Asking questions to a website seller is the best way to perform due diligence. Understandably, things tend to get overlooked when creating descriptions. So, a well formed question is an excellent way to clarify information. However, I have noticed sellers have been able to request their sales threads to be locked; while keeping the sale open at the same time. See this for example: Don't you think it would be best to mark the listing as sold if a thread is locked?