why they remove the price after an item is sold ?

[Andrea Gazzoni]

I don't understand why many people change their listing once the item is sold and delete the price.
I mean, I used to look at the prices of things sold to get an idea. I simply don't get the reason one should delete the price.
What's the general consensus?

[Alan Klein]

Sellers may not want people to know their final selling price was lower than their original asking price.

[Tin Can]

2 issues

IRS

price fixing

[Vaidotas]

IRS or tax inspection of any kind is not a problem leaving price tag on the listing if listing is just closed with separate announcement. Listing closure does not mean sale evidence.
In the contrary if the listing marked “sold” it shows potential income.

I have no idea why this habit so spread.

[jnantz]

irs agents are members here ? if that's the case im surprised people from the EPA aren't here arresting people for dumping toxic pollutants down the drain..
I think people just delete things because they want to, seeing eBay "completed auctions" gives a better, broader view of what things sell for ..

[BrianShaw]

Good question that probably has a multitude of answers. For me, though, it would be just as good if the closed listings were deleted and only active listings were shown. Knowing sales history has some value but for the most part it’s a matter of willingness to pay the price based on todays ask… or not.

[Jim Jones]

- - - seeing eBay "completed auctions" gives a better, broader view of what things sell for ..

It certainly does. Years ago we did not have this most valuable guide to actual values of the items we wanted to sell online or elsewhere. That's about the only reason I have for visiting ebay anymore. LFPT is a much more trusted market.

[Oren Grad]

...seeing eBay "completed auctions" gives a better, broader view of what things sell for ..

Current snapshot only - eBay deletes completed auctions after a relatively short period, I think it's 90 days now. For auctions further back, realized prices can still be found on sellers' Feedback pages but the full listings are no longer available, so there's no way to judge condition or other details that could affect willingness to pay. And even for the realized prices there's no way to search all seller Feedback pages for a particular item, so compiling a price history for a particular item would be impractical anyway.

[Lachlan 717]

IRS

You do realise that this is an international forum, don’t you?

[gypsydog]

Maybe because if your not the seller or buyer it is none of your business.