I've noticed that some sellers feel compelled to delete prices from their ads after selling horns. Others feel a need to delete their ads altogether.

I would like to encourage sellers to simply mark their ads "SOLD" once they find a buyer, while leaving the content of their ads with pricing intact.

The ability to see the prices that others have asked or received for horns provides future sellers with an invaluable point of reference when trying to determine a selling price. Also, there is often valuable information contained in the discussions which accompany many classified ads that gets lost forever when an ad is completely deleted.

While I understand that others may have their own reasons for deleting prices or entire ads, I would ask that you please consider the value of leaving your ads intact as a sort of archival reference.

Agreed.

Indeed, that was/is the intention of why it's set-up the way it is. Everyone should be able to edit, but not delete the ad. Realistically, the amount of storage is trivial (other than the pictures if you choose to upload them here) and allowing edit but not delete makes administration of the forum as a whole easier. I would encourage everyone to leave their ads up with an indication that everything is sold or no longer on the market as OP suggests if for no other reason than archival. I'll peruse old ads sometimes to see what was going on with the zeitgeist of the time.

+1

Great suggestion!

All good arguments for leaving ads up. Another reason, if it hasn't been mentioned already, is it documents the advertised condition of a horn, with pictures as back-up, in case there is a discrepancy or damage during shipping. This helps to protect the buyer and seller.

Also, if someone is interested in a horn advertised, they can do a search to find what other horns the seller has advertised, whether or not they sold, and if there is any feedback.