I’ve seen at least a half dozen brand new sits pop up in my feed, and when I go to check on them they are already ‘under review’. These are literally brand new, like posted within the last few minutes. I get the notice and immediately check them and they are already in ‘application under review’ status.
This is really fishy… anyone else see this behavior and know what is happening?
According to other posters it could be that the notification you get is coming through after a delay. I use only the website to search directly but I think if you are getting notifications via the app this could be the issue.
Your notifications in the app come with a delay of up to one hour.
Some people refresh there searches almost continuously and they may find the listing within minutes. After all, there are 200 000 members.
And there is a suspicion the some members have automated this tedious task with a computer script that also sends an application.
Different searches also seem to come through at different times. Sometimes I have the same listing caught by two saved searches (date range search and location search) and one will show in my feed 30 min or so before the other.
For the last sit I posted I had 4 applications in under 30 minutes. As the first applicant seemed a good fit I had to tell the others that someone else was faster.
I always feel sorry for the people I have to decline. So I put the listing under review as soon as I find a person that seems to fit. If It doesn’t work out with that person I can just start looking again.
That would explain why my sit is “brand new” to you but already under review. Because that’s literally what is happening.
I have seen new sits go from 1 application to my own as the 5th in the time I managed to write my application. I have also (just to test) kept refreshing my browser on sits that i knew were attractive (but did not fit my needs) and seen them go from 0 to 5 in only a few minutes. It is crazy out there, lol…
I live in NYC. Depending what time of day I post I might get 5 applications within a few minutes.
Out of interest @Marion - are they good ones and is there a pattern to the type of applicant who’s that quick? Just interested as that’s super fast!
It’s a very mixed bag. Sometimes they’ll be two or three people worth corresponding with and finding out more about, but there are often very new sitters in the mix with no real pet experience. This for a sit starting tomorrow actually, and there were several sitters who didn’t take the sit because they found other NY sits – so they must just be very quick to click.
So really, it’s not necessarily sitters that want the sit, they just click immediately to be in the first five. They then don’t take it any further because it’s not suitable/something better comes up or just not really interested, simply bang! to get in fast. It really does waste everyone’s time I think.
A couple of days ago, I spent the whole day observing the ‘find a house-sit’ page traffic by refreshing the page every 2-5 minutes. Many interesting listings in desirable locations, such as Paris, popped up. I even succeeded in applying for a couple of them as the fifth applicant.
Without exception, all of them already had four applicants by the time they appeared on my screen. Hence it appears it takes a maximum of 5 minutes, and in most cases even much less (2?), for the desirable sits to reach 5 applications. This is why the vast majority of sitters never even get a chance to see, let alone apply for, these sit opportunities
@RadarInc and, I believe, why there are so many cancelled sits these days. Applicants aren’t thinking/researching/asking questions, nothing. Just getting into the first five “just in case it suits”. It’s no longer finding a suitable sit, it’s fastest finger on the button, Quick Draw McGraw 
@ziggy We were told when they introduced the new policy that very few sits get 5 applications. I think we’ve well and truly put that statistic to bed!
Personally I’m smiling at the thought of a full day of fully committed observation duty on the THS site @RadarInc #dedicationiswhatyouneed 
I dunno. Because that last sit was different. Usually sitters do want the sit. It just felt that there were a glut of sitters but fewer experienced ones and those sitters seemed to be getting other offers to sit. A couple of people applied but then realized they had other kinds of conflicts so I get the feeling they just said, “New York sit” and clicked without thinking it through. I didn’t get anyone applying without some kind of note and no foot in the door, “I’ll send you full letter in a few minutes” which I’ve done myself.
That was basically my point though @Marion. You got the feeling they said “New York sit” and clicked through without thinking. That’s what is happening, people don’t think, they just press go and think later. Maybe we are thinking along two different lines but I hope the sitter/s you did find are great.
and so you should 
… but what a girl´s got to do to entertain her scientific mind when the temperature drops to -15°C (5°F)
I met her yesterday. I haven’t got room to put someone up, but she came in and is staying with a friend not far away. She seems terrific. But it was grueling process. I think I interviewed 4 people – and offered th sit to each of them! And there were 2 who cancelled chats same day. It got to the point where my spouse asked, “Are we being black-balled?”
Oh dear, I think you might have made it a little more difficult for yourself than it should have been by meeting everyone and offering to more than one person! Anyway you are sorted so that’s the main thing. Best of luck 
