By which I mean banner ads on other sites (including this one, for non-P people, even those with ad blockers) which link to relevant Gumtree ads according to your search history…

Except they don’t. Quite often I see something I might actually be interested in, so I click on it, hoping to get to that post on Gumtree. Except it just takes me to a generic search on Gumtree and the post in the ad is nowhere to be seen. There’s no more clues in the ad (e.g. location) that would help you find it. Sometimes the search that the link produces doesn’t even have any results. Why? What’s the point?

Not looking for a solution (I know, don’t click on them). Just a mini-rant, and one that scores fairly low on the STW Rantometer.

For a while I used to get one which contained one of my own ads – which was months old.
I don’t understand the point either – sure it drives you to their site, but you instantly realise it’s effectively just spam, immediately exit the site and never click again. Achieving what exactly?

Exactly. Not just me then.

thenorthwind – Member

Quite often I see something I might actually be interested in, so I click on it, hoping to get to that post on Gumtree. Except it just takes me to a generic search on Gumtree and the post in the ad is nowhere to be seen

I could be wrong but from doing this myself I suspect what you’re getting is lag basically; links to deleted ads give you a “no longer available” for a short time then they default to a useless search. Gumtree’s search engine tries to be clever but isn’t very.

I could be wrong but from doing this myself I suspect what you’re getting is lag basically; links to deleted ads give you a “no longer available” for a short time then they default to a useless search.

Yes, I think you’re right, but why? The internet works in real-time. Why not check an item’s still live before serving me an ad for it? On the odd occasion the item’s going to be taken down between me being served an ad and clicking through, but I’ve never once been taken to an actual item.

I have similar issues with so many different advertising sites. They take you somewhere you don’t want to be and show you something you don’t want to buy. Does the phrase “no time-wasters please” mean nothing anymore?