How do wanted ads work?

That's the whole feature. This FAQ is about the details underneath it — how the matching works, what makes a good wanted ad, and how to think about wanted ads as a buyer's alternative to endlessly refreshing the browse page.

A wanted ad is a persistent standing signal that you're in the market for a specific piece of gear. It lives on your profile and in HFR's matching system. When a new listing matching your ad — brand and model — goes live, you get an email pointing you at it.

Unlike a listing, a wanted ad doesn't put anything up for sale. It doesn't cost anything to post. It doesn't expire on a timeline. It stays live until you close it — because you found what you wanted, because you changed your mind, or because you're no longer buying.

Wanted ads are how the market gets more efficient over time. Buyers who might otherwise miss a piece that goes live at 2am and sells by 8am get notified within minutes of the listing being published, instead of relying on catching it in the browse feed.

You describe what you're looking for in the wanted ad wizard: brand, model, condition preferences, maximum price, and any notes.

When a new listing is published — immediately or, for scheduled listings, when it actually goes live — HFR checks it against every open wanted ad. The match is exact on both brand and model: a wanted ad for “Pass Labs XA30.8” only matches listings for a Pass Labs XA30.8, not other amplifiers in the XA line. If the listing also falls at or under your maximum price and at or above your minimum condition, you get an email with a link to it.

Because matching is exact on model, a wanted ad for a specific piece won't catch close variants. If you'd accept more than one model, post separate wanted ads for each, or broaden the model you enter.

Same principles as a good listing, from the other side of the transaction.

Specificity. Enter the exact brand and model you want. Since matching is exact, a vague or misspelled entry won't catch anything.

Realistic price ceiling. Look at Listing Comps for the piece before you post. A wanted ad with a maximum price below the current market range will match nothing. If your budget is below the market, either raise the budget or watch a different model.

Condition preferences named honestly. If you'd accept a piece with a service history, set the minimum condition accordingly. Setting it too high narrows the matching pool without changing what you'd actually accept.

A short note explaining context. Not required, but a line like “replacing an aging pair of monos, in no hurry, cash ready” is visible to sellers who look at your wanted ad, and gives them a reason to reach out proactively even outside the automated match.

Close the ad when the situation changes. Found what you wanted, or no longer looking? Close it. A stale open wanted ad just means match emails for gear you no longer want.

Concretely, so there's no ambiguity:

• Wanted ads are not commitments to buy. Posting one does not obligate you to purchase a matching piece. The transaction remains contingent on you and the seller agreeing on terms, condition, and shipping.
• Wanted ads are not a public browsable index by default. They exist as a matching system and as a private “what I'm looking for” list on your own profile.
• Wanted ads do not guarantee you'll find what you're looking for. For rare pieces, wanted ads shorten the average wait but do not eliminate it. The Registry is a marketplace, not an oracle.
• Wanted ads do not create pricing pressure. A seller publishing a listing that happens to match your wanted ad is under no obligation to price it at your maximum. The match notification informs you; it doesn't obligate the seller.

The same reason Listing Comps and the forum are free: paywalling them would defeat their purpose.

The Registry only works if buyers and sellers can find each other efficiently. Charging buyers to post a wanted ad would suppress the exact activity that makes matching valuable. That would break the mechanism.

Wanted ads are also asymmetric in a useful way: they can prompt supply. A wanted ad for a specific piece is a public signal that a buyer wants it right now, visible to anyone browsing wanted ads — sometimes enough to move gear from a closet or a rack onto the platform that otherwise would have stayed unlisted. Charging for wanted ads would suppress that. That's the opposite of what the platform should do.

• Trust Score and Accountability Record. Your wanted ads appear on your profile. Sellers who look at your wanted ad see your Trust Score and record before reaching out. Buyers building a strong buyer-side record — clean payment, clear communication, honest condition expectations — read as more serious to sellers who check.
• Listing Comps. Setting your maximum price using Listing Comps for the model is the fastest way to make sure your ad matches active listings. A price at or above the median of current Listing Comps typically produces the most matches.
• Messaging. Sellers who reach out proactively based on your wanted ad start the conversation through the Registry messenger, same as any other transaction. All the same rules apply: on-platform history is your evidence, and it's the record your own account of events rests on.
• Founding Member status. The Founding Member badge is assigned automatically to the first 100 registered users at signup — it has nothing to do with wanted-ad activity or any other activity after registration. There's no separate badge tied to wanted ads.

Email support@hifiregistry.com with what happened. Matching is exact on brand and model, so a persistent off-target response is usually a seller messaging you directly outside the automated match — not something the matching system itself produced. Reports go to a human.