Sold Listings in Classifieds and Pricing

**fountainpenkid** · October 10th, 2016, 04:08 PM

I have NEVER understood this: why do some remove the prices from their listings entirely once the item has sold? Wouldn't it be nice to have a record of these things? This doesn't seem to be much of a problem here anymore, looking back through the most recent pages, but it was at one point. What was the justification back when this was the norm? Any explanation would help.

Thanks!

**dfo** · October 10th, 2016, 09:05 PM

They usually replace the price with sold to more clearly show that the item is no longer available. I have received messages asking for an item after it was marked as sold.

**Chrissy** · October 11th, 2016, 05:42 AM

Marking items as Sold makes a lot of sense, but does it mean you can't mention the item price somewhere in the Ad, so that we can see what it went for?

**kenshiro** · October 11th, 2016, 08:18 AM

In my experience, people intentionally remove these prices to obfuscate the market price for things, which is a disservice. It would be easy enough to just strikethrough and leave the price, but instead people remove them, hoping to get more next time.

**fountainpenkid** · October 11th, 2016, 09:15 AM

Originally Posted by kenshiro

In my experience, people intentionally remove these prices to obfuscate the market price for things, which is a disservice. It would be easy enough to just strikethrough and leave the price, but instead people remove them, hoping to get more next time.

That's a bold charge--I've considered it, but what evidence have you actually seen of it taking place?

**kenshiro** · October 11th, 2016, 10:46 AM

Originally Posted by fountainpenkid

That's a bold charge--I've considered it, but what evidence have you actually seen of it taking place?

A decade in finance and side conversations with people doing the same thing on forums dealing with cigars, wine, whiskey, timepieces, and fountain pens. Market opacity always sides with sellers looking for fish who don't know where the market is, hence the importance of market makers in e.g. securities.

You can see this difference in prices of fountain pen rarities sold on the boards/ebay vs. at auction at Bonhams, Christie's or Sotheby's where people have the wherewithal to do more market research. Case in point - the boards and ebay are asking for around $2-3000 for a Caran d'Ache La Modernista; I picked mine up for the more accurate price of $900. Sellers can get away with this for these types of items because they're small and so carrying cost is virtually nil.

**Jon Szanto** · October 11th, 2016, 11:16 AM

Not to mention the prevalence of people saying that a particular item is "selling for such-and-such on eBay", only looking at listing prices and never doing a search on "Sold" listings, which shows the true market trends. I have no doubt that sellers would remove a price so someone couldn't say "but you just sold is for *that* much", etc. It is in the seller's interest to keep people in the dark as to general price trends to make as much off of a sale as possible.

The fact of the matter is: what other reason would there be for a seller to remove the sale price after completion?

gregamckinney · October 11th, 2016, 11:28 AM

I agree with kenshiro, which is why, as a more frequent buyer than seller, I DO leave the selling price on my FS listings when the sale is complete. I WANT to preserve the record of sale prices. I WANT to help future buyers (myself included.)
I don't say that obfuscation and malicious intent is _always_ the reason for removing the closing price, but I do believe it is a frequent motivation.
Best Regards, greg