Listing statuses and lifecycle

A listing isn't a single static object — it moves through states. Knowing which state your listing is in tells you what's expected of you and what the buyer sees. Here's the full lifecycle.

DRAFT

You've created the listing but haven't submitted it for moderation yet.

• Visible to: only you.
• Editable: fully.
• Searchable: no.
• Transitions to: PENDING (when you submit).

Drafts are kept indefinitely. You can come back any time to finish.

PENDING

You've submitted the listing for moderation. The Haubot team is reviewing it.

• Visible to: only you. The buyer-facing marketplace doesn't show it.
• Editable: limited (some fields are frozen during review).
• Searchable: no.
• Transitions to: ACTIVE (approved), DRAFT (sent back for changes), or REJECTED (rare; only for serious issues like sanctioned destinations or fraudulent content).

Reviews usually clear within a few hours during business hours. If a moderator sends it back, you'll see their note attached to the listing — fix the issue and resubmit.

ACTIVE

The listing is published. Buyers can find it in search, view photos and documents, message you, and (if it's an auction) place bids.

• Visible to: the public, subject to the listing's visibility setting (PUBLIC / TRADECIRCLE / PRIVATE).
• Editable: yes, but significant changes (category, type, price) may trigger another moderation pass.
• Searchable: yes.
• Transitions to: PAUSED (you), EXPIRED (timer), SOLD (deal closes), DRAFT (you take it down to edit heavily).

This is where most of your activity happens — responding to messages, approving document access, accepting offers.

PAUSED

You've manually paused the listing. Useful when you're temporarily unavailable, the asset is mid-relocation, or you're waiting on something before continuing.

• Visible to: people who already had the URL still see it with a "paused" indicator. New search traffic doesn't.
• Editable: yes.
• Searchable: no.
• Transitions to: ACTIVE (you resume), EXPIRED (if pause runs past the listing expiry date).

Pausing is preferable to deleting when you're not sure — bookmarked buyers can come back when you resume.

EXPIRED

The listing reached its expiry date without being sold or extended.

• Visible to: still reachable by direct link, marked expired.
• Editable: limited — you'd typically extend it, which moves it back to ACTIVE.
• Searchable: no.
• Transitions to: ACTIVE (you extend / refresh), ARCHIVED (you walk away).

Default listing expiry varies by type — sale listings get a long window, auctions have a hard end time built into the auction itself.

SOLD

The deal closed. Either through a completed SecureTrade transaction, an accepted auction bid, or a manual "mark as sold" by you when the deal happened off-platform (less recommended — see Handling buyer inquiries).

• Visible to: still reachable by direct link, marked sold. Shows up in your business profile's sold-listings count.
• Editable: no.
• Searchable: no.
• Transitions to: ARCHIVED (eventually).

After SOLD, the buyer and seller can leave reviews, which feed into both business profiles.

ARCHIVED

End of life. The listing is hidden from your active dashboard but stays in your archive for record-keeping.

• Visible to: only you, via the archive view.
• Editable: no.
• Searchable: no.

You can archive sold, expired, or paused listings manually. Archived listings keep their full document trail — useful if a dispute surfaces months later.

REJECTED (rare)

Moderation found something serious enough not to send back for changes — typically a sanctions concern or a clear policy violation. You'll get a note explaining why. If you believe the rejection is wrong, you can appeal through support.

A typical lifecycle in time

For a healthy fixed-price listing that sells:

DRAFT → PENDING → ACTIVE → (60–90 days of buyer interest) → SOLD → ARCHIVED

For an auction:

DRAFT → PENDING → ACTIVE → (auction window, bids accumulate) → SOLD (winning bid) → ARCHIVED

For a listing that doesn't move:

DRAFT → PENDING → ACTIVE → EXPIRED → (extended) → ACTIVE → ... → ARCHIVED

The platform notifies you on every transition. Keep an eye on EXPIRED — listings that auto-expire and don't get extended quietly drop out of buyer search and stop generating leads.