What does it mean to deactivate an advert?
Deactivation temporarily removes an advert from public view. It is not deleted and remains in your user account.
Deactivating an advert may be useful if:
- the item on offer is temporarily reserved,
- a service is currently unavailable,
- you wish to republish the advert at a later date,
- details or images need to be checked before republishing,
- you do not wish to receive any new enquiries for the time being,
- an event has been postponed or availability has changed.
Do not deactivate an advert in order to circumvent a review, rejection or platform rule. Deactivating an advert does not make an offer with prohibited content permissible.
Deactivate, archive or delete?
These functions have different consequences:
- Deactivate: The advert is temporarily withdrawn from public view and can be reactivated later.
- Archive: The advert is moved to the archive section and remains available there for possible future reuse.
- Delete: The advert is permanently removed and cannot usually be restored.
If you are not yet sure whether you will need the advert later, deactivating it is often a better option than deleting it.
What should I check before deactivating an advert?
First, check that you have selected the correct advert.
In particular, check:
- the title and preview image,
- the advert ID,
- current status,
- availability of the offer,
- ongoing arrangements with other users,
- time-sensitive details,
- any additional service packages or promotional services booked.
Deactivating an advert does not end any arrangements already made. Use the messaging function to inform the interested parties concerned if availability or an agreed handover changes.
How do I deactivate a single advert?
Proceed as follows:
- Log in to the account used to create the advert.
- Open ‘My Adverts’.
- Go to the ‘Active’ section.
- Search for the correct advert using the title, image and advert ID.
- Open the advert’s available management functions.
- Select ‘Deactivate’ or the icon displayed for this purpose.
- Read any confirmation message that may appear.
- Check once more that the correct advert has been selected.
- Confirm the deactivation.
Then refresh the page and check whether the advert appears in the ‘Deactivated’ section.
How do I deactivate several adverts at once?
If multiple selection is available in the relevant view, up to eight adverts can be selected in a single operation.
Proceed as follows:
- Open My Adverts.
- Switch to the ‘Active’ section.
- Select only the adverts you wish to deactivate.
- Check the titles, images and advert IDs of all selected entries.
- Select the ‘Deactivate’ function.
- Check how many adverts are affected by this action.
- Only confirm the action once you have carried out this check.
If you wish to deactivate more than eight adverts, carry out the selection in several batches if necessary.
What happens after deactivation?
Once deactivation is complete, the advert will temporarily no longer be displayed as an active offer.
In particular, this means:
- The advert no longer appears as an active offer in the search results.
- Other users are temporarily unable to make new enquiries about the active offer via the advert.
- The advert remains stored in your user account.
- The title, description and images are not deleted simply because the advert has been deactivated.
- The advert ID remains associated with the entry.
- Existing message histories are not automatically deleted when the advert is deactivated.
- Agreements already made are not automatically cancelled.
- The advert can be reactivated later using the function provided.
It may take a short time for the change to become visible in all views. Refresh the page and check the status before performing the action again.
What happens to any additional service packages that have been booked?
If an additional service package or a promotional service is active for the advert, its term is not automatically paused or extended when the advert is deactivated.
The booked duration will continue to be counted, even though the advert is not publicly visible whilst it is deactivated.
Example:
- An add-on service package has a duration of seven days.
- The advert is deactivated after three days.
- The duration of the package continues to run whilst the advert is deactivated.
- If the advert is reactivated at a later date, only the remaining original duration will be available.
You should therefore plan any deactivation carefully if you have an active add-on service package. Do not assume that any unused time will automatically be refunded, paused or transferred to another advert.
How do I reactivate a deactivated advert?
Open ‘My Adverts’ and go to the ‘Deactivated’ section.
Before reactivating, check:
- whether the offer is still available,
- whether the price or reward is still correct,
- whether the condition and scope are up to date,
- whether the images still correspond to the actual offer,
- whether date and time-sensitive details need updating,
- whether any necessary conditions or restrictions still apply,
- whether the title and description are free of prohibited contact details.
Then select ‘Activate’, ‘Publish’ or the function currently displayed.
Reactivating an advert does not always result in it being published immediately. The advert may initially appear in the ‘Pending’ section and be reviewed again.
Previous approval does not guarantee that an advert that has subsequently been amended or resubmitted will be published automatically.
Why isn’t the ‘Deactivate’ function displayed?
If the function is not available, please check:
- whether you are logged in with the correct account,
- whether the advert was created using this account,
- whether the advert actually has the status ‘Active’,
- whether it is already in the ‘Deactivated’ or ‘Archived’ section,
- whether it is still awaiting review,
- whether it has been rejected or already deleted,
- whether the page has loaded completely,
- whether another management view needs to be opened.
Refresh the page once and open My adverts again. Do not click the same function several times in quick succession while the previous action is still being processed.
When should I contact support?
Use the contact form if:
- an active advert cannot be deactivated,
- an error message appears after confirmation,
- the advert remains publicly visible,
- the status remains unchanged after refreshing the page,
- the advert does not appear in any of the expected status sections,
- a booked additional service is affected,
- reactivation is technically not possible.
Please provide the following where possible:
- the advert ID,
- the title of the advert,
- the current status,
- the time of the deactivation attempt,
- the wording of any error message,
- whether an additional service is active,
- a redacted screenshot, if applicable.
Do not send any passwords, one-off codes, full activation links or session cookies. Support can investigate the issue, but cannot guarantee an immediate change in status or a specific processing time.
