Recently, I applied for a sit that was brand new and showed 0 applicants. It was a short notice one and I really wanted it. I kept checking and the application showed “unread,” but later showed 4 applicants and the owner “reviewing applications.” My application remained unread. Is this a glitch in the system? I think I remember this happening once before.
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Welcome to the forum, @kittyk8 !
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To answer your question, this can happen for a number of reasons. Most likely, the PO (pet owner) received five applications and the listing automatically went into reviewing status. They may have not read any of them.
Other scenarios: Maybe the PO found someone to watch the pet off the platform – a friend or a family member, so didn’t bother to read their applications. Perhaps a previous sitter they liked was able to do the sit, they went with that sitter and ignored the other applicants. Or maybe they liked the letter of one of the other applicants – they may not have read the applications in the order they received them, ignored the other applications and went with a different sitter. Maybe they are not sure about their dates so are not bothering to follow up on applications.
I’ve run into this too. It’s disappointing but that’s the way things go. On to the next one …
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Hi Kitty,
when someone invites a sitter, the sit shows up on the platform. Someone reads the requests, someone doesn’t. Perhaps it was what happened to you!
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Hi @kittyk8 - I am not sure if this is true or not but I read that if a home host reads an application on the App - it still shows as ‘unread’ on the website.
Hopefully, @Ben-ProductManager will let us know if that is true or not.
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The ‘reviewing applications’ label shows up once an owner has received 5, and the listing is no longer ‘live.’ So the ‘reviewing’ status doesn’t mean the applications received have actually been read yet.
I have always been under the impression that when sitters apply for a house sit the application goes into the HO inbox as the latest email and shows on top of that list. If you apply first, you are on top of the inbox. If someone else subsequently applies you are shuffled to 2nd in the inbox list. By the time the 5th person applies and the sit status changes to ‘reviewing’ your application will be 5th in the list. When the HO gets around to reading the applications ( if they don’t read each as they come in) then it’s logical that they will start with the latest application which is first in their inbox. In my experience over 12 years most HO will pick out of the first 2 or 3 that they read - although not all HO do this and read ALL applications as a courtesy - and will not open and read those following thus giving you an ‘unread’ status.
Most logically this scenario would occur if the limit of 5 applications was reached quickly. Less so if the sit was open for a few days before the 5 limit was reached giving the HO time to look at those sitters that had already responded and waiting a response.
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Hello @Colin, I hope you are well. Just an update for you, there was a previous issue of this nature where the App and Website had a slight delay in showing the read messages, but this has since been fixed. If I hear anything else I will let you know. Thank you 
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