not to do that anymore. Sure it's frustating for a buyer, but how about the seller losing a sale. Best, Charlie
aida_w
308 posts
 
Charlie, I guess we are talking SOLD here which means the item changed its place and owner! I had the same frustrating experiences as Jond, I wrote to Audiogon and they promised to be at work with this problem. It might be fixed in the not too distant future.
Best regards!
jond's avatar
jond OP
5,794 posts
 
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.
rslifka007
14 posts
 
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
rwwear
2,867 posts
 
And what's even worse is when you enquire about an item and get no response.
bob_bundus
1,834 posts
 
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.
abe_av
78 posts
 

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?
4yanx
1,576 posts
 
A suggestion when buying is to print a copy of the listing - at least record the item number. Then, as I have had happen in one instance, if the condition does not match the description, you have some recourse of proof when the seller immediately deletes the listing after you buy.
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