Hi, sorry for another question that came up today.
My listing was approved and went live. One hour later I got two applications and after writing back and forth and a video call right the next day we confirmed both ways with the first applicant. So everything’s perfect so far.
As this is my first time as a HO using a site like THS I am still browsing the website (there’s much to learn from other people’s posts😉) and I wondered why I saw lots of houses without a date but mine isn’t among them.
Does this occur when you pause the ad, because you found a sitter and it comes back when the sit is finished?
As I might need another sitter in December but don’t know if my plans are working out, it would be good if my ad was still visible even without any dates.
I understand that I can put in new dates but I feel it wouldn’t be fair to applicants if the sit needs to be canceled.
Hi Heike and so very pleased to hear your found sitters so quickly. When you have found a sitter and both confirmed, your listing is still considered “live” but just without current dates, in the sense it’s approved. So it’s like telling you everything is still OK. At this point, because you have sitters confirmed your listing won’t appear in the “available sits”.
But… as you rightly point out, at the end of the available sits search (I’m on desktop), there’s a section containing “sits without available dates” where a selection of sits appear for browsing, adding as favourites, future inspiration etc.
I’m assuming this can’t show every listing without dates for a particular search, as it could amount to thousands and thousands. I have put the question into membership services to find out what the criteria is for appearing there. As soon as I hear back I will update this post for you. Sorry it’s not an immediate answer, but hopefully we’ll have one for you soon
Hi again Heike, I’ve heard back from MS and it is exactly as you mused in your post. Here’s what they say…
“To be shown in this section (sits with no available dates), listings need to have posted dates that have been and gone, looking at their account I can see they only have posted one set of dates and these are still in the future.”
Hope that helps, all the best, Vanessa
I have often wondered about these listings. Thanks for your response to @anon39388349 but, as you said, based on MS response, this list would amount to thousands and thousands as most listings would fall into this criteria
Thank you very much for asking MS and letting me know. I tried to narrow the search to “house, cats, Germany, high speed internet” and there were not many results even with those who don’t show dates and mine wasn’t among them. That’s why I assumed that it might show up only after the sit is over and that’s perfectly fine with me. Thanks again for answering my question.
As there seems to be an imbalance of more sits vs available sitters, I have a question about the visibility of my listing.
I just recently confirmed my sitters for my advertised dates in July-August. Since then the listing isn’t visible to potential sitters anymore. Although it is clear that the possibility of applying to it has stopped, wouldn’t it be favorable for the HOs to leave it visible either without dates or with a tag, which says “no current dates”? Like this potential sitters could save the listing for future dates.
When my listing was still online, I had at least 1 sitter saving it per day, sometimes even more. This would multiply the chances of finding a sitter for future dates.
Any thoughts on that?
