Originally Posted by jtcarm

Well here’s a couple of things that could make the experience better:

I finally noticed that a LOT of WTS threads are locked, presumably sold or withdrawn, but nowhere in the post does it say so. I usually don’t notice the lock icon and if I’m interested, the first thing I do is PM the seller, which turns out to be a waste of time.

We only close/lock a thread when:

A) The seller requests so because they have changed their mind about selling.
B) Someone has posted an "I'll take it".
C) The seller has posted in their original ad (preferably the title) the item is Sold, SPF, Traded, Withdrawn, No Longer Available or Traded.
D) The ad's last posting is more than 6 months old. Ads that haven't had a bump or response in 6 months are considered no longer viable and are closed.

If you have found ads that meet none of the above criteria but are closed, please post some links and I'll check into them.

Do the mods wait until the seller requests the lock, or do so as soon as they see an “I’ll take it” reply?

If the item is sold or SPF, the post should be edited to say so prior to being locked.

Limit the guns for sale to three. In a lot of these clean-out-the-safe posts, the OP does not update to show items that are sold, or does not do so clearly. You see 6 guns with a dozen pictures each and maybe “sold” somewhere in the post, but it’s not clear which item sold. There’s usually not enough room in the title to mark one or more items sold, and it’s easy to miss in the body. The simplest solution is require all references to the sold item in the title and detail be deleted when one of multiple items sells.

Here’s what happened to me yesterday:
Item for sale, someone posts “I’ll take it” just ahead of me. So I PMed the seller volunteering as backup in case the first guy backed out and posted something like “I’ll take backup” in the thread.

The next morning, the original “I’ll take it” reply had been deleted and mine edited (presumably by a mod) to “I’ll take it.” I think most reasonable people would take that to mean the first person had backed out and they were now in line to buy the gun. So I PMed the seller, and, nope, it was sold.

About that "I'll take back up" post. Had you read the rules, you would note that those types of posts are specifically not allowed. However in this particular instance, the seller PM'd me to tell me the first buyer had backed out of the deal, so instead of issuing you an infraction, I deleted the first "I'll take it" and edited yours to say you would take it instead. Obviously, someone else pm'd the seller to say they wanted the gun. That could have happened at anytime before you made your post. Remember, I do not live here 24-7, and the PM I received from the seller was not read and acted upon until several hours after he sent it to me.

The past couple of weeks is the first time I’ve seriously perused the classifieds and it’s been an exercise in frustration.